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Mochitsuki at Hanahau'oli!

 
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Mochitsuki Traditions, History, and Songs

By: Lyric ’20

Our Assembly this week was based on a very special tradition, Mochitsuki! We had some birthday books shared, a thank you and goodbye song to Mrs. Molly an ASC teacher who is moving to Oregon, and Nahina shared her dress she made in the Collaborative Studio.

Then the Kukunaokalā kids shared the process of making the rice. First, you put water into the large pot. The pot is put over the fire. Then the rice is washed and cooked. When the rice is done, it goes into the usu and is pounded by the kine. Each class makes 5 pounds of mochi. We then say positive things to make the mochi taste better.

Then Mrs. Inouye talked about how our tradition was started. The Goto family introduced mochitsuki to our school in 1980. That was the first year we started the tradition. That year, Mrs. Mito came to mochi pounding with her kimono. She sang the song, Potan Potan and danced. Mrs. Mito came as much as she could.

The Kukunaokalā kids sang Potan Potan and then we all sang!

After that we all left to get ready for mochi pounding!

Winter Band Concert

Band Concert

by Cary ’20


This Friday was our band concert. Three bands: Beginning ensemble who have played for less than a year, Intermediate ensemble who has played for 1 year, and Advanced ensemble who has played for two to three years. They performed songs and short tunes for the school. One of my favorite tunes was The Lion Sleeps Tonight which the advanced band performed. It was upbeat and fun to listen to. To close out the assembly, the advanced band played jingle bells then all of the ensembles played together. All of the bands sounded nice and I am excited to hear the band play once more in the spring.

Winter Orchestra Concert

Our Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Orchestra Concert

by Kaleo ’20

This week, the assembly was the orchestra concert directed by Mrs. Abbe. The first group that played was Beginning Orchestra. Thomas, Alina, Summit, Lotus, Dominic, Lilyana, Gabby, Vivian, Avelene, Leia, Penelope, and Leif are all the Beginning Orchestra players. They played Dreidel, Up the D Scale, Natalie’s Rose, Caribbean Island, Song For Christine, The D Major Scale, A Mozart Melody, Matthew’s March, Seminole Chant, Donkey Donkey / Bunny Hop, and Jingle Bells. Most of the songs were plucked but one or two were with bows. They played well but they could have been a bit louder. The second group that played was Intermediate Orchestra. Stephanie, Kailee, Kate, Drew, Ada, Cappy, Cooper, Ryder, Ella, Kalena, Zane, and Amaru are all the Intermediate Orchestra players. Intermediate Orchestra played First Scale March, Tribal Lament, Pepperoni Pizza, Frѐre Jacques, D Major Scale Up, Buckeye Salute, Grandparent’s Day, Ode to Joy, For Pete’s Sake, Michael Row the Boat Ashore, and A French Folk Song. Most of their songs were with bows and they also plucked some songs. They played well and they were loud enough. The last group to play was Advanced Orchestra. Lyric, Alyssa, Reyn, Winston, Calder, Paige, Ashlyn, Christopher, Phoebe, Naia, Neve, Julia, Pōmai, Meridian, Arabella, and Alethia. They played Nocturne, Fantasia on an Original Theme, Tangerine Rag, and Classic Christmas Medley. They mostly used bows except for Arabella because she is the harp. They played good and loud and well.

Po‘e Ka‘ahele's Kapa Making Assembly

Kapa Assembly Blog

By Ashlyn ’20

Today we had assembly! Our walk in song was taught to us by Mrs. Abbe, and it was called I Am Thankful For. After that, we sang Aia i ka poli o makiki, while Cary, Riley, Noah and Aiden played the ipu. Next was announcements. Ms. Gabby shared a lot of birthday books. Happy birthday to the Kulā‘iwi teacher, Mrs. Lee! For thought of the day, we said, “Makahana ka ike. In working one sees.” 

Then, we turned the assembly over to the entering Po’e Ka’ahele  students. They taught us all about their kapa experience. Did you know that in the olden days, the Hawaiians carved their ohe kapalas in bamboo? That was something I learned. The Po’e students had the privilege to make kapa with the wauke plant! Mrs. Varney taught the kids how to scrape off the bark and pound the wauke into a cloth-like fabric. Then, once it dries, it will be kapa! After they told us about that, each student talked a bit about their own process. The kapa print represents something about nature or navigation, like mountains or oceans. Some people put handprints of their peer’s on their cloth. It was inspiring to see everybody’s work because I saw many different ideas in each kapa. It was a very eye-opening experience and I can’t wait until Makahiki to see everyone wearing theirs!

Students Sharing Science!

Collaborative Studio and Science Project Sharing

by: Davan ’20

During today's assembly, we sang the song “Make New Friends” and “Hawaii Pono`i”. We had some really cool projects from the collaborative studio, like homemade zip bags and laser-cut wood designs. Then we got to see all of the Po‘e Ka‘ahele’s science projects. It was so hard to decide which one was my favorite because they were all very cool. I really liked the one about the “twister” because it is very mesmerizing to watch the bubbles go around and around. A few more of the projects were: Salt melting ice cubes and how the different amounts of salt affects how fast the ice cubes melted, and how different kinds of eggs react to white vinegar. We also learned the scientific method which is Idea, Hypothesis, Gather materials, Test, Results, and Conclusion.

2019 Children's Fair Mahalo

We Had Fun, Fun, Fun in the Sun, Sun, Sun at this Year’s Children’s Fair!

by Savita ’20

Aloha, today we’ll be talking about the assembly we had this week. During assembly we talked about the Children's Fair. Did you know they have been doing the fair for 95 years? This year’s fair was about coming together as a community. We also thanked all of the parents and faculty and students that helped with setting up this year’s fair, but also appreciated those who helped make our school logo. In total, the amount to lei that were made was around 80.  All of the lei were hand made and drawn by the children at our school. The lei were for all of the parents and faculty that helped our fair “come to life.” 

This year some of the kids were asked to share one of their favorite things they had/did at the fair, and why that was their favorite part. At the end of the assembly there was a slideshow that was presented about the highlights of the fair.          


Halloween Play Assembly

Po‘e Ka‘ahele Writes, Produces, and Performs Our 2019 Halloween Play…“The Darkest Alley”

By Kanalu ’20

This Friday for assembly, Po‘e 4th and 5th graders did a Halloween play. The Halloween play was about Laura, Lexi and Louis who all go trick or treating when something happens. A scarecrow kidnapped Laura and Lexi. The brother, Louis is trying to find help to get his sisters back. Louis has to defeat a Gobbler and a Queen. Some of the things they did in the Halloween play was a riff off, “surfing,” throwing bones, and hula. My favorite part was when the scarecrow kidnapped the sisters.




Music with Mrs. Abbe Assembly

Musical Traditions at Hanahau‘oli School

by Kainoa ’20

This week’s assembly was run by none other than Mrs. Abby (Mrs. Abby is our music teacher). So therefore the assembly was all about music and tradition! Classes from Kukunaokalā to Po‘e Ka‘ahele chose a song per home group that they thought was important enough to be passed on as a tradition.

First the Triangles from Kukunaokalā led us in singing “I Am What I Am.” A song that tells a story of journey. Next the Circles sang “Hanahau‘oli, You Are My Sunshine”. It’s a retake on the song you are my sunshine and it tells of how Hanahau‘oli is one big caring family. Next Kulā‘iwi shared the song Ho’omau Hanahau‘oli made by the children here at this school and our old music teacher Mr. Hirokawa. Next Po’e Ka’ahele led us in Ghost of John, a school favorite. Not last and not least Po’e Ka’ahele enters the ring once more with another amazing song, “The Button Factory.” (That one really made me move.) We sang a few more songs which were “On Top of Spaghetti,” “Singing in the Rain” and lastly, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” And that’s all for today folks.   


Kukunaokalā | Kulā'iwi | Po'e Ka'ahele

Our Multiage Classroom Names

by Alyssa ’20

Today at assembly, Uncle Blair taught all the new parents and students about our classroom names. He started off with “Kukuna O Ka Lā”. Kukuna means the beams, O Ka Lā means of the sun. Next, he talked about Kulā‘iwi. Kulā‘iwi means Our island home because “‘Iwi” means bones and "Kula" means large flat piece of land. Bones were buried at home in ancient Hawaiian times. So everywhere you go their are bones of our ancestors. In a way, we “stand” on our ancestors’ knowledge. Ali'i bones were hidden. Finally, Uncle Blair ended with Po’e Ka’a Hele. Po’e Ka’a Hele means the people who travel and that’s why Po‘e “travels” a lot. After Po’e Ka‘ahele, we closed with our school song. 

Our Hawaiian classroom names were graciously gifted to us by past parent, Auntie Lilinoe Ka‘ahanui (Nakoa ’03 and Nainoa ’07) when we became a multiage school in 1997. Kukunaokalā is grades K-1 and means “rays of the sun,” Kulā’iwi is grades 2-3 and means “our island home,” (KU- to stand, LA- light, day, sun, ʻIWI- bones of our ancestors - Standing in the light of those who came before; spiritual enlightenment, familial connection as to the reason you exist in any particular space) and Po‘e Ka‘ahele is grades 4-5 and means “the travelers.” JK and 6th Grade retain their grade level names. Mahalo, Auntie Lilinoe!



BEE-autiful Kukunaokalā Assembly

Kukunaokalā’s Bee Assembly

By Ava ’20

What a bee-utiful assembly Kukunaokalā (K-1) students performed for us. This assembly was based on our bees in the rainbow house, there was a hive living under a plank that was producing new bees every day. Kukunaokalā produced detailed drawings about bees, punts, a mini-play and had great costumes. I learned that it takes one bee 42 days to make 7 drops of honey, I am wondering how much time it takes to make a full bottle of delicious honey. I also learned that a queen bee can lay 2,000 eggs in one day! After Kukunaokalā laid all of the facts down they introduced a beekeeper they called Aunty Jasmine. She helped take the bees out of the rainbow house by finding the queen and without hurting any one of them.  Aunty Jasmine was at the assembly to answer any other questions that we had. There were a lot of questions, to a very interesting topic. Bees are a very wonderful insects to have in this society. If not for them, we would have almost no fruit as bees are responsible for pollinating flowers and we couldn’t enjoy smooth and sweet honey. I hope that everyone understands the impact and importance for humans.


6th Grade Camp Mokuleia Assembly

6th Grade Camp Assembly Blog

By Elle ’20

At our Friday Assembly, Ms. Gabby presented 4-5 birthday books. The Civic Club had an announcement about the Fair for the White Elephant and why people should donate their old stuff to the White Elephant. After the announcements, 6th Grade started our presentation about our trip to Mokuleia Camp. The Mokuleia Camp is when 6th graders go to a camp on the North Shore and learn fun activities. The activities help us by knowing we can trust each other and to be more comfortable around each other. By the end of our presentation our goal was to give the younger students a teaser of what camp is like. We mostly shared about the activities, how we did them and why we did them. The activities we presented were Riff Off, Toxic Pond, Pipe Line, Team Juggle, Cookie Machine and Group Sit. Of course there are more activities we did but we chose to show these because they were the safest and we had the props to do them with.



Chinese History and the Au Family Home Assembly

Mahalo to the Au Family for Our School’s New Adjacent Property

Today's assembly was devoted to learning more about the new property that the school recently purchased and the family who owned it -- Lai Fong Au and her husband, Edward S.H. Au. We are lucky that their grandson, Robert Au, was at assembly to share his stories growing up on the property.

The Assembly started with everyone singing, "Who are the People in your Neighborhood?" which is a Sesame Street song. Ms. Woo started the assembly by sharing that the school started a long time ago thinking about expanding the campus. During Centennial Year, the Au family approached the school and asked if we were interested in buying the property and we said, "Yes!" She mentioned that the Board of Trustees helped to make these big decisions for the school.

Dr. Makaiau shared the timeline of how the Chinese immigrated to the US and to Hawaii. Students shared signs they made of key dates to show us the order of the events that happened in history and to see how one event may have caused or led to another. The Chinese sailors joined Captain Cook's Voyage to Hawaii in 1778 and went to the mainland in 1785. When they came, the Chinese did not have the same rights as people with white-colored skin. Chinese started the first commercial sugar business in Hawaii in 1802 and became contract laborers in the sugar industry in 1852. Honolulu's Chinatown was started in 1860.

In 1882, the USA Chinese Exclusion Act was passed meaning that the Chinese could no longer immigrate to the US. We saw a video on the Chinese Exclusion Act and Laoshi asked about what we say and how did the video make us feel.

As Hawaii was not part of the US at this time, many Chinese came to work on the plantations in Hawaii.

Mrs. Wong told us the story about Lai Fong Au family. They got married in 1911 and Lai Fong was a picture bride which meant their marriage was arranged and she was picked from a picture to marry Mr. Au by his parents. Edward Au did not return home to Hawaii right away but fought in the Chinese Revolutionary War in 1911 led by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen to free the Chinese people from the tyranny of the Qing Dynasty. They succeeded and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen is now known as the Father of the Nation in China. He is well-known in Hawaii too because he studied at Punahou and Iolani before the revolution began.

Mr. Edward Au brought Lai Fong back to Hawaii and they became entrepreneurs and opened up their own business. The Lai Fong Department store on Nu‘uanu Avenue opened in 1947. One half of the store was a travel agency and the other half was for selling all sorts of things such as porcelain, furniture, jewelry, rugs, cloissoné and antiques. Lai Fong was a dress designer and also sold the Chinese traditional dress, cheongsams. Mrs. Chen wore her cheongsam and modeled it for us.

Grandson, Bob Au, fielded questions from children in the audience and shared stories about how he would sneak over to school to play on the playground and in the trees, but no one at school kicked him out! He remembers having wonderful holidays in the home with the big extended family and going over to play at our school founder, Sophie Judd Cooke's house where he’d pick the largest avocados he’s ever seen in his life! He also shared that his grandparents bought the house because the address is 1911 Ke‘eaumoku Street and 1911 was the year of the Chinese Revolution! We hope Mr. Au will return to share more stories with us again soon!

It was nice to learn more about the history of the property and to meet and hear Mr. Au.

Uncle Masa's Assembly with Mr. Miyamoto

A Fun, Local Welcome to Our Newest ‘Ohana!

By Paige ’20

Today, Friday the thirteenth we walked in to the song All I Really Need played by Uncle Blair Sataraka and Uncle Jake Shimabukuro. Our Po‘e Ka‘ahele friends shared that the full moon festival was tonight. We also learned that the new Children’s Fair theme was “Fun in the Sun” and T-shirt logo was designed by: Isabella, Ava, Momoko, Julia, Kaleo and Brielle, in grade 6. Today’s thought of the day was “Happy Aloha Friday, full moon, Friday the thirteenth” by Kulāiwi. This assembly was done by Uncle Masa (Mr. Miyamoto). He had three special guests come up onto stage Ms. Gabby, Mrs. Chris and Ms. Lee Loy, they sang a song that taught us pidgin 101. We also heard a story that told us about Hawaii’s official food, dough. Uncle Masa said that the unofficial, official food of Hawaii is the Spam musubi. Then we ended assembly with our school song.

Why We Celebrate Labor Day

Why We Celebrate Labor Day Assembly with Ms. Gabby

By: Lyric ’20


Today was our 3rd assembly! Today, our walk in song was I Am What I Am, followed by Makenzie and Ada sharing their birthday books. Our thought of the day was Pu Pu Kahi I Holomua - Unite To Move Forward. Ms. Gabby took over the assembly. First, we discussed what labor means and why we celebrate Labor Day. Part of why we celebrate Labor Day is to acknowledge that today children get to go to school and play during recess, but back then (early 20th Century and earlier) they had to work. We also compared the differences between a photo which took place in 1901 and a photo in 2019. After Ms. Gabby read a book called “Harvesting - Hope; A Tale of Cesar Chavez” it happens to not be a birthday book too. (It’s a good book to choose!). Harvesting Hope was about Cesar Chavez and having to move his farm because of a drought. After he quit school and had to work at a farm for money but didn’t get enough money. So he started a strike and many people joined as they were walking towards the California capital. Eventually they arrived with 10,000 people and celebrated that they would get a raise in pay and more freedom. We reflected on the story when Ms. Gabby finished reading. Then, as always, we sang our school song!

Mea Hawai'i Assembly with Uncle Blair Sataraka

Mea Hawai'i Assembly with Uncle Blair Sataraka
By Chris ’20

On Friday, we started our day walking into the pavilion singing Eia Makou. We had our daily birthday book sharing from Ms. Gabby. Today, two students shared their birthday books, Raiden who turned 8 and his brother Renyn who shared his FIRST birthday book as a Hanahau‘oli student! Following that a few teachers shared their birthdays, Mrs. Yamamoto, Mrs. Deluca and Ms. Lee Loy. Our second, and last announcement came from Ms. Lisa telling us about after school enrichment classes and sign-ups. Kukunaokalā had the task of leading thought of the day; they chose Kūlia i Ka Nu‘u - strive to reach the top! Uncle Blair chose to do assembly today and it also happens to be his birthday! Happy Birthday, Anakala! Uncle Blair chose to do the assembly about Mana‘o o Ka Lā which means Thought of the Day and had each class show their assigned Thought of the Day. 6th Grade chose to do Pūpūkahi i Holomua - Unite to Move Forward! Together we learned how to sing happy birthday in Hawaiian. We then closed with ‘Oli Mahalo and our School Song.


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First Assembly of the School Year 2019-2020

First Assembly of the School Year!

By: Cary

The first assembly of the year is a success! On Friday the 23rd of August 2019 we had our very first assembly of the year. In this assembly Ms. Woo and other teachers/staff (Mrs. Lee, Mr. McGregor, Dr. Travis and Ms. Eldredge) read the book “We Don’t Eat Our Classmates.” This was a book about a T-Rex named Penelope who eats her classmates because she can’t help it. They taste too good. But after getting bitten by a vicious goldfish, she realized how her classmates felt when she ate them. So she stopped eating her classmates no matter how tasty they looked. A perfect book to start off the school year, and most importantly to remind us not to eat our classmates.  



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The Power of Play by Lia Woo featured in Honolulu Family

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August 19, 2019

honolulu family Education cheat sheet: The Power of Play

Don't put off playtime! Here is why we should all take it seriously for our kids.

As the head of an elementary school, I think about children and childhood extensively. I also think about my childhood and how I would play for hours in my room, running a pretend bookstore or reading aloud to my well-behaved and attentive class of stuffed animals. I think about my daughters today and how much joy they experience when creating an original play, complete with costumes and music, on an easy Sunday afternoon or catching a “party wave” in the Kailua shore break. I think about how my 9-year-old plays with my iPhone camera, working with different modes to create a great photo.

I also think about how difficult childhood is today. The accelerated and overscheduled pace of life, the intense expectations (which, for kids, often result in equally intense feelings of anxiety, fear and stress), the easy access to disturbing and inappropriate content, the public nature of social dynamics and the sometimes debilitating worry of parents that children cannot recover from feelings of disappointment, loss and failure.

At times it feels society fails to protect childhood. Exacerbating irony is the fact that recent research tells us so much more about the importance of this time in child development. Schools must intervene and persist in honoring our children’s younger years as its own distinct stage of life and valuing play as a child’s work.

I advocate that schools and parents take play seriously. In play, children explore their curiosities, develop initiative and problem-solving skills. They practice focusing attention and persisting in pursuit of their own ideas and goals. They learn to communicate, compromise, cooperate, empathize and self-regulate. They take risks, imagine, and most importantly, find and experience joy. It is also important for parents to join in. Observing and participating in play with our children helps us continually understand who they are, their unique interests and talents, humor and sensitivities, not to mention it brings us joy.

I hope the resources shared lead to many more minutes of reflective thought regarding how to prioritize play.

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