We are well into the "final mile", 4th quarter of the 2011-2012 school year. As we reflect on the past quarters, we at Ma'ema'e have seen tremendous growth in our children in the social, emotional, physical and academic areas.

Faculty and staff will continue to Dream Big and Work Hard for the students! Please continue to partner with us as we sprint the last mile of our yearly journey to educate your child (ren). Join us by encouraging / cheering our children on to do their best to "work hard!" till the finish!

Faculty and staff will continue to Dream Big and Work Hard for the students! Please continue to partner with us as we sprint the last mile of our yearly journey to educate your child (ren). Join us by encouraging / cheering our children on to do their best to "work hard!" till the finish!

Continue to read and practice math skills with your children each night to help them master individual skills. They will benefit with the extra practice and will have more experiences to solve problems, interpret meaning from a passage and comprehend what they read. Reading aloud to your child every night is also an excellent activity that you can get into the habit of doing.

April is a month of high spirits, which will quickly lead us into the month of May. We will culminate the school year with our annual Family Night event, which all students look forward too!

Thank you parents for your continued support and let us all look forward to the last quarter of the year.

Sincerely,

VP Kobayashi

Round Three: Final HSA Testing in Reading and Math will begin in April.

As a parent you can help with testing by practicing the following:

1. Attendance is critical! See that your child (ren) attends school everyday and is prompt, on time and ready to begin school at 8:00 AM.
2. Be sure that your child is well rested and gets plenty of sleep the night before testing.
3. Be sure that your child eats a healthy breakfast each morning. A healthy body leads to a healthy, active and sharp mind.
4. Encourage your child to do his/ her very best. A good attitude leads to good results.

Your efforts to partner with the school are greatly appreciated. It definitely "takes a village" to educate all of our children. Thank you for your help and we look forward to a successful 2011-2012 school year.

The Kindergarten Class of 2024 presented their Global Cultures Mini Museum on March 19, 2012.

A dream came true for the Kindergarteners! The fruits of their work were presented in the mini museum of art exhibit under the tutelage of Honolulu Art Academy artist, Ms. Alyce Dodge.

The Mini Museum was a display of multi cultural art and interactive activities from around the world. The exhibit featured vessels, sculptures, prints, and weaving all created by our very own budding young artists.

The kindergarten class sends out a Big Mahalo to the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Artists in the Schools Program for supporting education and art appreciation in the public schools.

The Mini Museum was open for viewing in the school library from Monday, March 19 through March 30, 2012.

The Kindergarteners also enjoyed a celebration of culture on March 23 after the Spring Fest by learning cultural arts and feasting on a spectacular multi cultural buffet coordinated by the parents of each Gr. K class. What a wonderful parent involvement activity!

Thank you parents for your dedication to partner with the school in educating our children! The students of Ma'ema'e are so very fortunate.

On March 6, 2012, the fifth graders had their annual Science Fair Projects judged. This was the culmination of a 3 month project that students worked on. Each student went through the whole scientific process from doing research, stating a hypothesis, conducting an experiment while at the same time controlling all the variables and completing a booklet and a board to display their findings.

The following are the top Science Fair Projects: (see attached). Congratulations 5th Graders for all of your hard work and for doing such a splendid job! You should be commended for all of your efforts!

Ma `ema` e School is proud to have dedicated and supportive parents, who will consistently give up their time to support all students.

We would like to recognize these special parents and significant people.

Thank you to the following:

• Sharon Suzuki (ukulele and vocals)

Aunty of ZT, K-21

• Kevin Rost (Drums)

Daughter, KR, 2-12

• Kalama Koanui (electric guitar)

Husband of teacher, Elaine Koanui, Gr.4

• Ron Miyashiro (keyboards)

Former PTSA President

• Kelly Asato, counselor (vocals)
• Myles Ibara, SSC (technician)
• Matt Nakamura,counselor  (guitar,vocals,coordinator)

These individuals have continually helped the school by providing the musical entertainment for all classroom teachers, PTSA and school special events.

Thank you for adding that special musical touch to our 1st Spring Fest! What a delight!

School Community Council (SCC) is pleased to announce that Lorie Ann Madariaga, mother of fourth grader JM, will be serving as your Parent Alternate Representative on the council.

A Parent Alternate must be a primary caregiver with whom a child currently attending Ma`ema`e resides. It cannot be an employee of the school. This is a one-year term.

We thank her for accepting the position and wish her well in her new position.

Parents, please make sure your child(ren) know their after school pick-up routine.

If your child is enrolled in the A+ program, tutoring or other on-campus after school program, he/she should report there immediately after school ends.

If your child walks home or is being picked up, please remember that school ends at 2:15 PM on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 12:25 PM on Wednesdays. For safety reasons, students should not loiter or be left unattended on campus after the school day ends.

Adults, parents and guardians please be mindful of traffic signs and drive with caution in the school driveways and parking and drop-off areas. It has been brought to our attention that adults are not adhering to traffic rules. This is not safe for our students, faculty and parents!

This issue was brought to the attention of our JPO police advisor and we were instructed to do the following:

* Take down the license plate number and description of the car

* Give a friendly reminder about driving safely in the school environment

* Repeat offenders will have their license plate # submitted to the police

Please keep our school campus safe! Think about the safety of our children!

Thank you for your understanding and attention to this matter!

Ma`ema`e sent home two important flyers in the month of March:

* Returning Ma`ema`e students for SY 2012-2013 (Due back to the teacher by Thursday, March 8)

* 5th Grade students projected to elementary or middle schools (public or private) for 2012-2013 (Due back to the teacher by Thursday, March 8)

The flyers are designed to help Ma`ema`e fulfill its class lists for the upcoming school year, as well as assist our middle schools with registration. If you have not turned in this form, please do so soon!

The 2nd semester Menu was distributed in December 2011 with the Dec. Parent Bulletin. For an additional copy, please refer to the Dec. Bulletin on-line or stop by the school office.

Meal Prices

As of September 1, 2011, school meal prices are:

Breakfast

Regular student breakfast$1.00

Reduced price student breakfast$0.30

Second and subsequent student breakfasts $2.20

Adult breakfast$2.20

Lunch

Regular student lunch$2.25

Reduced price student lunch$0.40

Second student lunch$5.00

Adult lunch$5.00

Breakfast with Your Child

Parents/adults are welcome to eat breakfast with their child but due to Federal Rules and Regulations, parents/adults are not allowed to eat from the student's plate.   Adults may purchase their own breakfast at $2.20.   Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.  

Mealtime Reminders

 We would like to extend ourgratitude to parents/guardians who have been keeping track of their child's Mealtime account diligently.   We appreciate your support and cooperation!

 Negative Balance Notices

Just a reminder that our staff will continue to send home negative balance notices through your child. If your child's balance reaches a $11.25 negative balance or $2.00 negative balance for a child under the reduced lunch program, he/she will not be able to purchase a lunch (in accordance with Hawaii State Department of Education School Food Service Policy).   We strongly encourage parents to make regular deposits into their child's Mealtime account.  

The cost of eating both a breakfast and a lunch daily in an average month (20 school days) is approximately $65.00. We strongly encourage parents to make regular cash deposits into their child's Mealtime account.

Adult Breakfast

For parents or other adults accompanying their child for breakfast, please bring exact change with you to pay for your meal ($2.20 for adults) as we have a very limited change fund.

Recess Juice/Milk Purchases

Also of note, if your child is under the Federal Lunch program (free or reduced meals) and he/she purchases juice or milk during morning recess, please make sure you have sufficient funds in your child's account to cover these ala carte items.

Yearbook Orders

Please come to the library if you would like to place a yearbook order. The cost is $20.

Book Fair

Our spring book fair is just around the corner and this year each child can earn a $5 coupon towards a purchase of a book at the book fair. On April 2, if your child has no overdue books, he/she will receive a coupon. Special Book Fair Events: April 30 - Sneak Peek for parents, grandparents, family, friends during the school day. A chance for you to purchase or preview books before the book sale is open to students. The library will also be open later on Monday and Friday (Family Night).

All proceeds go to help to buy more books for the library. Thank you for your support!

Book fair hours:

April 30, Monday, 7:30 - 4:00 p.m.

May 1, Tuesday, 7:30 - 3:00 p.m.

May 2, Wednesday, 7:30 - 3:00 p.m.

May 3, Thursday, 7:30 - 3:30 p.m.

May 4, Friday, 7:30 - 4:00 p.m.

Sandy Domion

595-5400 ext. 233

Technology Fundraisers

• General Mills Labels (next shipment will be in November). General Mills Labels will now be under Student Council.  We'll put a box for collection in the office.
• Recycling Ink Cartridges and Toners - Intrade (847-5300) will pick them up at your office if you tell them, they'll credit to Ma'ema'e, or send to the office or lab.
• Office Depot - 5% back to the school (designate Ma'ema'e) on qualifying purchases (ask Office Depot for a list of qualifying purchases) School ID Number - 70027176

Gifted and Talented Enrichment Experiences

As the third quarter drew to a close, most GT classes had entered the final stages of webpage creation and are now putting the last touches onto their work. Their completed pages will be published in the next few weeks and will be ready for viewing on the Ma`ema`e website. The Renshi and Color Poetry samples from our recent Everyone's Enrichment Experience are now ready for viewing on the school site and represent some of the imaginative work that has been completed by students from Grades Kindergarten through Grade 5. We hope you will enjoy the work that has been posted.

During the final quarter of school, all students will be introduced to "Mindful Breathing" as a way to help focus our energy as learners. Activating our breathing purposefully, in turn, has the benefit of reducing stress and can actually impact better awareness when students do school work, homework, and even test taking. Students are excited to see if this will help them on their upcoming final HSA test session. Many of the students are eager to see how much growth they will make now that they have practiced this "mindfulness/awareness" technique. Please ask your child to share the experience and how visualization of a walk to the beach made him/her feel.

Our final EEE session will expand on this concept, as well as involve the students in a creative venture as we do a "recycled" art project. If you have any "used" and/or no longer needed CD or DVD disks, please send them to the GT classroom - Room 42. We will be grateful for the chance to use them during our upcoming project. Thanks!

FAMILY NIGHT 2012

Ma`ema`e School's annual Family Night, Friday May 4, 2012 is fast approaching!

We still need a lot of help! Please come to our next Family Night Planning meeting on Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 5:30 PM in the school library if you are interested in volunteering your time to help out.

A donation drive was held on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM. Volunteers were in the front of the school (bus shelter) and at the cafeteria catwalk to assist with unloading your donations from your car. We needed the following for this donation drive:

• Lightly used toys, books, activities, household items and other sale-able items for our Bargain Bin
• Cases of bottled water
• Cases of canned soda or juice
• 2 liter bottles of soda (soda floats)
• Spam
• White rice
• White sugar
• Zip Loc plastic bags (all sizes)
• Donations for our Prize Redemption booth, small or large toys, electronic games, riding toys, bikes, activities, puzzles, novelty toys, dolls, etc. (Brand new preferred)

We are also asking for monetary donations or gift cards from Costco, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, CVS/Longs, Target, Kmart and all grocery stores. These will be used to purchase supplies.

Sign ups for shifts will be circulated soon so be on the lookout!

Everyone get involved for the funds go to educating our children! Thank you for your continued support, your generosity of time, money and effort!

Family Night will be another fabulous event because of you!

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Melanie Kawai, Family Night Chairperson

Melanie.kawai@yahoo.com

The PTSA would like to send a special MAHALO to the hard-working Ma`ema`e Dads who have spearheaded the addition of a new container located on the "Big Field."

The 40' Matson container will be used to store Family Night and PTSA equipment as we were outgrowing the old leaky one!

Thank you John Chung (AC), Robin Hashimoto (TH and KH), Craig Anderson (KA), and James Kawai (IK) for taking time off of work to assist with the safe delivery of the container to the school and organizing this project for us all!

Thank you to those families who were able to donate to our first Family Night Donation Drive on March 28, 2012.

And . . . it's still not too late to send items!

We're still short of our goals and will continue to accept donations up until April 13, 2012.

Room 33 has generously allowed us to use their classroom as a rendezvous drop off point.

We are accepting donations of the following:

• Bottled water (50 more cases needed)
• Canned juice (20 more cases needed)
• Canned soda (20 cases needed)
• White rice (17 more 20# bags needed)
• Spam (30 more cans needed)

Please send these donations with your child to Room 33 and the Family Night Committee will retrieve them.

Otherwise, the next donation drive will be on April 13 from 7-8 am and 5:30 - 7pm (during Movie Night)

PTSA REMINDERS:  

Family Night Meeting: April 4, 2012 @ 5:30pm in the school library

2nd Family Night Donation Drive

Friday, April 13, 2012

7-8 AM

3rd Family Night Donation Drive: Friday April 13, 2012

5:30-7pm (during movie night)

By Wendy Yoshioka-Moore

It's April, oh my, our annual Family Night is next month! Hope you all had a chance to place your pre-sale ticket order. The deadline for pre-sale is Friday, April 13th. Otherwise, scripts and ride tickets will be available at Family Night for purchase at regular price. A big mahalo goes out to Michelle Hashimoto who will be handling the pre-sale and Family Night finances.

Noteworthy expenses for March 2012:

Brian Takeuchi (Tech Support)   $5,730.36

Classroom Support (Teachers/Staff) $900.00

Family Night Supplies/Expenses   $2,294.71

JPO snacks   $26.34

JPO Movie Excursion (Gomes Bus Service)   $178.00

2nd Grade Reef Walk Supplies   $62.03

4th Grade Bishop Museum (Gomes Bus Service)   $356.00

4th Grade Bishop Museum snacks   $56.12

Volunteer Fund   $300.00

Principal's Fund   $200.00

Please join us on Sunday, April 29 for the second annual Honolulu 5K fun run through downtown Honolulu. All entry fees will be given to the school to help support the school's PE and sports program. Please sign up online at www.honolulu5k.org by April 22 (online deadline) or use the paper entries (April 18 deadline).   Don't forget to designate Ma'ema'e School as the recipient of your entry fee. Mahalo !

4/2/12

• All: JRFH Kickoff Assembly- 1:30 pm

4/3/12

• Gr. 4/29 and 4/29: Kamananui Valley Hike- 8:-00 am to 2:00 pm

4/4/12

• Gr. K and Pre-School: HTY Play-May Day Is Lei Day - 8:15 am to 10:00 am

4/6/12

• Good Friday Holiday

4/13/12

• Gr. 4 and 5: Roosevelt Complex Track Meet at RHS - 8:00 am to 1:00 pm

4/13/12

• PTSA Movie Night - 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm

4/25/12

• Gr.2: UH Play - 8:15 am to 10:20 am

4/27/12

• Gr. 1: Mothers' Day Tea - 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

4/27/12

• Gr. K: Honolulu Zoo - 8:15 am to 12:30 pm