Monday, October 31, 2011

What is Halloween?

What does Halloween mean to you?  This is what it means to us. 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Reminders for Parents

Aloha Parents,

A heads up for the following:
  • Friday, October 28 - Kuakini Hale Pulama Mau field trip consent form and the Fire Safety Booklets (last page signed and dated) due.
  • Friday, October 28 - Halloween Parade, 8:30am on the blacktop.  If you are planning to attend, you are welcome to assist your child  to change into school clothes and take their costumes home after the parade.
  • Monday, October 31 - Book Share due
  • Monday, October 31 - Black and orange attire,  Kindergarten Rotational Party, Goodie bags distributed in recyclable bags. (please return empty recyclable bags by November 1 as they will be reused for other occasions)
  • Monday, October 31 - Student Council Halloween games in the gym. Space is VERY limited for parents to watch, as faculty and students will be there.  Families may join after the event.  Thank you in advance for your understanding.
  • Tuesday, November 1 - Snack and Dinner Pack orders for Movie Night due
  • Friday, November 4 -Silent Reading and Movie Night, 6:00pm in the Social Hall. 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Pumpkin Carving and Seed Counting

October is the month to observe  pumpkins and count the number of seeds.  There was our class pumpkin, a bright orange one which weighed more than 10 pounds. Each  of us had the chance to predict the number of seeds inside. We guessed between 50 -1 million seeds.

After recess, our 3rd grade buddies, along with Mrs. Conley came to  K-1 to help us with our pumpkin seed counting activity.After the top of the pumpkin was cut off, there was a strange odor.  Now we were ready to start the messy work.  Our hands went into the pumpkin to pull out the pulp with the seeds. Yuck, it sure felt squishy, mushy, and slimy. Our job, with the 3rd grade buddies was to separate the pulp from the seeds.What a mess and that strange smell didn't even bother us since we wer having fun working to pile  up the seeds.
After the seeds were washed and dried, we glued them on paper.  There was a total of about 625 seeds.  Wow, that's a whole lot of seeds.
Our lessons  learned from counting seeds were teamwork, counting, and hard work!!!


 

Sea Life Park

Sea Life Park was such a fun-filled field trip, that we wanted to share more pictures of our exciting day.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Aloha Parents

All the students are excited with Mathletics and myON Reader.  Your involvement with them  using these two online programs has many positive effects on their development.  Please continue to use these learning programs.

Please advise if you would like to chaperone the Kindergarten walking field trip to Hale Pulama Mau on Firday, November 4th from 9:30-11:00. 

Reminders:
  • Monday, October 24 - Mathletic activities due
  • Tuesday, October 25 - Halloween party item due
  • Thursday, October 27 - Fall retake pictures
  • Friday, October 28 - Halloween parade, Fire Booklets due (Sign and date the last page), Hale Pulama Mau walking field trip consent form due
  • Monday, October 31 - Book Share due
  • Monday, October 31 - Black and orange attire, Student Council games, Kindergarten Rotational Party, Halloween Goodie bags distributed

Sea Life Park

It was a sunny Friday when we  visited Sea Life Park.  There was the Reef Tank where pufferfish, humuhumunukunukuapua'a, stingrays, and other sea life swam together and showed us their beautiful colors. Three dolphins  were jumping in the air and swimming in the deep tank in the Dolphin Show at the Ocean Theater.  At the Sea Lion Show, 2 sea lions competed in the Miss Sea Lion Beauty Contest.  Ms. Kanayama  bought us cups of lettuce so we fed the honu at the Sea Turtle Lagoon.  Did you know that the male turtles have longer and skinnier tails compared to the female turtles? At the Hawaiian Monk Seal Center, three monk seals were swimming around. They looked they were having fun since everyone was looking at them.
Most of us liked the Dolphin Show the best.  Maybe we'll be able to go again with our families.

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Aloha Parents

HMS Halloween Parade is planned for Friday, October 28th, starting at 8:30am.  Everyone is invited  to watch faculty, staff, and keiki in Halloween attire  parade around the blacktop. Please bring your child dressed in costume to school.( No gore, violence or weapons, please)  At  8:20, K-1 will be led to the blacktop and seated  on a blue tarp.  Parents are encouraged to find a spot around the parade route for Kodak moments. After the parade, it would be really helpful to assist your child to change into school clothes and take all Halloween costumes home.  Classes will resume, as normal, for the remainder of the day.

On Friday, November 4th, the Kindergarten keiki will be walking to Kauakini Health  System to  bring cheer, smiles,  and  to sing Japanese songs to older adults  who are cared for at their comprehensive facility called Hale Pulama Mau  (House of Cherishing Care).  We'll be leaving school at 9:30am, and returning by 11:00am.  I would like to have 2 parents to help chaperone this walking  event. Please advise if you are available.

Reminders:
  • Friday, October 21 - Sea Life Park field trip
  • Monday, October 24 - Mathletic activities due
  • Tuesday, October  25 - Halloween party item due
  • Thursday, October 27 - Fall retake pictures
  • Friday, October 28 - Halloween parade, Fire Booklets due (Sign and date the last page), Hale Pulama Mau walking field trip consent form due
  • Monday, October 31 - Book Share due
  • Monday, October 31 - Black and orange attire, Student Council games, Kindergarten Rotational Party, Halloween Goodie bags distributed

Skyping with friends from Massachusetts

On Tuesday, we Skyped with Mrs. Poulin and her Kindergarten class from Southampton, Massachusetts.  Their live so far away from us!  We also saw their school, William E. Norris Elementary School on Google maps. There are lots of trees all around their school.
They talked about:
 
A pumpkin patch they visited that day.  They could pick a pumpkin no bigger than their head. Two boys showed us their prize pumpkin. 
Leaves on the trees were turning colors of red, orange, and yellow.
They sang a song about apples way up high really nicely.

We also had a chance to share:
Pictures we drew from some of our class books
A song 'Eia Makou' (Here We Are)

Both classes had fun sharing what we would be dressed as for Halloween.  The costumes  were similar to ours.

They have a pet hamster in their class and named it 'Aloha'.   Pictures of their hamster was on their blog. What a nice name for a cute hamster!


It is fun to Skype with another Kindergarten class and hear about their lives.  We can compare  how we are alike and different.

The Honu

Our Sea Life Park field trip is on Friday.  We're anxious to see the dolphins, honu, penguins, and other sea animals up close because we've been learning about these creatures in class.  The honu is the most interesting animal so we made our own turtles and wrote facts about them. 

Did you know that:
The mother honu uses it's front flippers to dig the sand before laying eggs?
The baby honu has a egg tooth to break their shell?
It takes about 3-7 days for the baby honu to crawl from under the sand and then run quickly to the water?
The honu rests on seaweed while in the water?

I'll  be happy to share  other things we have  learned about the honu with you. 

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Reminders for the Parents

Aloha Parents,

Each child has their login information for myON reader and completed the Interest Inventory.  They are eager to select books of their choice and begin reading online.  However, they need assistance from you.  I hope your child takes advantage of this literacy program and all it has to offer.

If your child wishes to share Halloween goodie bags with his/her classmates,  they can be brought in  before or on Monday, October 31.

Dates to Remember:
  • Thursday, October 20 - Flu shots in the Library
  • Friday, October 21 - Sea Life Park Field Trip.  Ms. Kanayama, Mrs. Miyamoto, and Mrs. Yoshikawa offered to chaperone.  Wear HMS t-shirts , shorts, and sport shoes. Come to school by 7:40am.  Bus will depart from school at 8:00am.
  • Friday, October 28 - Fire Safety Booklets due.  Please use the booklet as a reference.  The children should discuss  the procedures on what to do in the event of fire. Kindly remember to  sign and date the last page of the booklet. 

Miss Spider's Tea Party

Miss Spider's Tea Party  was a funny book that was read to us.  It was about Miss Spider who invited  ants, ladybugs, and other insects that flew by to her tea party.  They didn't want to share tea and cakes with her because they thought she would eat them. However, she saved a moth who was  unable to fly because his wings were too wet.  When the moth was able to fly away, he told everyone how nice Miss Spider was. Many insects finally joined Miss Spider for  tea.  She ate the flowers and drank just tea.
There were two  things  we learned  from this story.  The first thing we learned was to  always be kind to people.  The second  lesson was to practice counting from 1-11.

What do you think about our spiders we made?

Friday, October 14, 2011

Grandparent's Day Celebration

Saito Sensei has been teaching us many Japanese songs  the past few months so we could sing them to our grandparents at the Grandparent's Day Celebration. Today was our big day to honor them! We sang onstage in front of  parents and our loving obaachan  and ojiichan.  These are some of our thoughts about the show:
JI - I liked the singing.
EK - I had fun because we got to sing.
AU - I was happy because my grandmother and cousin came.
DB - I felt scared onstage.
RY - I liked to dance.
ML - I wished my grandparents came but they don't live here.
MM - I liked to sing and my 2 grandmas came.
DB - I liked when my grandprents took pictures.
TH - I liked the dancing.
SM - I was happy because my grandparents and mom came.

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Presentation of Learning About Apples

What an exciting morning for us when we invited our parents for our first Presentation of Learning.  We have been studying about  apples and  shared our learning with moms, dads, and grandparents. Do you think they knew as much as we did about this fruit?

Mahalo family members for coming to this event!!!!!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Apples, Apples, and More Apples

September, October and November are 'National Apple Months.  Our weather is too warm to grow apples, but we still enjoy eating them.  We have been studying all about apples and want to share some of our work. 



Reminders:
  • Tuesday, October 11 - Presentation of Learning, K-1 classroom, 8:30-9:30am  Please bring a knife that will be used to cut an apple. (Apples will be supplied)
  • Friday, October 14 - Grandparent's Day Celebration, Social Hall, 9:00-9:45am   

    Wednesday, October 5, 2011

    Halloween Scarecrows

    Farmers  make scarecrows and put them in their fields to scare away birds, like the crows that would  feed on their crops. These are our funny, scary, and cool scarecrows.