Native Hawaiian and Cree Students Share Culture

On Tuesday Mrs. Pai’s fifth graders skyped with a class of Cree students in Canada.   The students live and go to school on the Poundmaker Cree Reservation.

We learned that there are both similarities and differences in our cultures.   Like Native Hawaiians, the Cree students learn about their culture from their elders.  They have a deep respect for the elders in their tribe.  We discovered that we both show pride in our culture by learning and singing different songs and chants. In school, the students in both areas learn English as well as their native language.

We taught them how to count to ten in Hawaiian and they taught us how to count to 10 in Cree:
One = pēyak
Two = nīso
Three = nisto
Four = nēwo
Five = nīyānan
Six = nikotwāsik
Seven = tēpakōhp
Eight = ayinānēw
Nine = kēkāmitātaht
Ten = mitātaht

It was an experience we will not forget! We felt a close kinship with these students and were proud to share our culture with them as well as learn about their culture.

Here are some pics of our skype!