Alaka’i O Kaua’i
NEWSLETTER
March 2018
Congratulations, Applicants!
Congratulations to our early applicants who have officially enrolled as our founding students this August!! We did not have a need for a lottery by our January 12th deadline, and we are in the next stage of registration through our online system. Everyone who has applied through February 24th has now received an email with an offer to enroll. Once you accept the offer, you will have access to the enrollment forms. Once the enrollment forms are complete, you will receive an email confirmation that your registration is complete. If you are considering the option to send your child to this new and innovative school, please don’t hesitate to secure a spot now! We are already halfway to our goal of 165 students!
Continuing Enrollment
With our online enrollment system, anyone can apply easily from home or even on your phone from this link: https://ilead.schoolmint.net
There is no deadline or limitation to apply. As long as there is space left, we will accept your application and send you an invitation to enroll. Once spaces are full, you will be added to a waitlist and notified.
If you have already applied, you can keep tabs on your application process by logging into your account.
Good news for 6th Grade!
Alaka`i governing board voted to request opening with grades K-7 this August! This means we can now accept applications for students entering 6th grade in August 2018. However, we can not make it official and offer them enrollment until the Hawai`i State Charter Commission approves this change which may not be until May. Please share the news!
Out and About
Our board members and volunteers are busy manning our outreach table at locations around the island. It is crucial that we spread the word to all our friends and family members with keiki entering grades K-7 next school year. We are especially looking for opportunities at south side locations. If you know of any events we can come to meet families, or if you are able to volunteer at one, let us know!
Official School Calendar Released
To view our 2018/19 school calendar, click HERE
We will be starting about 3 weeks later than DOE schools this year to give us more time to prepare our school buildings as well as provide professional development for our teachers.
Our daily schedule is still pending as we work with the Hawaii State Teacher Association in regard to their requirements. This is one of our current priorities and we will announce it soon.
Charter Commission Business
Governing Board members have been keeping attendance at the State Charter School Commission monthly meetings on Oahu. Our presence is critical to represent and defend our school as it continues to be held accountable for meeting the pre-assurances required to attain our official charter status. Until May, we are still in pre-charter status. The good news is that we are meeting all such requirements and are still right on track.
Benefit Concert
You may have seen our invitation to a benefit concert with Willie K that we were planning. We are so sorry to say that due to his health priorities, Uncle Willie K had to cancel all of his upcoming shows. We wish Willie K a full recovery and send him our warmest aloha. We are now working on a new fundraiser on the south side.
National School Choice Week
Across the nation millions of students rallied to voice support for school choice. We’d like to thank the Hawaii Charter School Network for organizing and sponsoring Hawaii’s first rally for school choice. They sponsored students and representatives from charter schools on all the islands to come to the state capitol. Students performed, made speeches and walked around to the offices of our representatives. It is important for our state leaders to realize the deep positive impact our charter schools have on our communities, and follow through with their support of bills that will fund the state charter schools fairly. Alaka’i O Kaua’i was represented by Sylvan Reeves, who will be a 5th grader next year at Alaka`i, who gave a powerful speech he had written.
Thank you, also, to our state senate president and Kaua`i Senator, Ron Kouchi, for taking time to sit and talk story with us. His own experience has taught him that a student’s intelligence and ability is not determined by test scores, and that having a school where children can thrive in a more holistic environment like ours is a genuine asset. We hope to have more support like he expressed this legislative season!
Governing Board Meetings
Thank you to KIUC who is allowing us use of their conference room for our monthly general board meetings for the next few months. This allows us to invite the public. If you are interested in attending, you are welcome to. The next meeting will be Wednesday, March 21, from 5 to 7pm. There is a limit of 30 guests inside the room with us.
Bussing?
One of the most common concerns we are hearing from our community is in regard to transportation. Hawaii does not provide bussing, funding or subsidies for bussing to its charter schools. Those charter schools that do provide the service have raised funds for it and often rely on volunteers to help out with driving. Since this is our first year, we are unable to provide student transportation. We know this is a big need with our location. Unless someone can donate busses or vans, we ask that all our families consider working together for carpooling. There are carpooling apps now that might prove really helpful. As we get closer to August and have our enrollment full, it will be easier to organize within regions. We are also planning a gathering for our newly enrolled families to meet and organize. This is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, March 24th. We will send an invitation when the location is secured.
Like Us on Facebook
Do you follow us on facebook? You should! All of our updates are posted there as well as inspiring posts related to alternative education. Make sure to set the priority to “See First” under the “Following” tab. See our page HERE
A typical school day at Alaka’i O Kaua’i will be dynamic and fun…
Arrival: Anela arrives at school and is greeted by the school director and support staff. She spends a few minutes talking story with her friends before heading off to her classroom, where her teacher welcomes her and helps her get settled.
Voice and Choice: Anela decides to spend her voice and choice time in the class “Makery,” an area where students can create things out of recycled materials. On this day, she continues work on a go-cart model that she and her friends have designed for the upcoming go-cart festival at school.
Morning Meeting and S.E.L.: The morning meeting takes place in the class “Village,” a comfortable space with tatami mats and floor cushions designed for group dialogue and other brainstorming and reflective activities. After reviewing the day’s schedule, the conversation turns to “Habit #2: Have a Plan.” Students and teacher engage in a discussion about how they might use this habit to guide their work on their go-carts. The student committees also update the class on the arrangements for the go-cart festival, which is a student-initiated fundraiser to help build a new playground on campus.
Daily 5 (Reading, Writing, Word Work): Anela chooses to begin her Daily Five center time with “Work on Writing.” She is composing a letter to the editor of The Garden Island, Kaua`i’s local newspaper, advertising the upcoming go-cart festival and inviting him to attend. She uses the rubric designed by the class to guide her letter writing to insure that all of the important components are included. After working for 20 minutes, Anela places the draft in her writing folder and moves on to Word Work, where she is in the process of mastering set 7 of the 11 Dolche sight word lists. She selects “word usage” as her task from the day and uses the vocabulary tiles to build sentences using each of the words on the list. She and her work partner take turns forming and reading each other’s sentences. Anela rounds off her Daily Five by listening to chapter 3 of Maniac Magee on tape as she follows along in the book. As she reads and listens, she makes a list of verbs that are used.
Recess: Anela shares her morning snack of baked ulu with her best friend, then spends the rest of recess jumping rope with a group of other students.
Daily 5 (Reading): Anela loves mysteries, and is reading “the Secret Tree” by Natalie Stanford. This is a “just right” book for Anela, so she can sound out or infer the words she does not know using the reading strategies she has learned in guided reading. In Guided Reading, Anela’s group is reading “From Seed to Plant” by Gail Gibbons. This nonfiction informational book explains that most plants start as seeds, and follows the process from seed to plant. The CCSS-ELA focus of the lesson is “interpreting words and phrases and analyzing how specific word choices shape meaning.” Anela’s teacher asks, “What does it mean to sprout? Have you ever heard that word used to describe a person? If so, what did it mean?”
Everyday Math: The class is continuing their study of measurement. Today Anela and her team are measuring the perimeter of the classroom in feet and inches, and converting the results to meters and centimeters. Over time, Anela’s team is measuring all the spaces in their building so that they can build a to-scale replica of the building and grounds. They want to design a new “natural” playground for the campus and will present their idea and their model at the next POL day.
Movement/ P.E.: The class is taking a virtual trip around the island by walk/running laps around the baseball field and tracking their progress in yards (a great math activity!). Anela is excited because the laps she completes today will mean she has “reached” Princeville, the halfway point of their journey.
Lunch & Recess: Anela eats outside under the kamani trees, then plays with her friends until the jingle bells ring.
Words Their Way (Spelling): Today’s spelling lesson is a sorting activity related to R-influenced vowel patterns. Anela is asked to sort her word cards under the pattern headers, “ar”, “are,” “air,” and oddball words, based upon the sounds the vowels make in the words. Anela accidentally put “pear” in the “ar” pile even though it doesn’t share the same sound as the other words (part, start, harm, etc) in the group. As she reads through the words in each group, she realizes her mistake and resorts the words so that “pear” is in the correct column. She records her sort in her ELA journal.
Project Based Learning (Social Studies, Science, Health, 5 C’s): The go-cart festival is three weeks away, and Anela’s team is having trouble getting their go-cart to turn smoothly at the far end of the track. They spend today’s PBL time researching wheels and pulleys, and decide to re-design the wheel assembly so that the foot pedals connect closer to the steering column for added control. To do this, they need to measure and cut new spindles to hold the wheels in place and to connect the wheels to the steering wheel. They work diligently for the entire period, but only finish one side of the wheel assembly. They will continue tomorrow. Anela’s job during clean-up is to sweep up the sawdust and make sure no wood splinters are left on the floor.
Closing Circle: Anela takes her place in the closing circle, conducted in the “Village.” Today’s check-out is “one word to describe how your project is going. Anela’s word is “rebuilding.”
School Ends: Anela walks to her brother’s class to meet him, and together they go to wait for mom to pick them up.
