A Ban on Silly Bands / Silly Bandz

However you spell them, they are lots of fun and this year's version of Pogs or Pet Rocks, or maybe even Pokemon cards.  But school is not the place for them, our faculty has decided.  We announced to the students this week that the campus is off-limits for Silly Bands.  This is a serious embargo, and teachers or other staff members may confiscate any Silly Bands they see, so it would be silly indeed for any young trader to seek his or her fortune here.  We are all about learning this year, and unfortunately the Silly Bands have become a big distraction in the classroom. We tried limiting them to recess, but too many students just can't avoid the temptation of trading during class time. So, please help us see that no more Silly Bands make their way on campus, even if your children promise to keep them in the backpack.

Federal Concern with Schools

Contributing to Storm Water Pollution

 A federal requirement for all public schools is the annual distribution of information about storm-water disposal and pollution prevention.  In compliance, we are providing you with a link to four fact sheets that may answer some of your questions, and a crossword puzzle that will help teach your children the vocabulary of storm water runoff.  Our weather reporters tell us this week and weekend will be wet ones, and a further look ahead forecasts a very wet season-so, here's your chance to pick up some timely tips.

Click here for the puzzle and the following fact sheets:  Lanikai School-specific fact sheet;  Protecting Water Quality from Urban/Suburban Runoff;  Home and Garden Storm Water Pollution Solution;  Car Wash.

Kaneohe Marines and Lanikai Students:

A Winning Combination

With the renewal in September of a compact between Lanikai School and the Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, these two partners start the seventh year of working together in the Adopt-A-School program.  Each year our Marine partners expand students' learning opportunities in a variety of ways from weekly after school tutoring to whole school trips to the base. 

They bring music-from jazz to marches, provide and install playground equipment, lead students in calisthenics, talk with sixth graders about preparing for careers in and outside the military, and most notably, they build our signature Haunted House each October.

Perhaps even more important is the message they send to our kids each time they meet: "Stay in school, work hard, stay out of trouble, and set your goals high." 

Don't be shy about thanking these men and women for their contribution to our kids, as well as their contribution to our nation's safety. 

Starting in the next month or so, our 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th graders will be climbing and sliding on a new playground structure during recess.  Jaime Higgins, chairing our Board's Facilities Committee, is managing the installation of the equipment that we obtained through a successful request for a $50,000 Hawaii 3R's grant. The 3R's initiative to Repair, Remodel and Restore the multi-million dollar maintenance backlog in our public schools was introduced in 2001 by U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye.   The program's mission is to bring outside financial and human resources together, matching state, federal, and private funds with volunteerism -- "sweat equity" -- both skilled and unskilled.

We applied for the grant in 2009 to provide replacements for old playground equipment that had to be removed for safety reasons, and though the grant was approved, adequate funding was not available at the time. This year funding has been restored and we are moving ahead with the installation.

On the last few Saturdays, a stalwart troop of parents has been providing the required sweat equity to prepare the ground, and cement pouring was completed on  Saturday, October 16.  Our thanks and recognition for their participation goes out to Art Higgins, Paul Perry, Aaron Kreitzer, David D'avior, and Chris Pedrina for the muscle and sweat they have contributed so far; to Amron Cement for donating the cement; and to Greg Perrin of American Standard Concrete Pumping, who is donating the pumping of the cement this weekend.  The PTSA has provided lunch to the workers.  Installation of the structure will be completed by the end of December.

If any of you can help us by joining a working crew, please call Jaime Higgins at 753-7743.

Dear Parents,

As some of you know, we had a great series of Parenting Workshops over five weeks in August and September. Kathy Bentley, of Kathy's Parenting Solutions, came once a week to share her great parenting tips with us. Some of the topics covered were: "Yes, Boys and Girls are Different", "Setting Rules and Boundaries", and "Money and Allowance". If you could not make it to the workshops, Kathy is available for individual work with families, and she will actually come to your home to help you set up systems that work. Call me if you are interested in getting help from Kathy, or you can go to her website: www.kathysparentingsolutions.com.

For those of you with older children, ages 11 and up, that are still "searching for answers" about parenting, there is a workshop coming up at Kailua High School.  The Parent Project will be starting Oct. 19, from 5-8pm in room F-11.  Please contact me if you would like to attend.

I have continued visiting the classrooms with our Anti-Bullying and Character Education programs. For the JK - 3, we are watching the video "Stop Teasing Me", which focuses on "pleasing instead of teasing". For 4^th - 6^th, we are watching "How I Learned Not To Be Bullied", which talks about what you can do when you see someone being bullied, or if you are bullied.

Our Character Value for the month of October is RESPONSIBILITY! Talk to your children about what it means to them, and what it means to you and your family.

Our students in the STAR Tech team have been making videos relating to these issues, and they can be found on the Lanikai website.

 Julie Halpern, School Counselor