Kawainui Marsh/Ulupo Heaiu

On Monday we went to Kawainui Marsh in Kailua. The students learned about the sacred heaiu (temple) that is on the property. We also got to walk through the marsh and our guide told us about its many uses throughout history. We ended the day by helping move hau branches up a hill using a fire line.

Kanawai Lo'i

On Friday the keiki got to go to Kanewai Lo'i located on the UH Manoa campus. They learned about taro and how it was planted and cared for by the ancient Hawaiians. They also got to walk up the stream and learn about how the Hawaiians used the water so sustainably. The student got to go inside the lo'i and helped push the leaves into the mud so that it would be fertilized.

Print Makers

This week the kids picked a native animal from within the ahupua'a. Using the Ipads, the students researched about their animals and found pictures that they used to help them sketch in their journal. Some animals included: the Hawaiian monk seal, o'opu, i'iwi, puhi, Hawaiian bat, 'ani'ani'au, elepaio, and more! Today the students took their sketches down to the art room and began creating a more formal picture that will be used for a block print. The students worked with Mr. Mosher and Ms. Oda.

Haumana Reflections: Green House Workshops

Natural Dyes. by: Kawena

I really liked making the natural dyes out of the lipstick plant, uki uki and olena. People can also make curry out of Olena thats why when we got back to the classroom from recess it smelt like curry! I learned that to make dye out of the lipstick plant you crush the individual seeds instead of the seed pod. I didn’t think it was going to make a dye but then we mixed it with water and poof it was dye like.

Natural Dyes. by: Carson

Yesterday we learned how to make dyes. We learned what plants the Hawaiians used to make all these different dyes. I learned which items made a certain color. We also got to make a paint brush out of a hala fruit. We rubbed it on the concrete until it got soft.

Papermaking. by: Shannon

I thought the papermaking was cold and I thought the Hawaiians had great ideas of how to use plants for everything. But it was also kind of disgusting, I didn’t like the feel or the stinky smell. The smell was really bad. But I really liked pounding and cutting the plants. I also enjoyed that the Hawaiians only used nature instead of using the un-nature or “bad” earth things that we use today. I am excited to see and use my paper tomorrow. I liked that people bring back what the Hawaiians did and teach it to people so they can pass it on.

Papermaking. by: Garrett

Today I learned that it takes a lot of time and effort just to make one pier of paper. We had to shred ginger and cut the stem. Then we had to break apart cereal boxes, next we had to pound the ginger stems with a rubber hammer. Finally we had to blend everything so it would be like strings. We got to strain it through a sponge and put it on the window to dry. We used a roller to get the paper off the sponge. Thats how many steps it takes just to make on piece of paper!

Paper Making with GreenHouse Hawaii

GreenHouse Hawaii worked with our students this week through two workshops - Natural Dyes and Papermaking. The students worked together to create dyes from a variety of plants and dirt. They also collaborated to make paper.

Haumana Reflections: Bishop Museum and Kroc Center

Bishop Museum by: Kapena: Bishop Museum was very interesting. I got to see a necklace made out of hair. I learned that it was for mana and royalty. There was also a computer that said all these different words in different languages. There were also very important chicken bones. They came from China and were brought to Hawaii by the Hawaiians. The museum had a whale made of papermaché and the inside was all the bones. They had pictures of all the kings and their kahilis. I really liked looking at the pictures. There was also a dinosaur exhibit, there were some pretty scary dinosaurs. In the exhibit I got to control a dinosaur robot. Then our class went to the science center and saw how volcanoes form. That was cool. We then went to the planetarium and I saw the Wayfinder video. We learned about the Hokuleia that is a canoe that’s sailing across the world.

Maui and his fishhook by: Jarren: The first place we went to was the Hawaiian Hall, here we learned about the story of Maui. Maui’s mom was very hungry and sent her four sons out to sea to catch a fish. They used ‘alae’ula as bait on the hook to catch a huge fish named Pimoe. His body was so big and his head was bigger than the Bishop Museum. When Maui caught the fish he started pulling him out of the water, Maui was staring at the fish and the fish was staring at Maui. Maui told his brothers not to look back but they were scared and one brother turned around. This causes Pimoe to let go of the hook, it shot into the air and became a constellation. Pimoe body broke into many pieces and became the Hawaiian Islands.

Bishop Museum by: Mia: I had the best time at the Bishop Museum! At the dinosaur exhibit I learned that most dinosaurs a long time ago lived in America, (Montana, Colorado, Texas and Illinois). We then went to the science center and went through a tunnel. The tunnel had a special light that would make anything white glow! After the tunnel there were different exhibits that taught us about volcanos. There was one that we got to spin a wheel and the wax came out like lava from a volcano. I had so much fun!!

The Kroc Center by: Kasin: At the Kroc Center I went on the slides with my friends Garret and Kyle. We raced to see which slide was faster. We also had to do a swim test, me and Garret both passed the test. That meant that we got to swim in the competition pool. We also got to go on the high diving board. Me and Garrett jumped like 12 times! After that we went back on the slides until the end of the day. The Kroc Center was very fun. My favorite things were the high dive and the slides.

Kroc Center by: Ava: At the Kroc Center I went down the orange slide and I thought it was scary cause it was so dark. I had only been on slides with no cover. I went with Mia on the slide and when I came out I thought it was fun. Then I went first on the other slide and Mia followed me. I really wanted to try the lazy river so I went there. I liked swimming the lazy river, it was really fun. My favorite part of the whole day was going on the green slide.

Kroc Center by: Christina: The Kroc Center was amazing. First Anika and I went on the lazy river it was so fun. Then Anika wanted to go on the two person slide. At first I was really scared, then I realized it was really really fun. We went on it again again. I kept on getting splash but I had a lot of fun!

Drownproofing at the pool!

Our "drown proofing" test ended up being a blast and more like pool time fun! The kids did a great job and they loved splashing around. It was a great way for the kids to get to know each other as well. For the test, small groups of 4 had to swim across the pool (from side to side - not end to end) and back. Even those who were not feeling so confident at the beginning were able to do it and had a great sense of accomplishment.