To celebrate and recognize our wonderful mothers, the children partook in making their own handmade pinch pots. We started the project by using air-dry modeling clay and rolling the clay into little balls. Then, we used our fingers to gently push and pinch the clay around the edges to form the shape of a small pot. We took our time by molding it carefully so as not to make the pots too thin. After letting it dry, we painted the pinch pots with Spring-colored acrylic paint and carved our names and date onto the bottom. In addition to the pots, we made a personalized Mother’s Day card by decorating it with crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Inside, we wrote a special message, “Dear Mom, Happy Mother’s Day! Thank you for my precious fingers that molded this gift for you.” We hope you all had a fantastic Mother’s Day! 

In celebration of Earth Day, the children participated in a variety of activities. As a class, we read some Earth Day themed books (such as “Trashy Town”), and discussed the importance of the Earth and how to keep our environment clean. We also talked about the concept of the 3 R’s: Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse. Lastly, the children participated in making their own Earth Day Globes using Paper Mache. The materials they used included recycled newspaper, liquid starch, balloons, tissue paper, and paint. There were many steps the children took to complete the process, but they were patient with each task and were amazed to see their three-dimensional globes. Malama Ka ‘Aina! Take care of the land!

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii. Every year at CUPS we have our annual May Day Program. This year, each class was designated a specific island. Room 8 was chosen to be the representatives of Ni‘ihau. Ni‘ihau is unique because it is a privately owned island by the Robinson ‘Ohana. Today, there are only about 800 Native Hawaiians that live there. To visit the island of Ni‘ihau, you must be invited or receive special permission by the Robinson ‘Ohana. Ni ‘ihau is also special because it is famously known for its beautiful shells known as Kahelelani. They are white or reddish in color. They are used to make leis, earrings, or necklaces. The friends of Room 8 will be voyaging to the exclusive island of Ni ‘ihau. The boys will be chanting, “I Ku Mau Mau.” This chant talks about the pulling of the Koa tree from the mountain down to the sea. The Room 8 girls will be dancing the hula, “Pupu o Ni‘ihau.” It talks about the special and rare shells of Ni‘ihau. What a great show! 

Today we had our last water play of the year. We had so much fun in the sun! We played at the water table, ran through a sprinkler, soaked in the water tubs and bonded with our Room 9 friends. In the water table and water tubs, we had squeeze bottles, water cans, boats, sea animals and many more awesome toys to play with. We had the most fun with a donation we received this morning from a Room 8 parent. It was a Mammoth Sprinkler stretching out 20 feet across our playground for us to jump over and run through to get wet. We even splashed around in the mud puddles created by the sprinkler. This was an awesome way to end our last water play!

Here are some of the children’s favorite memories about water play….

Student: My favorite memory about water play was going in the sprinkler and playing in the sprinkler.

Student: My favorite memory about water play was playing at the water table with my friend.

Student: My favorite memory about water play was playing with my friends while we were splashing in the mud puddles.

Student: My favorite memory about water play was jumping over the sprinkler.  

Student: My favorite memory about water play was playing with my friend inside of the bucket filled with soapy water.

In Room 8, we are learning about the Hawaiian Islands. Our island chain consists of eight islands. They are the Big Island (Hawai’i island), Maui, Kaho’olawe, Lana’i, Moloka’i, O’ahu, Kaua’i and Ni’ihau. Each child is making their very own Hawaiian island map. The shape of each island was previously traced onto construction paper of each island’s special color. Each island’s color is chosen based on the flower of each island. The flower for the Big Island is the red ‘Ohia Lehua blossom, making the island color red.  The first step was to push pin out each of the eight islands and then arrange it in a specific order. We arranged the islands starting with the Big Island and concluding with Niihau, working from the island farthest east to the island farthest west. We then glued the islands onto blue construction paper that represents the Pacific Ocean surrounding our state. Then we labeled each island and included a compass. The children enjoyed doing this lesson as it helped them understand and solidify the concept of our Hawaiian Island chain.

What a gorgeous beach day we had today at Kaimana Beach. Earlier this week we were a little unsure about the weather. So everyday we said a pule praying for beautiful weather and to our surprise today was picture perfect. Room 8 had a joint field trip with our Room 3 friends. The children had a blast playing in the water with their surfboards, boogie boards and floaties. Some children built pools and sand castles while other children buried themselves with only their heads sticking out of the sand. Afterward, everyone enjoyed a lunch donated generously by a CUPS ohana of hotdogs and homemade burgers along with all the toppings, In addition, other families donated fruits, veggies, snacks and beverages. What a great end of the year field trip! 

This week we floated into spring by having our “Float Into Spring Parade.” The children and parents were given one month to complete the task of working together to create a fabulous float with a theme of their choice. First, the children used a shoebox as a base for their float and then decorated it. The children and parents were very creative! We had Hello Kitty Floats, Aquariums, fire trucks, Lego floats, a treasure box float, aircraft carrier and many others.  Room 8 and 9 paraded around our CUPS campus, Central Union Church offices and into the Senior center. We heard lots of “ooh’s & awe’s” as we passed by the many people who gathered to come see our parade. They were amazed at all the beautiful floats that were created. After our parade, we enjoyed mini root beer floats on our CUPS playground. We had a blast “floating into spring!”

 
Over the past couple of months, we have been reading the chapter book, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl. The book is about Willy Wonka and his famous Chocolate Factory. Willy Wonka chose five lucky children to enter into his factory. The five children were randomly selected by finding a lucky golden ticket hidden in 5 special k Wonka candy bars. The five children chosen were Augustus Gloop (the boy whose hobby was eating), Veruca Salt (a little girl who had her parents wrapped around her finger), Violet Beauregarde (the professional gum chewer)), Mike Teave (the boy who is addicted to the T.V.) and of course Charlie Bucket (the hero of the story) The children of Room 8 have enjoyed hearing the story read aloud to them everyday before nap.  We recently finished the chapter book and today we had the opportunity to watch the movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” starring Gene Wilder.  The children had a blast watching the movie and seeing all their favorite characters come to life on screen. This experience also gave the children the opportunity to recognize the difference between a book and the movie and all of their differences.

In Room 8, we emphasize the importance of the Hawaiian Culture. The most important food source to the Hawaiian people is Kalo, also known as Taro. Today we went to visit a special place called Papahanakuaola, a Wetland Taro Patch. After we arrived, our tour guide told us the story about the mountain that stood ahead of us, I‘ole Ka‘a. He had the children re-enact the story of “I‘ole Ka‘a,” which talked about the Rat and the archer. The children had fun re-enacting the story. When we arrived to the entrance of the Taro Patch, the children took a moment to become aware of their surroundings by closing their eyes and listening to the sounds of nature. Some distinct sounds the children took note of was the stream and the wind. Before crossing the stream at the base of the lo‘i. the children shared a chant giving thanks to sun and to bless us on our journey into the taro patch.  Our tour guide took us on a walk though the patches explaining many types of Kalo. We also went over the parts of the kalo plant, which we discussed with the class prior to our field trip. Overall it was an awesome opportunity for the children and the chaperones to experience the beautiful Waipao valley and the taro patches. Go Waipao Brown Socks!

This week the children of Room 8 hosted chapel. The children were beautifully adorned with fresh flower leis. Our Atherton chapel was decorated with tropical arrangements and spring bouquets donated by some of our Room 8 families. As the children walked into chapel, they were greeted by their friends and families smiling faces who looked on eagerly to see what our chapel message was. Our message this morning was about communication. We communicate in so many ways. We use our ears to hear, our eyes to see, our mouths to talk and our hands to sign. Prayer is our special way of communicating with God. The Room 8 children showed their gratitude to God by signing, “Thank you Lord…for the Earth, for my family, for our school, teachers, and friends.” They asked the CUPS students and families to join them by shadowing their sign language motions. We concluded our chapel performance by singing two songs. Accompanied by a piano, the children sang, “Jesus Loves Me,” in two languages: Hawaiian & English and “This Little Light of Mine.” They did a terrific job!