A Lesson in Culture

When I moved to Hawaii 4 years ago I knew no one here and nothing of the state except what I had seen in the exotic photos and the friends I knew lucky enough to vacation here.  I had a conversation today with a friend's mom that made me realize how far I've come since that wide-eyed, college graduate ready to take on second graders in a community I knew nothing about.  It wasn't easy at first- my students said things I didn't understand and had names for things that had to be explained to me.  "Slippers" are flip-flops, "puka" means "hole", "da kine" is a phrase that means "whatchamacallit", and so on.  Now these are words I use without blinking- if I said them back in South Bend people would look at me with blank stares and it would take me a moment to realize why.  It was so powerful knowing that teaching and learning was being reciprocated almost equally among me and my students.

Having a grasp of the culture is part of engaging students in prior knowledge that is so important to teaching. I used to catch myself using snow as a relationship with winter, road trips as an example of traveling (it takes 1 hour to drive to the other side of the island- where I LIVE), or even using squirrels when thinking of park animals (there aren't any squirrels in Hawaii...).  These are things I'm used to.  But that was the problem, I needed to think of my STUDENTS' prior knowledge.  To do that I had to gain more knowledge myself before I could teach to my students.

                                 

I embraced the culture in Hawaii the moment I set foot on the island.  I love it.  I love learning about it.  I know much more and can connect with my students better now.  I've gotten to visit other islands of Hawaii that some of my students haven't, gone to beaches that some of my students haven't, and have visited places around the island that some of my students haven't.  BUT what I need to do is take my experiences a step further and try learning and using even more of the language, historical culture in my lessons, and actually teaching students about Hawaii.  Sure, I've taught geographical lessons about the different islands, their characteristics/what the island is known for, and even studied Hawaii's natural resources.  Today, though, I had an eye-opening experience with one of the Kumus (Hawaiian for "Teachers") at my school.

Being led through the hei'au

We took a day off of Healthy Living to explore the community with Kumu Pua, learning Hawaiian Culture. More specifically, we visited a hei'au.  A hei'au is the ancient sacred ground of the Hawaiian Temple.  There were at least 30 students engaged and listening intently to the legends, stories, facts, and history of Hawaii.  I was one of those students.  I learned so much from this field trip and wanted to share with readers.  Hopefully someone out there is as interested as I am- I'd like to pass the knowledge on.

Getting permission to enter the sacred hei'au

1 Year Luau Tradition

How the babies were blessed at their 1 Year Luau, and explanation of white coral

The engineering behind building the walls of the hei'au 

This is just a taste of information she shared today.  I learned so much from Kumu Pua.  I can say with certainty: it left me craving more!

Health in the Real World

Today we welcomed U.S. Navy Divers into our class to explain how healthy choices pertain to their job.  They brought some equipment to share to help explain how they work underwater.  It was pretty heavy- students loved trying to hold it.  Our class also prepared questions to ask them.  Some questions were about the job of being a diver and other questions were about healthy choices- like where they work out, what they eat to get energy, and how much water they need to drink to stay hydrated.  The kids had a good time and learned a lot.  After our guests left with their thank-you cards in hand, we wrote a reflection of 3 things they learned and what they liked or didn't like about the activity.  Here are some pictures of the event:

Writing thank-you cards to show appreciation.

Our guests introducing themselves (sporting their leis!)

Trying on the equipment

The air tank and bag is about 20 lbs

They use masks to see under water

We help each other secure the equipment

Before the game, we warm up our bodies to prevent injury

We drink lots of water to stay hydrated

Split up into 2 teams for our game

Bear crawling- one of the challenges

We stretch after exercising so we don't get sore

Saying our good-byes and thank yous!

What a great day.  Thank you to our military for all you do for our country and community!

Posters Complete!

The art activity was a hit!  Kids had a blast with all the different textile materials.  It was apparent with every smile, gasp, and quiet artist at work.  An excited student even yelled "This is the best art activity ever!"  There was validation at every turn.  Here are some action shots and finished products that were taken.

The completed posters.

Ryen said it best:  This is the best art activity ever!

Plus, all the materials were put away nicely when finished :)

A Creative Mind

I love working with younger students because of the talents they possess just waiting to be unleashed.  When it comes to art I like to give them the best and most resources I have so they can run with it.  For projects like we have this week, I gave an example and rubric of what I expect from them.  Usually, however, I would give my class a rubric and let their creative juices flow.  I'm always surprised to see the finished product.

Stamp Station- Letter Stamps

Paint Station- Watercolors, Tempera Paint, and Oil Pastels 

Glitter Station

Bare Essentials- Markers, Crayons, Glue, Scissors

Feathers, Colored Felt

Paper- Construction and Poster

Jumbo Pipe Cleaners

Cotton Balls, String, Foam Stickers, Zig-Zag Scissors

These are fun!

Let's see how nice all these supplies are after the activity...

Spread the Word!

This is the last week of summer school.  Hard to believe we have been studying health for 4 weeks!  This last week we will spend working on our final project.  Students will create a poster to Spread the Word about what they've learned.  Our focus question this week is:

"How can we share and teach what we know with others?"

The initial activity was for students to make a list of different ways we communicate.  I was amazed at how creative their responses were!  We then emerged in a classroom discussion about why we share our knowledge and the effect it can have on family, friends, and community members.

The wordle our class created.

The final project is a poster students will create about one of the three health areas:  Personal Hygiene and Cleanliness, Food and Nutrition, and Exercise.  Today we talked about what will be expected of them by reviewing the rubric.  I showed them example pieces from last year to practice grading with the rubric, making sure to tell them that their posters need to be original and nothing should be copied from the examples.

The poster rubric

The rubric was put in action as everyone created a draft of what their poster will look like including picture ideas, their title, and facts that they want to share with their families.  On Friday families will be invited to the classroom to hear their child present.

Pictures to follow!

Healthy Living

It's summer school time!!!!  I look forward to summer school for many reasons:  smaller class sizes, less stress, shorter days, EXTRA CASH, and freedom to teach project-based lessons.

Throughout the school year teachers are so pressured to follow the curriculum and stay focused on the core subject areas that it's difficult to fit in one of the most important life-long tools that students will use every day their whole lives (hopefully): HEALTH!  Our 4-week summer intercession is the perfect time to teach health.  I believe it's important for children to learn healthy habits- why should they wait for middle school when their whole lives are ahead of them?

Each week is a different theme around the topic "Healthy Living".  There's a structure to the days of the week, but the content changes.  For example, Monday is the introduction day, Tuesday and Wednesday are centers, Thursdays are speakers/field trips, and Friday is assessment and game day.  I try to get as many community speakers to come in as possible.  Most of the time they are willing to speak for free.  This gives my students an opportunity to meet people in their community that pertain to the subject as well as gain experience interviewing.  They also each get their own portfolio.  The portfolios take a little bit of time and a lot of resources.  Luckily, my school gives teachers a hefty stipend or these portfolios wouldn't be possible.  The portfolios are 3 pronged folders that are made of plastic so they are heavy-duty and durable.  I put together the pages in the portfolio in sequential order, leaving an empty sheet protector at the end of each week so students can put extra handouts in them.  At the back of the portfolio is a Binder Pocket.  Love those!!  It's a great place for additional papers, pencils, or erasers.  It's also made of plastic so it's super durable.

Binder Pocket

There are many aspects to health, so I narrowed down the topics into 4 groups and they are the focus each week:
Week 1- Cleanliness and Personal Hygiene
Week 2- Healthy Diet
Week 3- Exercise
Week 4- Spreading the Word

Cover pages for the unit:

We read books on the topic of the week, learn spelling/sight/vocabulary words that are commonly used on the topic, and have centers to practice skills such as studying food labels (week 2), practicing the correct way to wash hands and brush teeth (week 1), or use calisthenics to exercise (week 3), food or exercise logs (weeks 2 and 3).  I am lucky to have an EA and an adult volunteer (3 adults!) in the classroom, so each adult can lead a center.
Here is the lesson plan outline:

You'll find that under each "Day 1" is the introduction day.  I have students make a list of words that remind them of that topic.  We compile all their words as a class and put it in wordle.net.  This website creates a picture out of words.  The bigger the size, the more students had that word on their list.  The purpose is to emphasize the importance of the words.  Wordle is fun for class summaries, lists, etc.  Here is an example of one we did last year for week 3.  Teachers can adjust the colors, fonts, and picture the words make.  I like to print a copy of this for each student.

Here are some more weekly pages we use:

End of the week goal reflection

Spelling 3 X each

The weekly Interview Page

Food log for Monday and Tuesday

Exercise log for Monday and Tuesday

Weekly graph page- graphing goals

Daily Reflections

Students get to take home their portfolios at the end of the intercession and hopefully use these skills to teach their families and maintain a healthy lifestyle.