Fourth and other grade level teachers are invited to a free follow-up half-day workshop on Saturday, May 11, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Moanalua Middle School Library.
Presented by Moanalua Gardens Foundation (MGF), the workshop will include a special presentation of the Aloha Aina Curriculum by Herb Lee, executive director of the Pacific American Foundation. The workshop will also offer new instructional activities for teachers.
Teachers are encouraged to share their experiences in using the curriculum with the attendees. Preference will be given to teachers who have attended a Huakai o Kamananui, Aloha Aina Moanalua curriculum training.
All participants will receive a free "Flowing to the Sea" book and DVD and other resources. Moanalua Gardens Foundation will provide all materials plus light breakfast, snacks and refreshments.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about additional Aloha Aina resources, improve your teaching skills, and share experiences with your colleagues.
To register, please contact Pauline Worsham at pworsham@moanaluagardensfoundation.org. Space is limited to 20 people.
About the Aloha Aina Curriculum
Shaping the future, while preserving a heritage, the Aloha Aina Curriculum provides Hawaii’s youth with culturally relevant lessons.
Since 2005, the Pacific American Foundation and its curriculum writing team has developed a collection of unit and lessons plans that explore, reveal and explain the ahupuaa land-management system and challenges students to become stewards and scientists who care for the land and preserve the traditions. Aina, that which nourishes, encompasses land, ocean, heavens, land-based water systems, plants and animals. Aloha Aina is a way of life that is evident in Hawaiian practices. The curriculum is designed to inspire students to:
- Embrace aloha aina as a way of life;
- Excel in science, math, social studies, and language arts; and
- Care for resources within their ahupuaa.
The lessons in each unit encourage students to explore their individual relationship to the aina and ways that they can care for the place where they live. This multidisciplinary journey will take them through readings, reflections in writing, interviews with kuupuna, creative collaborative projects, problem-solving in math and science, and investigations in their ahupuaa. Getting to know the place where they live and giving back to that place in a meaningful way through community service, are essential elements for students participating in the lessons.