With summer fast approaching, our rockstar ‘ĀINA teachers are closing out their classes and gardens. Many like Sunset Beach, Liholiho, and Kahala Elementary have had fabulous harvest parties, involving their school community to gather what haumāna grew over the course of this last semester. We thank the ʻĀINA Lead Teachers, ʻĀINA Team Coordinators, classroom teachers and administrators who have successfully implemented ʻĀINA Lessons this year!
This year brought so many fantastic new experiences and projects! Keolu went all in on a Native Hawaiian Plant PBL, and created a video library of Hawai’i’s beautiful flora found on their campus as well as at Ulupō. Hauʻula Elementary took to their campus for a fun Native Hawaiian Plant scavenger hunt, getting all students involved with scoping out endemic plants. It’s so exciting seeing how creative all of our educators are, as they engage our keiki in learning about the land they live with. Mahalo educators!
As we head into our drier season of Kau, many schools are opting in for cover crops of Sun Hemp to renourish the soil, while others are putting them to “sleep,” tucking the gardens in with layers of cardboard. If you still need cover crop seeds, please contact [email protected] so we can get them to you! We cannot wait to see what ideas blossom next year!
End of the School Year Kuʻi ʻAi Demonstrations
As our Grade 4 Hawaiian Garden curriculum came to an end, students got to harvest their kalo that they’ve grown and cared for since the beginning of the school year. To culminate the year, some classrooms had a kuʻi ʻai demonstration where students learned about the different stages of making poi, parts of a pōhaku, and were even able to kuʻi themselves. The demonstration wrapped up with a taste test of fresh paʻiʻai, straight off the papa! Mahalo nui to Kuʻi ʻAi demonstrators, Zack, Kaulana, and Mikey, for taking time to teach our keiki.