School news and events for the week of {date}

Message from the Director

Aloha to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kauai Charter School, and we hope this last Monday Message of the first quarter of the 2022-23 school year finds you in good health and happiness.

It just seems like it was yesterday that we were welcoming everyone to campus to start the school year and here we are already a quarter of the way into the school year. Mahalo to all for your support of our school, and we enjoyed another active week on campus as can be seen in this week’s photos.

The school-wide project-based learning activity of Ku’u Kaianoho (My Habitat) continues to flourish, and we are extremely impressed with the engagement of the learners in their projects. The Grade Three/Four and Grade Four classes heading out on field trips to the Alekoko Menehune Fishpond after first exploring the watershed on campus that flows to the fishpond. The kalo (taro) plants that were placed in the garden beds from last year were harvested, and some of the learners had an opportunity to taste the fruits of their efforts. The garden beds on campus are being renovated and moved to an area that is much more user friendly for our learners. We look forward to sharing their findings at the school wide Celebration of Learning on Thursday, November 10th, so please mark your calendars.

We love to see some of the innovative teaching styles that form the base for a strong academic school. Check out the use of numerous teaching tools in a lower Elementary class that includes visual learning, auditory learning, and tactile learning in Math through the use of manipulatives. We will share in greater detail in an upcoming Monday Message that Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School significantly outperformed the state based on the results on the 2021-22 SBAC state tests.

We can also share incredible success on our first ever attempt at Middle School sports by participating in the Run Club Kaua’i island wide cross country meet held in Puhi. Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School entered the meet with only our Grade Six students as we do not have Grade Seven or Grade Eight students yet. We can cheerfully share the our school won the Grade Six Boys Division and finished second overall in the Grand Aggregate for the entire meet which featured nine schools. We do hope to add an on campus run club for all learners in Kindergarten to Grade Six after the winter break to continue to support this emerging program.

The final touches were put in place this week to complete the creation of the Learning Commons. Due to the generosity of two members from our learning community all the books in the former Library were categorized and shelved in their proper areas so this area can be effectively used by our learners. The DOZENS of hours unconditionally gifted to the school transformed all these books in absolute chaos to neat and orderly categories is greatly appreciated plus is another shining example of our learning community at work.

We hosted our guests again from the Hawai’i Charter Commission Renewal Team last Friday as we continue in the process of renewing our current charter and expanding into Middle School in the 2023-24 school year. Thus far, the process has been extremely positive and valuable for our school so we hope to be able to share complete details once their report is returned to us in November.

A helpful reminder that Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School does follow the Hawai’i Department of Education school year calendar and will be closed for Fall Break until everyone returns on Monday, October 10th.

Best wishes to you all for a fantastic Fall Break and malama pono.

DJ Adams
Po’o Kumu (Director), Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, Koloa, Hawai’i

“Ua ola no i ka pane a ke aloha.”
There is life in a kindly reply.