The Heart of Haleʻiwa

• Reminder: No school on Friday, August 20th!
• Meet our New Teachers
• Feeding the Pigs and Reducing Waste on Campus
• Summer Campus Beautification project: Painted Benches
• Literacy Corner: New Library Books to checkout this year
• I Wish You More read aloud by Mrs. Wetzel
• Student Showcase: 3rd Grade
• Safe Schools and COVID by Nurse Connie

Hi! I’m Ms. Brooks. I am so happy to be back at Haleiwa teaching kindergarten. I was born in Mississippi and moved to Washington state when I was 13. I’ve lived in Haleiwa for ten years.

I have two boys, ages 7 and 10, that both attend Haleiwa. We also have two dogs, a golden retriever and a chocolate lab. I spend most of my time at the beach with my boys when we aren’t at school.

My God mother who helped raise me was a teacher, and she’s the reason why I always wanted to be a teacher. I love my students like they are my own and I hope that I can instill a love of learning in them that will last forever.

Hi my name is Liane Mori and I was born and raised here right in Waialua. This will be my fourth year of teaching Kindergarten and I’m so excited to be teaching here at Haleiwa so close to home. I also have a daughter who is 4 years old, attending Haleiwa Elementary.

I became a teacher because the people I looked up to the most were my previous teachers. They are the ones who not only taught me education, but also were there for me to guide and encourage me to believe in myself. They are the ones who showed me what an excellent teacher is and what I strive to be.

One wish that I have for my students is to follow your dreams and never give up. You can achieve anything if you put your mind to it.

I was born and raised in Florida but spent the past 4 years in Brooklyn, New York working towards my Bachelors degree. After college I wanted to get back to warmer weather and followed the waves to Hawai'i.

My family is back on the mainland, but I have found a home here with my boyfriend and cat, Stella.

Teaching was an idea that was always on my mind since I was in Elementary school, but it was not something that I put much thought into. When COVID hit I had the time to think about where I wanted to be and what I wanted to be doing. I realized that spending my time teaching children seemed like a dream so I took advantage of online school options and enrolled in HPU's Masters in Elementary Education Program.

My wish for my students is that they become outstanding members of their community. I want them to learn a lot and have fun. But on top of that I want them to be able to apply their knowledge to their life and understand how to make their world a better place.

Our third grade teacher, Ms. Felz was looking for ways to help reduce waste on campus. She was able to find a local pig farmer to partner with. Our students will help feed the pigs by saving all of their food leftovers in "Pig Food" containers. Can you believe pigs eat everything except milk and oranges! The local pig farmer will come every day after school to pick up the food. Other neighboring schools are also participating in this project to help reduce waste and help feed the pigs.

This summer we wanted to incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons with students who attended our Summer Hub and Extended School Year programs. We got to do a campus beautification project with our SEL for each grade level. Each class came up with their own positive word of affirmation and designed their benches. The students and teachers were able to paint their own benches. It was a really fun lesson and our benches are even more inviting!

This summer, we were able to process over 150 new books to add to our library. The books have been published in the last couple of years and are a diverse selection. Students will be able to check out books again this year to take home and read. Class library time scheduled every other week.

Here are a few titles that can now be checked out:

This week, students in Ms. Felz's class wrote a paragraph about what their favorite animal. Below, you can read why Kaleo Jorgensen likes turtles and Jude Souza likes Komodo dragons.

With an increase in COVID cases in the community, we can expect to see more incidences of COVID in our schools. It is not always possible to keep COVID out of our schools. COVID infection can spread from one person to another before there are obvious signs and symptoms or even without knowing a person has COVID. Given this situation, we have good scientific evidence that show COVID spread can be prevented in schools so long as we follow strong infection control practices. We need everyone’s help to keep our keikis and schools safe.

A safe school starts from home. When we stay home for known COVID-like symptoms, or after we find out that we have been a “close contact” to someone who tested positive for COVID-19, we have taken the first step in preventing a school COVID exposure. School exposures lead to sending staff and some students home to quarantine for 10 days.

The impact of COVID-19 in society goes beyond infections. In addition to the obvious loss of learning, other examples of harm include loneliness from having to stay home and being away from others. Younger kids especially need the socialization with their friends to develop their personalities and learn social skills.

Performing our home COVID-wellness checks every morning before coming to school and staying home when needed will help kids stay in school where they learn best.

For a copy of the DOE Wellness Checks, please click below:

DOEWellnessCheck

Email: haleiwaschool@haleiwa.k12.hi.us
Website: haleiwaelementary.com
Phone: (808)637-8237
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/haleiwaelementary
Twitter: @HaleiwaElement1