5B FISH! Go On Huaka’i to the Lokoi’a

Wow!  What a fabulous day!…Papa ‘Elima went on huaka’i to the Waiaåhole lokoi’a and participated in 4 stations of learning today!  In station #1, everyone participated in giving back & learned how to be great servant leaders by clearing away honohono grass that invades the flow of water in the pond.  Kumu Richards shared that without good flow, silt and sediment builds and the invasive grass grows on it, eventually suffocating the pond.  We cannot let that happen as the ancient ponds teach us so much about sustaining our world today!

Haumåna got to watch a great video from Project Kåhea Loko: “Call of the Pond” about the many lokoi’a around the islands, including the 4 types of ponds and its characteristics in stations #2.

Station #3 was led by Mrs. Chang.  Students learned about the food chain in the pond and how every living thing is interdependent!  Creating their own food chain to represent this was so much fun!

The last station was on the barge!  Haumåna, led by Kumu Noe, learned about the fish and birds that call the pond home and were able to see it in their natural habitat!  Got to see a blind mullet swimming very slowly…how cool!  Uncle Eli kept everyone safe on the water too! Then it was time to pack up to our next destination of Moku Ola on our journey to learn about Hilo…

Students will be learning about Maui and his Magic Fish hook from legend of Moku Ola…Kumu Richards joined us there too for some fun in the sun!  What a fab way to spend our day!

From the olelo noe’au from our kupuna…MAKA HANA KA ‘IKE – In the journey, there is knowledge!  Preserving our past, to live in the present, to protect our future!  We will use this ‘ike from our akamai Hawaiian ancestors to help make the 21st century a great time to thrive!  Mahalo to Kumu Richards, Mrs. Chang, Kumu Noe, & Kumu Blake for sharing your mana’o with us & making our day one for the memory books! Nånå i ke kumu…look to the source!  Mahalo to Shola, Uncle Eli and Uncle Bronson too!   Dive back into our FISH!bowl for an update to this post in the future to see a video of our day!