Aloha from Kaua'i Pacific School

Kaua'i Pacific School Newsletter

Issue: #4 October 1, 2009

THOUGHTS FROM THE PRINCIPAL

At the age of 16, I visited the United Nations. Enthralled that people from all over the world were working together for World Peace, I decided to devote my life to this cause. Our peace parade was designed to raise awareness about peace and to get our students thinking about how they can personally contribute to a more peaceful world. We are quite aware that peace cannot be understood just by marching in a parade. There are many layers of peace education and it is a complex topic linked to environmental, political, economic and social issues that most of us have no control over on a macro level. However, peace starts on a micro level, in our classrooms, on the playground, in our homes, and in our local communities.

This year, our teachers did a fantastic job teaching our students just that! They helped students see that peace starts from within and that learning to have peaceful interactions with their peers and with their families is one of the keys to achieving a more peaceful planet. They provided students opportunities to share what peace means to them in a variety of oral, written and artistic forms. Third and fourth graders learned conflict resolution strategies and fifth and sixth graders learned what happens to children when countries go to war through their reading of Zlata's Diary.

We would like to extend a great big mahalo to those who supported and joined our parade! We are very proud of the deep understanding we observed as evidenced by our students messages of peace. Although they were all amazing, here are two of my favorites!

A Poem By Sam Goldberg, 6th grade
WAR
blood, torture
fighting, bombing, shooting
loud, scared, quiet, calm
loving, caring, sharing
happiness, goodness
PEACE

The Peace Poem by Kaihalana Locey grade 6
Peace is love
Peace is caring
Peace is joy
Peace is sharing
Peace and quiet
Makes me happy
So I don't
Get all snappy
Peace is our future
Peace is our past
Peace is the thing
That will make us all last

Check out our Peace Day Photos by clicking here!

Appreciations

SPECIAL THANKS TO......

David Mireles and Michael Maroney for installing new siding on the front yurt and fixing the floors inside.
Thanks also to Gary Seals and Michael Ioanna who dropped by and spent some time helping.
David Mireles for doing our recycling on the weekends!
The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders for hosting our first two Friday Festivals. So far we have raised around $250 which will go towards class sustainability projects.
Denise Dion-Scoyni, Christine Bandsma and the fifth and sixth grade students and families for hosting a lovely movie night. The students raised over $300 for their off island field trip! We'd also like to thank the kind people at Common Ground for hosting us!

SPECIAL MOVIE NIGHT MAHALO FROM MARIA MAITINO

Despite the glitches, the technical difficulties, the downpour of rain, the movie night was not only fun for everyone, but a great fundraiser for the 5/6th grade trip. We made $325.22 plus a few IOU's. WOW!!!

Thanks to Denise for organizing the whole affair, as well as loaning us the popcorn maker. Thanks to Common Ground for hosting us. Thanks to all the 5/6th graders and their parents for supporting the refreshment stand by bringing yummy food and drink, driving home to supplement the popcorn maker, working the refreshment table, prepping and cleaning up, and anything else anyone did to support the evening that I forgot to mention!

School Issues

PHYSICAL EDUCATION CONCERNS

Athletic Shoes

It has come to my attention that there is some confusion about the role of team sports in our physical education classes. As outlined in our curriculum overviews, our physical education program has emphasis on both collaborative and team sports. Here is our official description:

Both collaborative and team sports will be integrated into the program. Emphasis will be on trust-building, cooperation and individual development of skills. Students will also be taught about the importance of physical activity in maintaining a healthy life style with the ultimate goal of having students intrinsically motivated to stay fit and healthy through regular physical activity that they enjoy.

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with the physical education teacher to ensure that collaborative sports were getting the same emphasis as team sports. I encouraged her to emphasize more collaborative sports at this time of year since best practice in this area is to start the school year with collaborative sports and move toward the more team oriented sports as the classes get more accustomed to working together. She has also started using a new resource called Best Practices in Elementary Physical Education which is filled with different games and ideas. So, yes! Team sports are still very much a component in our overall physical education program!

Please note that I meet with all teachers on a regular basis both individually and as a group to continually improve our program and each teacher's individual practice. It seems that in this case, the translation from principal to teacher to student to parent, that there may have been some misunderstanding about this and we apologize for that! Please feel free to contact us directly any time you feel that something is unclear. Our goal is to respond quickly and directly to all parent concerns!

LUNCH CONCERNS

We have noticed and heard from several parents that some children are going home with much of their food uneaten. Some children are also mentioning that they don't have enough time to eat. Although we have not changed the amount of eating time from last year, it does seem that with our new emphasis on hand-washing, that some children are struggling to eat in the time allotted. We will address this problem by adding on about 4 minutes to the eating time. This will not impact any instructional time since we have a five minute buffer between lunch and the next class.

At the same time,we are also noticing that some students are not in the mood for the food in their lunch. When we encourage students to eat, they tell us that they don't like what is packed. Some students are even asking for and taking more "desirable" food from other students even if the child with the desirable food says no. We will be having discussions in every class about respecting the property of others and the right for someone to say no in direct response to this concern. We will also encourage students to communicate with their parents about their lunch preferences. We respect everyone's right to feed their own children whatever type of food they feel appropriate and realize that kids can be pretty fickle with their food choices so we appreciate both your understanding and support at home with this matter.

Upcoming Events

WEEKLY MARKET aka FRIDAY FESTIVAL - 1/2 Hosts

Friday, October 2nd, 2:45 - 3:30

Front Parking Lot

Please remember to stop by our Market on Friday afternoons. All proceeds go directly towards sustainability related class projects.

FALL BREAK - OCTOBER 8TH AND 9TH

Enjoy the holiday and come back rested & ready to learn for the second half of the trimester! We have had a terrific first six weeks of school!

STORYTELLER LYN FORD TO PERFORM @ KPS
October 15th @ 8:30 a.m.

Fourth-generation storyteller Lynette Ford will share "Home-Fried Tales" rooted in her family's multicultural African American storytelling traditions. Lyn's programs are enhanced with rhythm and rhyme, history and mystery, humor and heart. Lyn is an Ohio teaching artist who has facilitated workshops for literacy, early childhood education, storytelling, and diversity events across the country. Lyn has also provided opening and closing activities for storytelling conferences and various types of retreats.

Lyn calls her stories "Home-Fried Tales" to honor her father, who was a terrible cook (the only things he consistently made well were home-fried potatoes and barbecued ribs doused with Lyn's mother's special sauce), and the best storyteller she ever heard. Lyn learned to "stir up, season, and simmer" her folktale adaptations and original stories while sitting knee-to-knee with elders who passed on their own special gifts from the oral tradition. You can learn more about Lyn on her web-site.

CLASS PARENT MEETING

We would love to have our first class parent meeting on Thursday, October 15th at 2:15 p.m. to discuss the upcoming Film Festival, Halloween and some new ideas for Birthday Celebrations at KPS! See you there!

Class parents for the year are:

PREKK - Tricia Padilla and Charlie Bass
Grade 1/2 - Petra Frankenreiter and Honey Sanson
Grade 3/4 - Bobby Binder and Maria Walker
Grade 5/6 - Jenny Sheehan and Maria Maitino

PAU HANA MOVIE NIGHT - WHALE RIDER
Friday, October 25th, 6:30 pm at Common Ground

Free Public Screening of the 2003 BAFTA Children's Award-winning film by Niki Caro

Bring the family and invite your neighbors for this break taking saga of a young Maori girl growing up in New Zealand who is dared to confront the past, change the present and determine the future.

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
October 28, 29 and 30 - Half Days
School Dismissed at 12:00 noon

During the last week of October, we will hold our parent teacher conferences. The conferences are designed to formally extend and expand the informal conversations we are already having with you. We know that many of you check in daily with your child's teacher but we also know that sneaking in conversations before and after school is not adequate to ensure a truly effective home-school connection.

Formal parent teacher conferences help us:

Share the teacher's initial insights about your child's academic and social progress
Celebrate your child's learning
Get feedback from you on how you think your child is doing in school so far this year
Jointly problem-solve any challenges that your child may be facing

We truly believe that a child's education is a shared responsibility and always appreciate the chance to hear from parents so that we can improve our practice. We want every child and parent to have the best experience possible at Kaua'i Pacific School so providing space for formal face to face communication is vital!

Parent teacher conferences are one component of a more comprehensive reporting process. This year we have switched to a Trimester system so you will be receiving your first official report cards in November right around the Thanksgiving Break. At the end of the second trimester (in March) you will receive narrative reports and a second report card. Finally, during the third trimester, we will hold our student-led conferences with final report cards sent home in June.

Teachers will be posting their conference schedules right after the Fall Break. Make sure to sign up that week!