Ka Malu o Kaimana Hila

Under the Protection of Diamond Head

Waikīkī School Parent Bulletin - December 17, 2021

After School Enrichment 21-22 Semester 2

After a long pause in ASE, we are pleased to announce that classes will resume in Semester 2!

In January, we will begin ASE registration and offer a collection of the same type of high-quality classes Waikiki School is recognized for! We are welcoming back both veteran and new ASE teachers, who create excellent classes and activities for students to stretch their learning, try something new, and engage in their passions.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, you will note there are some modifications to the ASE schedule and procedures that are necessary for the health and safety of students and staff. Some of the changes are:

¨ Online registration via Google Forms

¨ Payments may be made by check or cash only; checks may be sent through the students’ classroom, and cash payments must be taken to the office

¨ There will be one class period per day, from 2:30 – 4:00

¨ Classes are offered one day per week on Tuesdays or Thursdays

¨ We anticipate that Waikiki School will remain a closed campus for the rest of the school year, and pick-up of non-A+ students (K-5) will be from the front parking lot, beginning at 4:00. The pick-up procedures will be the same as regular pick-up after school, and you will need to display your student(s) name placard on your dash. Students will be supervised by ASE staff until they are picked up.

¨ All classes will be outside

¨ Masks are required

This list is not all-inclusive, and the details will be included in the registration packet you will receive by email in January. We are all looking forward to meeting new students and exploring new things and ways of learning in ASE classes!

Until then… much aloha,

Shelly Hecker

ASE Coordinator

Health and Safety Update

Please take a look at the video below by fifth grade students who wanted to quantitatively measure indoor air quality and ventilation as it relates to COVID. Under the guidance of Mr. Lawrence, students used a CO2 meter to see how changing different variables play a role in creating safer environments. Thank you students for applying science in a real world scenario!

Hawai‘i-Japan p4c Exchange

“Which would you like to go to, the future or the past?” This was the p4c (philosophy for children) question that was generated, selected, and discussed by a group of 36 children on December 14. As is usually the case during p4c discussions, the children eagerly and thoughtfully tackled their inquiry question. Respectfully listening and responding to one another, the students together delved into the reasons why one might want to travel to the future or the past, the potential consequences of viewing one’s own future or past, and even potential paradoxes of time travel.

That Waikīkī School students were so ably doing p4c together – and, in the process of doing so, practicing the arts of skillful thinking and open-minded conversation – is, of course, nothing new. For two decades Waikīkī School has been an international model school for p4c. Children from Kindergarten through 5th grade frequently practice p4c in their classrooms and, in a typical year, scores of educators from all across the world come to learn from them.

What made this particular p4c inquiry ground-breaking, however, is that it took place on the Google Meet videoconferencing platform and brought together children from two different countries. After weeks of preparation and practice, fifteen Grade 3-5 Waikīkī School students from the after-school Bilingual Japanese-English p4c group met with Ms. Ayaka Nagai’s class of 5th Grade students from Wakabayashi Elementary School in Sendai, Japan. Speaking in fluent Japanese, the children learned about each other, forged new friendships, shared their love of p4c, and inspired the collection of Elementary educators, University faculty, and Japanese media who observed them.

After the p4c exchange Wakabayashi Principal Mr. Mitsutoshi Sugawara and Waikīkī Principal Mr. Ryan Kusuda shared their heart-felt gratitude for the decade-long sister-school relationship between their two schools. Linked together by the tragedy of the 2011 tsunami that struck Sendai, the generosity of the Waikīkī School ‘ohana, the incredible kindness of the Wakabayashi School community, and the vision of long-time Waikīkī Principal Bonnie Tabor, the two schools enjoy and benefit from a close bond; each year Waikīkī and Wakabayashi teachers visit each other’s classrooms.

We are appreciative of the efforts of the Bilingual Japanese-English p4c group’s coordinators: Ms. Amy Wada (Waikīkī School 4th Grade teacher), Ms. Aya Watanabe (Miyagi University of Education Uehiro Academy, home of p4c Miyagi), and Dr. Toby Yos (University of Hawai‘i Uehiro Academy, home of p4c Hawai‘i). And we are extremely proud of the talented students in the group for being responsible risk takers, for demonstrating great persistence, for leading us towards a bright and optimistic future, and for so beautifully honoring and extending the far-reaching legacy of Mrs. Tabor.