How lucky are we?!
Our school borders the shore of Kai'aka Beach Park and every day we are gifted with views of the ocean, mountains, and the gardens that surround us! We have chickens and egrets roaming our green grasses in search of a meal, native and canoe plants scattered among a variety of vibrant heliconia and ginger flowers, and tall trees that provide us with shade and a showering of flowers with gem-like colors of purple, orange, and yellow.
Our students have a deep and meaningful connection to the land, or ‘aina.
They use it to provide food (fishing, hunting, gardening, foraging) and for entertainment and exercise (surfing, hiking, swimming). As we return to on-campus learning, it is because of our deeply rooted sense of place that we try and nurture a deep sense of kuleana, or responsibility. For many students, it is this kuleana that gives them purpose and inspires them at school. After distance learning I know they are excited to regain this sense of purpose within our community.
As we return to our campus after distance learning, we all could use a project to help us reconnect to our campus and each other. We achieve this by involving our students in the stewardship of the land starting in preschool. The ‘Aina in Schools, Plastic Free Hawai’i, Sustainable Coastlines, and Loko ‘Ea programs have also helped us stretch this mission beyond “tourist” gardening and basic recycling. We now blend our classroom curriculum with the resources and community beyond our school, thus extending our mission.
In alignment with the Nā Hopena A‘o Statements, we will accomplish this by strengthening our sense of responsibility, Hawai'i, and belonging.
With this in mind, we would like to tackle “greening” our school lunch by rendering it “zero-waste”.
To help us achieve our goal, DonorsChoose supplied us with composting equipment so my students can study and implement a variety of composting strategies! We have a Dual Chamber Tumbling Composter to compare and contrast the composting of our food scraps and study how sun energy transforms within a compost pile. Our See-Through Compost Container will allow us to study decomposition. We have a Worm Farm where we will study the interdependence of organisms like worms and plants. We have been using our Collapsible Folding Lap Desks so that we can kilo, or observe, in our gardens and journal our scientific inquiries and observations.
Mahalo to DonorsChoose for helping us get all these fantastic supplies!
