Ideas to Inspire

The middle school reading club, Hui Heluhelu is a mostly online book club that offers students a way to talk about books and meet fellow readers. Here are some benefits:

• The club is mostly online, so it doesn’t take away precious school time like study hall and recess
• The book club members choose themes so that if someone is not interested in a particular book, they can find a plethora of other books in the same theme. (November’s theme is mystery)
• Members are able to form sub-groups around particular books so that they can have specific online conversations about what they’re reading
• The faster readers can jump from group to group and read more than one book a month
• There is no minimum amount of posting that students need to make, although they are encouraged to post a response to the regular discussions (What are you reading on Monday and Teaser Tuesday) as well as blog about a book they finished.
• The book club includes all three grade levels, so students meet students that are not in their grade level.
• The online site is private, secure and well-monitored, so our students are safe.

If your child would like to get involved with Hui Heluhelu, see any of the English teachers, or catch me in the hallway. Hope to see you in the technosphere.

Even with spell check on the computers, spelling is still an important skill for our students to master and celebrate. One way we celebrate our spellers is to send them to the district spelling bee in late January. However, even if your child is not “spelling bee” material, everyone can benefit from the resources sponsored by the Scripps National Spelling Bee folks.

Since we are an enrolled spelling bee school, we encourage our students and ohana to take advantage of all the resources available on the spelling website.

Site: http://spellingbee.com (on the top right will be a log in area)

log-in ID:  caikeda at ksbe.edu

password: ksmiddleschool

“Buzz” on over and check it out!

I realize that as teachers we are inundated with a plethora of musts:

• must do. . .
• must read. . .
• must learn.  . .
• must implement. . .
• must revise. . .
• must reflect. . .
• must report. . .

Our own Liana Iaea Honda has a painless, fun way to increase our Hawaiian language learning (another “must”) through her blog: He Momi. Subscribe to her blog, put it on your feed reader and enjoy the stories that come from these words. From today’s blog:

Ōlaʻi

1. earthquake, tremor.
2. light porous stone or pumice, as used for polishing canoes or for scraping off hair of pig or dog to be roasted.

In light of the ōlaʻi that have taken place in the Pacific Ocean recently, perhaps you can find some use of today’s word in your daily practice.  Ōlaʻi (with a macron over the o for stress) is an old word, as ōlaʻi are not a new phenomenon to Hawaiians.  Many ōlaʻi occur in our islands, particularly because of the activity generated by the still active volcano on Hawai’i Island.  I find it particularly interesting this word has a smaller word in it, la’i, that actually means calm or peaceful.  Perhaps this refers to the calmness that follows an earthquake, when you experience it.  I’m only speculating and using this connection as a tool to help me better remember the ōlaʻi.  As we make connections to certain words, that’s how we remember them, right?

Ōla’i ikaika loa i ‘ike ‘ole ‘ia kona lua – very strong earthquake, the like of which had never been seen before.

Halulu ka honua i ka ōla’i ē – The earth resounds because of the earthquake (from a chant by Edith Kanaka’ole)

Nei ka honua, he ōlaʻi ia
When the earth trembles, it is an earthquake.
(We know what it is by what it does)

Ua loa’a ʻelua ōla’i ma Vanuatu i kēia pule. – There were two earthquakes in Vanuatu this week.

Aia ke ōlaʻi ma Indonesia. – The earthquake was in Indonesia.

As a parent, I must admit that although I provide my kids with a plethora of reading materials, that doesn’t always ensure that they will read. When the day is winding down, I will readily admit that as long as they answer “yes” to my question, “did you do your reading?,” then I am satisfied that my daily parental obligations have been met.

Can I guarantee that they’ve read their prescribed 20 minutes, 30 minutes? No. But although I am not a math person, this mathematical parable of why kids MUST read for 20 minutes makes perfect sense to me. I’m sharing the link with you below, parent to parent.

Why it’s important to read for at least 20 minutes

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

President Obama’s message to the students was about working hard, despite the struggles and obstacles. The onus goes back to the students. If they work hard and succeed, we all succeed.

Some resources:

Full text of Obama’s speech

CNN video excerpt of Obama’s speech