School news and events for the week of {date}
Hau’oli Makahiki Hou to the good people in the learning community of Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School and hope the start of 2021 has treated you well.
It was a marvelous week on campus as we moved back to the green level in our revised School Opening Plan and welcomed back all the learners all the time. The wise words of award-winning educator Rafe Esquith capture the last week: “Kids still like to laugh; kids still like the joy of learning. When you have a cool science experiment — I don’t care where you’re from — when you have that aha moment…that kid’s eyes are gonna open up. So I really try to focus more on what we have in common than what differs us.”
In my travels around all the classes last week, the joy of learning was clearly on display across the faces, actions, and efforts of our keiki. These observations are shared with you through a few photo examples from campus last week. You can see the happiness of our kindergarten class as they come back to classes after their recess break. The 5th graders were fully engaged in their learning as they worked on math and language arts on the lower campus. The 1st graders shared their knowledge of eels and octopi with each other, complete with their enthusiasm of the uniqueness of these creatures.
It was simply magical to hear the laughter and happy voices of our learners, and these serve as a warm reminder of the blessings to have a distinctly different charter school in a remote location. The setting of Kahili Valley, enhanced by the vast amounts of physical space, gives us to opportunity to be on campus when many schools on the island, in our state, nationally, and globally cannot do so.
We wish to recognize and share appreciation for our talented Jon, who freshly repainted the front of our main campus over the winter break. Jon continues to amaze us all with his skills, expertise, and diligence in constantly improving Alaka’i O Kaua’i Charter School’s buildings and campus.
Mahalo for your patience and support of our school, especially given the additional challenges we all face with the pandemic. We are currently reexamining our revised Alaka’i O Kaua’i School Opening Plan from September at the Board of Directors level to try to find the best way to educate our keiki while being socially responsible to keep everyone safe.
Best wishes for a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2021.
DJ Adams
School Director
Alaka’i O Kaua’i Culture: Components of Social-Emotional Learning — Zest
“Enthusiasm is the electricity of life.” —Gordon Parks Central to the Alaka’i O Kaua’i approach to project-based learning is a belief that education works best when it’s energetic. Rather than being stale and rote, it’s filled with excitement. That excitement, which we call zest, is a core element of social-emotional learning. Individuals who approach life… Read more
Together Tuesdays: Share Your Photos and Stories!
Dear Alaka’i O Kaua’i community, Once a month, we share a new Together Tuesdays video. Click here to submit your photos or short videos for the next edition! Submissions received by the Friday before each edition are eligible to be included.* We can’t wait to see your contributions! If you have any questions, simply reply to stories@ileadschools.org.… Read more
Shop Amazon for FREE Fund-raising 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… Read more
