Do you ever ask your child about how his or her day went and get a one-word answer? Read this article to find out 10 questions that are great conversation starters!

“The trick is to ask about things that are specific, but still open-ended. Move beyond ‘fine’ and ‘nothing’ by asking your child to describe his world.”

Click here to read more.

Please remember to DRIVE WITH ALOHA! As a community, we all share our school road. Please be mindful of your speed, passing with care (only if necessary), and practice patience in one-lane areas.

We love to see learning “al fresco” at Alaka’i O Kaua’i.

Why is learning outside so important? An article entitled The Benefits of Learning Outside the Classroom states that direct experience outdoors is more motivating and has more impact and credibility.

The results from learning outside the classroom can be instantaneous as well as active and, therefore, impact behavior as well as tap into the learning styles of the more kinesthetic learner.

Through skilled teaching, interpretation or facilitation, learning outside the classroom can readily become a stimulating source of fascination, personal growth and can lead to breakthroughs in learning.

Active learning readily develops the learning skills of inquiry, experiment, feedback, reflection, review, communication, problem solving, an enterprising attitude and cooperative learning.

Quality learning experiences in “real” situations have the capacity to raise achievement across a range of subjects and to develop better personal and social skills. When these experiences are well planned, safely managed, and personalized to meet the needs of every child, they can:

• Improve academic achievement
• Provide a bridge to higher order learning
• Develop skills and independence in a widening range of environments
• Make learning more engaging and relevant to young people
• Develop active citizens and stewards of the environment
• Nurture creativity
• Provide opportunities for informal learning through play
• Reduce behavior problems and improve attendance
• Stimulate, inspire and improve motivation
• Develop the ability to deal with uncertainty
• Provide challenge and the opportunity to take acceptable levels of risk
• Improve young people’s attitudes

We love seeing our keiki immersed in learning!

All our keiki had a wonderful time at Field Day last week! We had a wonderful time playing field games, running in the sprinkler, going down the Slip N Slide, and playing more games in the gym with the Tapias! Mahalo to everyone who came out to celebrate the end of the school year with us. We look forward to making this fun event an Alaka’i O Kaua’i tradition in the many years to come.

This Friday, June 14th, we will be holding a schoolwide Field Day and End of Year Celebration. Field Day activities will take place between 9-11 a.m. All parents are welcome to participate and join in the fun!

If you would like to help facilitate the field games, we are looking for helpers. Please contact Claire at claire.woolger@alakaiokauai.org if you’d like to support your child’s class games!

After our field activities, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., there will be a whole school picnic, followed by an ice cream social and other treats! Families are all welcome! We will end our celebration with an assembly in the gym before dismissal. We hope everyone will be able to join us for our End of Year Celebration on Friday!

On the week of April 8th-12th, Alaka’i will hold its first Penny War! This simple fundraiser is a fun way to involve the whole community in raising money for our school. This particular fundraiser will be to raise funds to buy a full class set of ukuleles!

How Penny Wars Work:

The basic premise of a penny war fundraiser is that learners bring spare change to school for a set period of time, usually a week or two, and deposit it into containers. At the end of the collection period, the change is donated toward a cause, for a purchase within the school, or to an outside charity. The class that nets the most is rewarded.

Each penny is worth one point and counts “positively” toward a group’s point total. Each silver coin or dollar bill gets points based on its value (a nickel is worth five points, a dime is worth 10, etc.), but counts “negatively” toward other groups’ totals. So in a competition between classrooms, learners who want their class to win will place pennies into their own buckets and place nickels, dimes, quarters, or dollar bills into other classrooms’ buckets. In some penny wars, dollar bills are counted positively along with pennies.

It’s official, Alaka’i O Kaua’i is a “Box Tops for Education” school! Many of you have probably heard of this program, but for those of you who haven’t, here you go.

In 1996 in California, General Mills wanted to start a program to help raise money for education. They came up with the box top idea, where people could clip box tops on select products (initially only on several big name cereals such as Total, Cheerios, and Lucky Charms) and send them in to receive money for their school. The program was such a huge success that it has since expanded to include hundreds of different food and non-food products, including Pillsbury, Green Giant, Ziploc, Hefty, and many, many more.

How you can help: Clip box tops! Ask your friends and family to clip and give you their box tops! They can be found on so many different products, and it is not only food anymore. Garbage bags, toilet paper — you name it! We can almost guarantee you have an unclipped box top in your house right now.

Please be aware of the expiration dates on the box tops and turn them in to your child’s facilitator or the office. Katie Horgan is our school’s coordinator for this program. You can use the attached form or just turn them in in an envelope or baggie.

The money raised from Box Tops for Education will be used for school supplies, field trips, technology, and more. Thank you all for your help on this. Every little bit helps!

• MAHALO to the Berginz family for our school’s new guitar!
• MAHALO to the Salamey family for our school’s first ukulele!
• MAHALO to Christine Ferguson, Leia Makaneole and the Tapia family for coordinating our first Spirit Week!
• MAHALO to all our amazing volunteers who show up EVERY week to support our school!

Alaka’i O Kaua’i is celebrating its inaugural SPIRIT WEEK, starting tomorrow, Monday, March 11.

Families are encouraged to send learners to school dressed up throughout the week in order to participate.

• MONDAY is Super Hero Day
• TUESDAY is Pajama Day
• WEDNESDAY is Wacky Wardrobe Day
• THURSDAY is Aloha Day
• FRIDAY is School Colors Day (Purple & Green)

Two assemblies will held during the week — one on Monday morning at 9 a.m., and one on Friday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. Parents are welcome join in on the fun!

To close our fun festivities, we are excited to host a schoolwide potluck on Friday afternoon at 1:15 p.m. We are asking families to help by bringing something delicious to share, as assigned by class:

• Kindergarten: Fruit
• 1st grade: Drinks
• 2nd grade: Desserts
• 3rd grade: Appetizers
• 4th grade: Side dish
• 5th grade: Main dish

Mahalo for participating and helping us make Alaka’i O Kauai’s first Spirit Week great!