January’s book of the month is entitled Measuring Penny, by Loreen Leedy. In this story, a girl named Lisa is given a homework assignment dealing with measurement. Her task is to measure something in several different ways. However, she has to use standard units like inches and nonstandards units like paper clips. Lisa decides to measure her dog, Penny! She ends up having a lot of fun and learns so much more about measurement. Note: A fun activity that you could do with your child is called the Measurement Scavenger Hunt. Have your child find objects around the house that could equal common standard units of measurement such as a gallon, foot, inch, pound, and liter. This allows your child to build a frame of reference with these different units of measure and be able to associate them with real-life objects.
Book of the Month: Measuring Penny
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Onolicious Lemonade with Mrs. Samura
Last week Mrs. Pai’s fifth class was able to enjoy a lesson on how to make fresh lemonade with our recently retired eighth grade math teacher, Mrs. Merle Samura. I was so lucky to receive a phone call several months ago from Mrs. Samura, who was willing to share her lemons and lemonade recipe with us. With the help of four of Mrs. Pai’s students, Kamakana, Cuinn, Jake N., and Makana, we were also able to turn it into a math lesson. The students learned about liquid measurement, fractions, and proportions. Mrs. Samura also shared with the students a wonderful and heartfelt story she had written initially for her own children. Click here to view her story. She talks about the process of harvesting, juicing, and the sharing of the lemons. In fact, do you know that her tree has produced over 600 lemons this year! Amazing! So in the end the boys did a wonderful job with our lesson and the students were able to enjoy a refreshing cup of lemonade. Many of the haumana asked, “When will Mrs. Samura be back?” Well, only time will tell… Mahalo Mrs. Samura!
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IXL Over the Break
Many students have been asking if I’ll be counting skills up until the end of the month. The answer is…YES! I know as parents, you’ll be busy completing those last minute shopping trips and attending fun and festive parties, but I’m sure our keiki will have a few spare moments where they could spend doing some skills on ixl math. The last day to earn their seven (7) skills for the month will be December 31st! Also, once our keiki return from their winter break, we will be starting up our MAP testing for reading and math, so spending some time practicing old and new skills will only help them with their tests. Mahalo and Happy Holidays!
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Book of the Month: Snowflake Bentley
December’s book of the month is entitled, Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline 
Briggs Martin. In this true story, a young boy named Wilson Bentley is fascinated by the falling snowflakes. He is determined to capture with his camera the beauty and uniqueness of these snowflakes. This book is a perfect way to introduce the snowflake and tie it into geometry and symmetry. It is a wonderful story about how a child’s initial curiosity turns into a true passion and perseverance to learn about a natural wonder. I hope you enjoy it!
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IXL Monthly Drawing Winners
The month of November brought about many students who were able to meet their monthly ixl goal. In fact, a big “high five” goes out to Ms. Fullerton’s class who had 100% of her students meeting their goal!!! Good job 2B! Congratulations to November’s lucky winners of the Yogurtland gift card. They are: Kyler, kindergarten; Tehani, grade 1; Ka`ōlapa, grade 2, Sean, grade 3, Kaupena, grade 4, and Cuinn, grade 5. Mahalo! 
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