Nov. 10 – Celebration of Learning
Category "Monday Message"
29 Sep
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
25 Sep
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
15 Sep
Exploring Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School Culture: Habit 7 of the 7 Habits
Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles on the pillars of Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School’s educational philosophy and approach.
So here we are. We’ve explored six of the seven habits and why they’re important to us and our learners at Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School, and hopefully by this point you feel more equipped and empowered to approach your own life and work with clearer focus and vision.
But how do we maintain that energy?
That’s where Habit 7 comes in — Sharpen the Saw. Incorporating the 7 Habits into your life is all about achieving balance. But living a life in balance means taking the necessary time to renew yourself. It’s all up to you. You can renew yourself through relaxation, or you can totally burn yourself out by overdoing everything.
“Sharpen the Saw” means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have — you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. Here are some examples:
- Physical: Beneficial eating, exercising, and resting.
- Social/Emotional: Making social and meaningful connections with others.
- Mental: Learning, reading, writing, and teaching.
- Spiritual: Spending time in nature, expanding spiritual self through meditation, music, art, prayer, or service, etc.
The point is, if we don’t take the time to recharge and renew ourselves regularly, we will burn out and find our efforts stale.
As Dr. Steven Covey said, “Renewal is the principle — and the process — that empowers us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of continuous improvement.”
What that sharpening looks like will vary from person to person. For you, sharpening the saw might mean taking a 10-15-minute walk every day where you can decompress and not focus on day-to-day responsibilities. Or maybe it means better structuring your workweek so on weekends you can focus primarily on family time. Whatever your saw-sharpening looks like, find something that works for you.
As the saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. To make the most of the 7 Habits in improving yourself, your life, and your work, it cannot be a piecemeal effort. Each enhances and strengthens the others. Step by step, find the balance of incorporating each habit — and don’t neglect yourself. Sharpen that saw so that you can truly be your best.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
15 Sep
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
08 Sep
Exploring Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School Culture: Habit 6 of the 7 Habits
Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles on the pillars of Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School’s educational philosophy and approach.
Whether in the classroom, the workplace, relationships, or life in general, learning to compromise can be an important and helpful tool. However, what if there were a way to even further enrich and strengthen our communication and interactions?
That’s what’s behind Habit #6: Synergize.
Synergy brings into focus the old adage that “two heads are better than one.” Instead of merely striking a compromise, synergy allows us to creatively collaborate with others and find new solutions to problems. The essence of synergy is to value and respect our differences, build on strengths, and compensate for weaknesses.
In Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School culture, when learners are incorporating this habit into their lives, they’re learning to work in groups and building and reinforcing a mind-set that says, “I get along well with others — even people who are different from me.” That lays the foundation to a long-lasting collaborative approach to life in a multicultural and interdependent world.
There are a couple of helpful steps to know if you’re in synergy:
- You have a change of heart.
- You feel new energy and excitement.
- You see things in a new way.
- You feel that the relationship has transformed.
- You end up with an idea or a result that’s better than what either of you started with.
One of the most important keys to synergizing is learning to trust, and that trust is built through communication.
Take, for example, these three levels of communication and the associated levels of trust:
- Defensive communication comes out of low-trust situations. It’s characterized by defensiveness, protectiveness, and legalistic language that prepares for the eventuality that things may go wrong, and that people may become resentful. Such communication isn’t effective and produces only win/lose or lose/lose outcomes.
- Respectful communication is characterized by honesty, authenticity, and respect that produces a low form of win/win, a compromise where one plus one equals one-and-a-half.
- Synergistic communication means that one plus one may equal 8, 16, or even 1,600. The situation produced is better than any originally proposed.
When we learn to see our individual differences as strengths instead of weaknesses, we are well on our way to learning to synergize.
Join us next week as we explore the seventh and final habit: Sharpen the Saw.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
08 Sep
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
03 Sep
Exploring Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School Culture: Habit 5 of the 7 Habits
Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles on the pillars of Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School’s educational philosophy and approach.
They say communication is key, but if we lack understanding in our relationships and interactions, how can we ever hope to truly, clearly communicate?
This week, we’re examining Habit #5: Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood.
Many of us often seek first to be understood; we want to get our point across. But in doing so, it’s easy to ignore the other person completely, pretend that we’re listening, selectively hear certain parts of the conversation or attentively focus on only the words being said, but miss the meaning entirely. And so, what happens is that we filter everything through our life experiences and decide what someone means before they’ve even finished.
But is that the most effective communication?
Our listening tends to fall into four categories:
- Ignoring: We’re not listening at all.
- Pretending: We may say “uh-huh, right,” but we’re not really tuned in.
- Selective listening: We hear part of what the person says, but the rest of the time we’re distracted.
- Attentive listening: We’re actively listening, paying attention but not taking our listening to the ultimate level — empathetic listening.
Dr. Stephen Covey defined empathetic listening as listening with the intent to truly understand. To really understand, we need to get inside another person’s frame of reference, and see the world from their point of view. Our listening also needs to be driven by an authentic desire to understand the other person and to build trust with them.
As part of the Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School educational model, we encourage learners to incorporate the following practices into their communication:
- I listen to other people’s ideas and feelings.
- I try to see things from their viewpoints.
- I listen to others without interrupting.
- I am confident in voicing my ideas.
- I look people in the eyes when talking.
When we listen with the intent to understand others, instead of simply with the intent to reply, we begin true communication and relationship-building. Seeking to understand takes kindness; seeking to be understood takes courage. Effectiveness in our communication thrives in a balance of the two.
Join us next week as we explore Habit #6: Synergize.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
03 Sep
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
25 Aug
Exploring Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School Culture: Habit 4 of the 7 Habits
Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles on the pillars of Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School’s educational philosophy and approach.
“In the long run, if it isn’t a win for both of us, we both lose. That’s why win-win is the only real alternative in interdependent realities.”
— Dr. Stephen Covey
This week, we’re examining Habit #4: Think Win-Win. Someone with a win-win mind-set sees life as a cooperative arena, instead of a competitive one. Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions, and means agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and satisfying.
Why is this habit so vital to us at Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School? Because none of us lives in a vacuum. Every day, we interact with other people who have their own sets of passions, motivations, and priorities. So how do we successfully navigate the world as an individual among many other individuals?
Dr. Stephen Covey held that a person or organization approaching conflicts with a win-win attitude possesses three vital character traits:
- Integrity: sticking with your true feelings, values, and commitments
- Maturity: expressing your ideas and feelings with courage and consideration for the ideas and feelings of others
- Abundance Mentality: believing there is plenty for everyone
Developing a win-win approach is also beneficial to our growth and maturity. As we seek to have win-win interactions and relationships, we develop our humility, better recognize the humanity of those around us, develop long-term perspectives, and also learn to become more assertive.
There are four steps that can help the win-win process be truly beneficial for all involved:
- See the problem from others’ perspectives to understand their needs and concerns
- Identify the key issues and concerns involved
- Determine what results could make for a fully acceptable situation
- Identify options for how to achieve those results.
Developing a win-win mind-set is an important step toward being a more collaborative individual, which is at the heart of what the Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School learning model is all about. Win-win is certainly a balancing act, but when we strike that balance everyone benefits.
Join us next week as we explore Habit #5: Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
25 Aug
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
21 Aug
Exploring Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School Culture: Habit 3 of the 7 Habits
Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles on the pillars of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School’s educational philosophy and approach. You can find more articles by clicking here.
This week, we look at Habit #3: Put First Things First. This habit, which all of us at Alaka`i O Kaua`i are working to put into practice, is about identifying and organizing one’s priorities. In essence, someone who puts first things first is saying, “I spend time on things that are most important. I set priorities, make a schedule, and follow a plan. I’m disciplined and organized.”
Dr. Stephen Covey said that “first things” are basically all those things that you value most in your life. So, you should manage your schedule according to your priorities to get all essential things done on time.
Skills that can be learned by putting first things first include:
- Time management
- Cultivating a strong work ethic, flexibility, and adaptability
- Interpersonal skills
- Self-management
- Being accountable and responsible for actions and results
- Cultivating analytical skills
An effective way to implement Habit #3, according to Covey, is breaking down activities into four quadrants of urgency and importance:
- Quadrant 1: Urgent and important
- Quadrant 2: Not urgent and important
- Quadrant 3: Urgent and not important
- Quadrant 4: Not urgent and not important
Covey suggests you become more aware of your internal drive, values, and goals. This makes it easier to say “yes” to the actions that are based on these factors. This way, values and goals are less often overruled by (non-important) urgent matters. Remember that whenever you say “yes” to one thing, you will no longer have time for something else. Time is the most valuable and least replaceable of all resources. Things that appear urgent will most likely trigger a “yes” if you are asked to help out. It’s useful to understand that saying “no” is also a legitimate option.
By identifying what’s most important to you, and where your passions lie, you can more easily learn to put first things first.
Join us next week as we explore Habit #4: Think Win-Win.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
21 Aug
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
14 Aug
Upcoming Events
14 Aug
Exploring Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School Culture: Habit 2 of the 7 Habits
Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles on the pillars of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School’s educational philosophy and approach. You can find more articles by clicking here.
When was the last time you went on a trip to a new place without first looking up directions? Unless you have a superhuman sense of direction, you searched for how to get where you were going, whether on your phone or an old-school paper map. That’s what this week’s habit is all about.
Last week, we discussed the first of the 7 Habits: Be Proactive. A proactive person believes in taking responsibility for their lives and investing their time and energy on things within their control — and not losing sleep over the things they can’t control.
But how does one successfully lead a proactive life? Part of the answer lies in Habit #2: Begin With the End in Mind. Starting a proactive journey is difficult if you don’t know where you are trying to go. Beginning with the end in mind is very much like consulting a road map.
In short, to begin with the end in mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of the desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing one’s proactive muscles to make things happen.
To reinforce a mind-set of beginning with the end in mind, Dr. Stephen Covey encouraged developing what he called a personal mission statement. It focuses on what you want to be and do. It is your plan for success. It reaffirms who you are, puts your goals in focus, and moves your ideas into the real world. Your mission statement makes you the leader of your own life.
So what does it look like for learners to embrace a Habit 2 mind-set and develop their personal mission statements? Helpful steps include reminding themselves of the following:
- I plan ahead and set goals for myself.
- I am prepared at all times.
- I think about how the choices I make now will affect my future.
- I think about the positive or negative consequences of my actions before I act.
Do you know why Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School’s focus on developing children who are free thinkers fits so well with the 7 Habits? Because, for instance, Habit 2 is based on imagination — the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. When children are empowered to imagine what can be, the results can be incredibly inspiring.
Join us next week as we explore Habit #3: Put First Things First.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
14 Aug
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
05 Aug
Upcoming Events
05 Aug
Exploring Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School Culture: Habit 1 of the 7 Habits
Last week, we introduced a vital element of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School’s approach to education — The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Learning and practicing the 7 Habits has been instrumental to our learners’ success living out the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School approach of empowering kids to be “free to think, inspired to lead” — not to mention how it helps our staff thrive.
This week, we’re continuing to unpack the habits with Habit #1: Be Proactive. In short, being proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. Instead of reacting to or worrying about conditions over which they have little or no control, proactive people focus their time and energy on things they can control.
In general, most of us fall into one of two categories: Either we’re reactive to situations in life, affected by factors outside of ourselves and believing we have no control over situations — or we are proactive, realizing that we are “response-able” and that we have freedom to choose our responses. A proactive individual peppers their language with “I can” and “I will,” while a reactive person falls back on “I can’t” or “if only.”
In short, proactive people focus their efforts on what Dr. Stephen Covey calls their Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about, like health or problems at work. On the flip side, reactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern — things over which they have little or no control.
It has been amazing to see how understanding these concepts empowers Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School learners to take charge and command over both their education and their lives. We’ve seen time and again how it trickles down to every aspect of their lives, and that is at the heart of the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School model: developing the whole child so that they are equipped to live with purpose and intent.
As Dr. Covey said, “The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct, and learn from it.” When children learn to apply this in an academic setting, it can only spread to every other area of life.
Next week, we’ll continue exploring what makes the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School approach to education so innovative, explaining Habit #2: Begin With the End in Mind.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
05 Aug
VIDEO: Why Alaka’i?
Do you know someone searching for a new school? Hear from one of our board members about what Alaka’i O Kaua’i has meant for her child and family.
05 Aug
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
29 Jul
Exploring Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School Culture: The 7 Habits
We’re happy to introduce a new series of articles in the Monday Message, aimed at unpacking some of the essentials of the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School educational model.
Our educational model is driven by much more than simply making sure children are good students. Rather, it’s focused on equipping them to be lifelong learners who are fully developed and prepared to lead in the 21st century.
Whether you’ve been part of the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School family for a while or are fairly new, you’ve most likely heard a lot of talk about “The 7 Habits” and how important they are to what we do. Stephen Covey’s best-selling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has been deeply influential in the shaping of our approach to project-based learning, as well as our staff development. We are constantly inspired by how we see our learners put the 7 Habits into action.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll expand on each of the habits, how they relate to learning at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, and even practical ways you can incorporate them into your daily life.
To get things started, though, we wanted to take today to introduce the 7 Habits.
- Habit 1: Be Proactive: Being proactive is about taking responsibility for your life. Proactive people focus their time and energy on things they can control instead of reacting to or worrying about conditions over which they have little or no control.
- Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind: At the heart of this is beginning each day, task, or project with a clear vision of one’s desired direction and destination, and then continuing by flexing proactive muscles to make things happen.
- Habit 3: Put First Things First: This is where Habits 1 and 2 come together. It happens day in and day out, moment by moment, and deals with many of the questions addressed in the field of time management. Habit 3 is about life management, as well — your purpose, values, roles, and priorities.
- Habit 4: Think Win-Win: This habit presents life as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one. Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. A win-win approach means agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and satisfying.
- Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood: This habit can help transform communication. Too often, many of us can listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. We can filter everything we hear through our life experiences and our frame of reference. Consequently, we decide prematurely what the other person means before they finish communicating.
- Habit 6: Synergize: This is the habit of creative cooperation. It’s a process of teamwork, open-mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems. It thrives on the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
- Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw: Living a life in balance means taking the necessary time to renew yourself. To “sharpen the saw” means to preserve and enhance the greatest asset you have — you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.
Coming up next week, we’ll dive into the first habit, Be Proactive, discussing what it looks like in practical terms and how you can make it part of your life.
29 Jul
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
27 May
Exploring Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School Culture: Habit 7 of the 7 Habits
Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles on the pillars of Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School’s educational philosophy and approach.
So here we are. We’ve explored six of the seven habits and why they’re important to us and our learners at Alaka`i O Kaua`i Charter School, and hopefully by this point you feel more equipped and empowered to approach your own life and work with clearer focus and vision.
But how do we maintain that energy?
That’s where Habit 7 comes in — Sharpen the Saw. Incorporating the 7 Habits into your life is all about achieving balance. But living a life in balance means taking the necessary time to renew yourself. It’s all up to you. You can renew yourself through relaxation, or you can totally burn yourself out by overdoing everything.
“Sharpen the Saw” means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have — you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. Here are some examples:
- Physical: Beneficial eating, exercising, and resting.
- Social/Emotional: Making social and meaningful connections with others.
- Mental: Learning, reading, writing, and teaching.
- Spiritual: Spending time in nature, expanding spiritual self through meditation, music, art, prayer, or service, etc.
The point is, if we don’t take the time to recharge and renew ourselves regularly, we will burn out and find our efforts stale.
As Dr. Steven Covey said, “Renewal is the principle — and the process — that empowers us to move on an upward spiral of growth and change, of continuous improvement.”
What that sharpening looks like will vary from person to person. For you, sharpening the saw might mean taking a 10-15-minute walk every day where you can decompress and not focus on day-to-day responsibilities. Or maybe it means better structuring your workweek so on weekends you can focus primarily on family time. Whatever your saw-sharpening looks like, find something that works for you.
As the saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. To make the most of the 7 Habits in improving yourself, your life, and your work, it cannot be a piecemeal effort. Each enhances and strengthens the others. Step by step, find the balance of incorporating each habit — and don’t neglect yourself. Sharpen that saw so that you can truly be your best.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
27 May
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
22 May
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Culture: Social Intelligence
In the Alaka’i O Kaua’i approach to project-based learning, which produces well-rounded kids, social intelligence is a key component of whole-child development.
What do we mean by social intelligence? It’s a person’s ability to interact well with others. It’s often simply called people skills, or tact. It isn’t necessarily a natural-born characteristic, but it can be learned. It involves situational awareness, understanding of social dynamics, and self-awareness.
In a nutshell, it’s the ability to recognize our emotions, exert control over them, show empathy for others, handle conflict well, and make good choices. By helping kids develop social intelligence, we empower them to build stronger relationships and lay the groundwork for bright futures.
Social intelligence isn’t static; it continually develops throughout one’s life. It’s never too late to sharpen it, and children are especially ready to learn. Educating children on healthy communication helps them to be a friend who is empathetic, generous, kind, and a good listener. There are four main characteristics of social intelligence:
Empathy: Empathy determines how well one relates to other people’s thoughts and emotions. Empathetic people consider and understand diverse perspectives, even if they don’t share the same ideas. They can pick up on a person’s mood and adjust their reactions accordingly.
Respect: Mutual understanding calls for a degree of respect. Respecting others can mean adapting communication styles to fit their needs, or finding a healthy compromise.
Behavior: This component concerns how people carry themselves in social situations. Are their actions appropriate for the setting? Do they make others feel relaxed or uncomfortable? A person must be able to adapt when necessary while maintaining their core values.
Self-efficacy: This characteristic refers to how a person judges themselves on their capacity to perform particular tasks. If someone has a stable sense of self-efficacy concerning social intelligence, they’re confident in their social abilities.
These skills are reinforced in school, but the foundations are set at home, which is one reason why Alaka’i O Kaua’i believes in strong parent/guardian involvement in the educational process.
We can do the following to develop our social intelligence:
- Pay close attention to what and who are around us
- Work on increasing our emotional intelligence
- Respect cultural differences
- Practice active listening
- Appreciate the important people in our lives
Much like the other components of the Alaka’i O Kaua’i approach to education, the development of social intelligence builds strengths in kids, as well as sharpening all the other pillars of social-emotional and project-based learning — resulting in well-rounded kids who are ready for whatever challenges life may bring.
22 May
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
15 May
TED Talks For Parents
TED Talks are a terrific resource for learning. They are often entertaining, but they also open our minds to new ideas and life experiences. We have compiled a short list of some of our favorite talks for parents. Take a listen to these when you can:
Sir Ken Robinson,”Do Schools Kill Creativity?”
Rita Pierson, “Every Kid Needs a Champion”
Social psychologist Sonia Livingstone, “Parenting in the Digital Age”
Temple Grandin, “The World Needs All Kinds of Minds”
Angela Lee Duckworth, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance”
Julie Lythcott-Haims, “How to Raise Successful Kids — Without Over-Parenting”
15 May
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
04 May
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Culture: Components of Social-Emotional Learning — Optimism
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is one of the core elements of the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School approach to education. Through social-emotional learning, learners understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
Academic achievement is only one aspect of a learner’s education at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We also deeply value learners’ development of emotional intelligence, life skills, and community engagement, and we support these through the development of character strengths, as defined by Character Lab. Social-emotional learning develops strengths of heart, mind, and will.
Today, we want to discuss a character strength of will: optimism. Optimism is being hopeful about future outcomes combined with the agency to shape that future.
When we embody the character strength of optimism, the following things are true about us:
- We attribute problems to temporary, changeable causes rather than explaining them in terms that author Martin Seligman calls “the three Ps” – permanent, personal, and pervasive.
- We expect good things from others, the world, and the future.
- We can overcome obstacles to reach goals.
We can help learners build healthy optimism in the following ways:
- Create a positive, stable, caring environment. We can create positive, stable environments where kids feel known and cared for.
- Help learners develop more positive thinking patterns. For example, if a learner gets stuck and says, “I’m not good at this,” we encourage them to reposition the statement like this: “I need more practice or a new perspective to master this concept.” This takes consistent practice.
- Give learners opportunities to learn from their mistakes. If learners experience failure and learn from that failure, they will develop resiliency when obstacles occur.
Character Lab CEO Angela Duckworth has said, “It stands to reason that even in our darkest moments, there will always be hope for humankind.”
That thought likely rings true for many of us as we survey a world gripped by multiple ongoing crises. We all need optimism, and we have a responsibility to help kids develop a healthy strength of optimism that will help them face the world.
04 May
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
30 Apr
TED Talks For Parents
TED Talks are a terrific resource for learning. They are often entertaining, but they also open our minds to new ideas and life experiences. We have compiled a short list of some of our favorite talks for parents. Take a listen to these when you can:
Sir Ken Robinson,”Do Schools Kill Creativity?”
Rita Pierson, “Every Kid Needs a Champion”
Social psychologist Sonia Livingstone, “Parenting in the Digital Age”
Temple Grandin, “The World Needs All Kinds of Minds”
Angela Lee Duckworth, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance”
Julie Lythcott-Haims, “How to Raise Successful Kids — Without Over-Parenting”
30 Apr
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
21 Apr
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Culture: Building 21st-Century Skills
At Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, what’s important is not only ensuring learners are receiving an academically well-rounded education but also that they have the tools they need to succeed in an ever-changing world. That’s why we place a high priority on 21st-century skills.
These skills are essential in a worldwide market that’s moving faster by the day, and they funnel to a key focus: a person’s ability to enact and/or adapt to change.
Why? Because we live in a world where long-established industries are now regularly disrupted with new ideas and methodologies. Kids are preparing for work in an era when nothing is guaranteed, and it’s important to be adaptable.
When we speak about 21st-century skills, we’re talking about those things that help learners adapt and thrive in a world that is increasingly more dependent on technology as well as a global economy and workplace. The 12 essential 21st-century skills include the following:
- Critical thinking
- Creativity
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Information literacy
- Media literacy
- Technology literacy
- Flexibility
- Leadership
- Initiative
- Productivity
- Social skills
Through individualized instruction and project-based learning, we celebrate and foster each child’s individuality and support them in discovering their highest potential. We believe each child will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to achieve their fullest potential in preparation for college and the demands of the 21st-century workplace.
Succeeding in the 21st century calls for skill sets that go beyond the basics mandated by densely packed education standards and what’s evaluated on standardized tests. Learners also need to build skills sets that will last a lifetime. To solve problems in our complex, fast-changing world, learners must become nimble, creative thinkers who can work well with others.
In line with the 12 skills identified above, there are four Cs Alaka’i O Kaua’i focuses on instilling in learners, as identified by the Partnership for 21st-Century Skills:
- Collaboration: Learners are able to work effectively with diverse groups and exercise flexibility in making compromises to achieve common goals.
- Creativity: Learners are able to generate and improve on original ideas and also work creatively with others.
- Communication: Learners are able to communicate effectively across multiple media and for various purposes.
- Critical thinking: Learners are able to analyze, evaluate, and understand complex systems and apply strategies to solve problems.
It is critical to keep in mind that those 4Cs don’t replace academic learning goals; rather, they complement and enhance them.
Since Alaka’i O Kaua’i ’s inception, we have been committed to helping develop well-rounded kids, those who are lifelong learners empowered to lead and succeed in a changing world. By incorporating 21st-century skills, we’re making sure they’re ready for anything they face in their journey.
21 Apr
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
21 Apr
VIDEO: Why Alaka’i?
Hear from one of our board members about what Alaka’i O Kaua’i has meant for her child and family.
14 Apr
Upcoming Events
April 18 – Board Meeting, 5 p.m.
April 22 – Earth Day – sports activities on campus
14 Apr
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Culture: Social Intelligence
In the Alaka’i O Kaua’i approach to project-based learning, which produces well-rounded kids, social intelligence is a key component of whole-child development.
What do we mean by social intelligence? It’s a person’s ability to interact well with others. It’s often simply called people skills, or tact. It isn’t necessarily a natural-born characteristic, but it can be learned. It involves situational awareness, understanding of social dynamics, and self-awareness.
In a nutshell, it’s the ability to recognize our emotions, exert control over them, show empathy for others, handle conflict well, and make good choices. By helping kids develop social intelligence, we empower them to build stronger relationships and lay the groundwork for bright futures.
Social intelligence isn’t static; it continually develops throughout one’s life. It’s never too late to sharpen it, and children are especially ready to learn. Educating children on healthy communication helps them to be a friend who is empathetic, generous, kind, and a good listener. There are four main characteristics of social intelligence:
Empathy: Empathy determines how well one relates to other people’s thoughts and emotions. Empathetic people consider and understand diverse perspectives, even if they don’t share the same ideas. They can pick up on a person’s mood and adjust their reactions accordingly.
Respect: Mutual understanding calls for a degree of respect. Respecting others can mean adapting communication styles to fit their needs, or finding a healthy compromise.
Behavior: This component concerns how people carry themselves in social situations. Are their actions appropriate for the setting? Do they make others feel relaxed or uncomfortable? A person must be able to adapt when necessary while maintaining their core values.
Self-efficacy: This characteristic refers to how a person judges themselves on their capacity to perform particular tasks. If someone has a stable sense of self-efficacy concerning social intelligence, they’re confident in their social abilities.
These skills are reinforced in school, but the foundations are set at home, which is one reason why Alaka’i O Kaua’i believes in strong parent/guardian involvement in the educational process.
We can do the following to develop our social intelligence:
- Pay close attention to what and who are around us
- Work on increasing our emotional intelligence
- Respect cultural differences
- Practice active listening
- Appreciate the important people in our lives
Much like the other components of the Alaka’i O Kaua’i approach to education, the development of social intelligence builds strengths in kids, as well as sharpening all the other pillars of social-emotional and project-based learning — resulting in well-rounded kids who are ready for whatever challenges life may bring.
14 Apr
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
10 Apr
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Culture: Partnering with Home and Community
At Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, we don’t believe that education happens solely within the four walls of a school. On the contrary, we believe education that produces well-rounded children is a result of synergy and collaboration between the school, the home, and the community.
That is why it is so important to us to build strong partnerships between families and communities. Parents and community partners are key resources to supporting learners’ success, which is why Alaka’i O Kaua’i actively and consistently involves parents, finding ways to support them and extend learners’ education at home.
Through our relationships with various community partners, we are able to provide learning experiences that broaden kids’ perspectives, not to mention often give back to the community. Strong community partnerships are a win-win.
There are several ways we promote parent involvement. We strongly encourage parents to volunteer at their learners’ school during the year, with opportunities including classroom volunteering, tutoring, attending board of directors meetings, participating in events, and more. We also encourage parents to take an active role in their children’s learning.
Other community-related partnerships we encourage and facilitate include partnering with industry professionals, business leaders, government and civic leaders, community leaders, nonprofit leaders, higher-education partners, entrepreneurs, and more. Fostering these relationships provides learners with a wealth of knowledge, advice, and insight, in addition to access to real-world learning opportunities and experiences.
Collaboration is at the heart of Alaka’i O Kaua’i’s project-based learning model. When synergy is found between learners, families, and communities, something really special happens — the foundation is set for authentic learning that produces inspired leaders with promising futures.
10 Apr
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
31 Mar
Upcoming Events
April 15 – Good Friday – No School
April 18 – Board Meeting, 5 p.m.
April 22 – Earth Day – sports activities on campus
31 Mar
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Culture: Components of Social-Emotional Learning — Optimism
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is one of the core elements of the Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School approach to education. Through social-emotional learning, learners understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
Academic achievement is only one aspect of a learner’s education at Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School. We also deeply value learners’ development of emotional intelligence, life skills, and community engagement, and we support these through the development of character strengths, as defined by Character Lab. Social-emotional learning develops strengths of heart, mind, and will.
Today, we want to discuss a character strength of will: optimism. Optimism is being hopeful about future outcomes combined with the agency to shape that future.
When we embody the character strength of optimism, the following things are true about us:
- We attribute problems to temporary, changeable causes rather than explaining them in terms that author Martin Seligman calls “the three Ps” – permanent, personal, and pervasive.
- We expect good things from others, the world, and the future.
- We can overcome obstacles to reach goals.
We can help learners build healthy optimism in the following ways:
- Create a positive, stable, caring environment. We can create positive, stable environments where kids feel known and cared for.
- Help learners develop more positive thinking patterns. For example, if a learner gets stuck and says, “I’m not good at this,” we encourage them to reposition the statement like this: “I need more practice or a new perspective to master this concept.” This takes consistent practice.
- Give learners opportunities to learn from their mistakes. If learners experience failure and learn from that failure, they will develop resiliency when obstacles occur.
Character Lab CEO Angela Duckworth has said, “It stands to reason that even in our darkest moments, there will always be hope for humankind.”
That thought likely rings true for many of us as we survey a world gripped by multiple ongoing crises. We all need optimism, and we have a responsibility to help kids develop a healthy strength of optimism that will help them face the world.
31 Mar
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
26 Mar
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School Culture: Whole-Child Development
At Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School, social-emotional learning is integral to our whole-child educational approach.
A whole-child mindset means that we are focused on far more than teaching to tests or holding up state standards as the be-all, end-all of education. We believe in focusing on the whole child and promoting social-emotional learning, because education is about more than test scores.
Whole-child development empowers kids to be creative, engaged citizens. With that in mind, we believe it’s our responsibility to nurture learners’ creative abilities to express themselves, understand others, and navigate complex information so they can confidently solve the problems of an ever-changing world.
So when we say we focus on “whole child” development, what do we mean? We’re talking about an approach to project-based learning that emphasizes the following deeper-learning approaches:
Mastery of Core Academic Content: Learners lay their academic foundation in subjects such as reading, writing, arts, math, and science, understanding essential principles and procedures, recalling facts, and drawing on their knowledge to complete tasks.
Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: Our learners understand how to construct effective arguments using their critical, analytical, and creative skills. They develop the know-how to come up with solutions to complex problems.
Collaboration: Learners embrace teamwork and consider multiple viewpoints to cooperate and achieve shared goals.
Effective Communication: Learners communicate effectively in writing and oral presentations. They structure information in meaningful ways, listen to and give feedback, and construct messages for particular audiences.
Self-Directed Learning: Learners develop the ability to set goals, monitor their own progress, and reflect on their strengths and areas for improvement. They learn to see setbacks as opportunities to grow and be more adaptive.
Growth Mindset: Learners with a growth mindset believe in themselves. They trust their abilities and believe their hard work will pay off; they persist to overcome obstacles. In the process, they also learn from and support each other and see the relevance of their schoolwork to the real world and their own future success.
Coupled with vibrant project-based education and social-emotional learning, all these elements work together to empower kids to overcome any challenge that comes their way academically; but more than that, they build the character to succeed in the 21st century.
26 Mar
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
18 Mar
Shop Amazon for FREE Fundraising for Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi!
Did you know you can help Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi grow and provide additional resources by just doing the things you’re already doing every day?
We call this “passive fundraising.” Through Amazon Smile, you can buy items for the same exact price, and Amazon will send us a portion of their proceeds each time you shop with them. Every little bit counts! Please help us take advantage of the opportunity to earn funds! See below for details and make sure your purchases make a difference! Please help us build a better school for our keiki with the opportunity to earn funds from everyday purchases! We sincerely appreciate everything our Alakaʻi Ohana can do to help!
See below for the simple steps for using Amazon Smile and see how easy it really is!
Amazon Smile
- Shop on smile.amazon.com
- Under the search bar on Amazon Smile’s site, it will say “Supporting.” This is where you’ll choose Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- Start shopping on smile.amazon.com so that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi.
- If you purchase under the regular amazon.com, those purchases will not be donated to the school. It has to be through smile.amazon.com.
