Karen Coon

We went to the middle school māla this afternoon to transfer u‘ala plant we had started a month ago up there.  The keiki all went through the process of adding plant-growth matter, mulching it into a hole and transferring their plants into it- fun!

This Wednesday we shared our joyful voices with Kupuna at Hilo Veteran’s Hospital and Hilo Adult Day Care!  There were many smiles as we spread this kahiau!

Mahalo to Kekai’s dad for inviting us to watch the 8th graders launch rockets this morning.  They paired up with the kinders and all had a great time launching and watching their rockets!

Mahalo to senior Sierra and all the others who made our Wednesday informative, active and fun!  Your keiki experienced four different learning stations in the morning.  We connected to kalo and its symbolic relationship to our ‘Ohana. We identified some Hawaiian fish through a fishing activity and were treated to poke and rice!  We made dirt cups, learning about aloha ‘āina and caring for our earth. Lastly we learned about the origin of the Hawaiian flag and did a coloring activity.  We had Ono Hawaiian food for lunch participated in makahiki games with our high school brothers and sisters.

I was amazed again with the caring focus and attention we received from the older students.

Just wanted to say how great it has been to feel rested and ready to continue our learning journey.  Here are some pictures of us visiting the middle school, planting u‘ala and learning from Kumu Floro- their māla expert!  Later that busy day we were escorted by our seniors to Paiea stadium where we had a great walk and engaged in fun activities.  The seniors really took on our haumana with genuine interest and big brother/sister caring for us!

This week in school we spent time to kilo our māla. Kumu Kaulana introduced us to an app called plant journal. It will allow us to follow the growth our our newly planted seeds over time. We had the opportunity to visit behind the scenes in our dining hall and admin buildings, taking pictures we will later use to create a book about our kula workers. Also on Māla Wednesday we planted seeds in a hydroponics environment and experimented how seeds can travel by wind. We were very entertained by a performance from the Zodiac Trio! Whew!
Enjoy the fall break and see you back in school on the 16th!

What fun we had visiting the fire station and library last Friday! Mahalo to the Ohana that came to support our first outing!

This week we examined the properties of soil. Mahalo for bringing in a sample from your yards. The keiki rotated through three centers. Examining or kilo their soil samples through the closer sense of a microscope, weeding our māla in preparation for planting next week, and learning about the different layers of soil and building them in a jar.
We were so busy doing- I didn’t have the chance to take pictures! But here are some of the results:

Your keiki enjoyed gardening, pulling the weeds and plants to explore the parts of carrots, radish and kalo.  We hope to have cleared the māla soon and replant for various types of food production.  Be sure to ask your child about their on-going experiences in this outdoor learning space!