THOUGHTS FROM THE PRINCIPAL
HAPPY GREEN NEW YEAR!
It's amazing to me that the first decade of the 21st century has come to a close! Ten years just seemed to zip by! Yesterday I started to think about all the resolutions I have set and reset over this past decade. I've concluded that I'm not a huge fan of New Year's resolutions since I usually find myself banging my head against the wall at the end of the year thinking of all the things I didn't accomplish. I was therefore thrilled when I came across a list of ten things I can do for the planet! Since we are an eco-friendly sort of school, I felt compelled to share the list with all of you! Hope you enjoy it and remember, small steps can make a giant difference...
EAT YOUR VEGETABLES
All you have to do is stop eating beef. Worldwide, beef production contributes more to climate change than the entire transportation sector. The carbon footprint of the average meat eater is about 1.5 tons of CO2 larger than that of a vegetarian. Cutting beef out of your diet will reduce your CO2 emissions by 2,400 pounds annually.
DRINK FROM THE TAP
You can save money and your environment by giving up bottled water. The production of plastic water bottles together with the privatization of our drinking water is an environmental and social catastrophe. Bottled water costs more per gallon than gasoline. The average American consumes 30 gallons of bottled water annually. Giving up one bottle of imported water means using up one less liter of fossil fuel and emitting 1.2 pounds less of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
OBSERVE AN ECO-SABBATH
For one day or afternoon or even one hour a week, don't buy anything, don't use any machines, don't switch on anything electric, don't cook, don't answer your phone, and, in general, don't use any resources. In other words, for this regular period, give yourself and the planet a break. Every hour per week that you live no impact cuts your carbon emissions by 0.6 percent annually. Commit to four hours per week, that's 2.4 percent; do it for a whole day each week to cut your impact by 14.4 percent a year.
TITHE A FIXED PERCENTAGE OF YOUR INCOME
Tithe a fixed percentage of your income to non-profits of your choice. If an average U.S. family contributes 1 percent ($502.33) of its annual income ($50,233) to an environmental non-profit, they could offset 40.7 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Many of our public health and welfare services are tied to consumer spending which, in turn, depends upon planetary resources. If you want to help, don't go shopping. Just help.
BUILD A COMMUNITY
Have dinners with friends. Play charades. Sing together. Enjoying each other costs the planet much less than enjoying its resources.
GET THERE UNDER YOUR OWN STEAM
Get around by bike or by foot a certain number of days a month. Not only does this mean using less fossil fuel and creating less greenhouse gases, it means you'll get exercise and we'll all breathe fewer fumes. If you can stay off the road just two days a week, you'll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds per year.
COMMIT TO NOT WASTING
Wasting resources costs the planet and your wallet. Let your clothes hang-dry instead of using the dryer. Take half the trips but stay twice as long. Repair instead of rebuy. The list goes on. In the summer, for every degree above 72°F you set your thermostat, you save 120 pounds of CO2 emissions per year, and if you wash your clothes with cold water you can cut your laundry energy use by up to 90 percent.
TAKE YOUR PRINCIPLES TO WORK
We must act as though we care about the world at work as much as we do at home. Company CEOs or product designers have the power to make a gigantic difference through their business, and so do the rest of us. In commercial buildings, lighting accounts for more than 40 percent of electrical energy use, a huge cause of greenhouse gas production. Using motion and occupancy sensors can cut this use by 10 percent.
DONATE A DAY'S TV TIME TO ECO-SERVICE
Take one day off from TV-the average American watches four and a half hours of TV a day-and try voluntary eco-service instead. Those four and a half hours a day watching TV add up to 825 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.
BELIEVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART THAT HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE MAKES A DIFFERENCE
We are all interconnected. Every step toward living a conscious life provides support to everyone else who is trying to do the same thing-whether you're aware of it or not. We are the masters of our destinies.
HAPPY GREEN NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
This list was taken from the Yes Magazine Blog at
http://www.yesmagazine.org/about
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SPECIAL THANKS TO......- the students, led by Kumu Mauli Ola and Sam Alfiler, for their wonderful winter festival performance!
- the KPS families for supporting the Bake Sale and Artesans at the Winter Festival
- all the parents who donated food, time and or crafty expertise to make the week before the winter break extra enjoyable for all the students - students enjoyed all sorts of activities ranging from making breakfast at school to a Polar Express party - thank you all for helping out!
- Denise Dion-Scoyni for her work in putting together our Arts Excellence Application!
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
- Marcel Proust
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HAWAII ARTS EXCELLENCE
AWARDS ASSEMBLY
January 7, 2010 at 1:00 p.m.
As many of you may know, KPS was awarded an Arts Excellence Award by the Hawaii Arts Alliance. On Thursday, January 7th at 1:00 p.m., Carol Yotsuda from the Garden Isle Arts Council will be at school to present a $1,000 check to our school. This is a HUGE honor and based on the school'ssupport of the arts and the outstanding arts-integrated education we provide to our students.
We are extremely proud of our core faculty who collaborate extensively with our specialty and elective teachers to ensure that our students develop their creative side along with their academic side each and every day while at school. Special thanks to Denise Dion-Scoyni for taking the lead in completing the application for the school and to Kumu Mauli Ola, Sam Alfiler, Robin Avina, Jennifer Downs, Kirk Smart, Rachel Kattlove, Licia McDonald, Steve Goldberg, Takuyo Takahashi and Tom Lieber among others who work artistically with our students by teaching our arts elective and specialty courses. The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.- Mikhail Baryshnikov
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NEW STUDENTS START MONDAY, JANUARY 4TH
Join us in welcoming the following students to KPS on Monday, January 4th taking our enrollment up to 63 students!
Finnley Garcia - PREK
Ryden Williams - Grade 1
Akira Williams - Grade 3 (Welcome Back!)
Quentin Hallquist - Grade 6 (Welcome Back!)
We are excited to get to know and/or reacquaint ourselves with these students and their families!
Friendship is a sheltering tree. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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 WEEKLY MARKET aka FRIDAY FESTIVAL - Hosted by Grades 5/6
Friday, January 8th! After School!
Please remember to drop off any excess produce/baked goods and to stop by our Market on Friday afternoons. All proceeds go directly towards sustainability related class projects.
Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden. ~Robert Brault
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- MAKE YOUR ANNUAL GIVING DONATION - IT'S NEVER TOO LATE AND WE ARE AIMING FOR 100% OF OUR FAMILIES CONTRIBUTING THIS YEAR
- REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR HI-5 RECYCLABLES TO KPS
- WHEN YOU SHOP AMAZON, CLICK ON THE LINK ON THE KPS WAYS YOU CAN HELP WEB PAGE AS WE GET A PERCENTAGE OF THE SALES IF YOU DO SO! WE MADE $23 IN DECEMBER WITH ONLY 2 OR 3 PEOPLE SHOPPING. THINK OF WHAT WE CAN DO IF WE ALL CLICK WHEN WE SHOP AMAZON!
- SIGN UP FOR E-SCRIP!
- SMILE AND SAY HI TO SOMEONE NEW THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE ON CAMPUS
- TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT KPS - WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR 2010-2011. WE HAVE ALREADY ACCEPTED 3 BRAND NEW STUDENTS FOR NEXT YEAR AND WE DO EXPECT TO BE CLOSED IN SOME GRADE LEVELS SO TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO CALL SOON!
- REENROLL FOR NEXT YEAR - REENROLLMENT MATERIALS WILL BE SENT OUT MID-JANUARY AND DUE AT THE END OF FEBRUARY THIS YEAR!
- CONSIDER SERVING ON A SPRING FUNDRAISING EVENT COMMITTEE - MORE INFORMATION ON THAT COMING VERY SOON
I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale
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 IMPORTANT DATES
Monday, January 4th
Back to School! School starts at 8:15 a.m. SHARP!
Thursday, January 7th
Arts Excellence Awards Assembly 1:00 p.m.
Friday, January 8th
Friday Festival Grades 5/6
Friday, January 15th
Friday Festival Grades PKK
Monday, January 18th
Martin Luther King Day - School Holiday!
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