Got incandescents?
Beginning Monday, October 3, and through October 28, all preschool and elementary students will be on the hunt for incandescent bulbs to exchange for the same number of new CFLs. In an effort to help reduce the use of fossil fuel in Hawaii, the students will be asking you, other family members, and neighbors to give them your energy-depleting bulbs for more energy-efficient bulbs. A Blue Planet Foundation representative met with the faculty two weeks ago and then did a presentation for the students at our last assembly. Did you know Hawaii is 95% dependent on fuel that must be shipped to Hawaii and that this dependency affects nearly all aspects of our economy? Students in several grade levels at the elementary and across the middle and high school are investigating local and global issues around ecosystems, sources of alternative energy, the impact of fuel consumption, water conservation, and sustainability because the environmental future ahead looks grim. For example, the fifth graders are collaborating with a science class of 12th graders to understand the impact of an increasing global population. Our students have an opportunity today to learn as much as they can and to take action in an effort to change the conditions impacting their near future. So, please, talk to your neighbors, the people in your building or in your office about our CFL exchange program. One new 60-watt CFL for every incandescent bulb. Here's how it will work:
Every morning, from 7:40-8:00am, students (or parents) can go to room 15 where several fifth graders will be on hand to take the incandescents and give your child new CFLs. We'll wrap the new CFLs, place them in a bag, and your children will return to the classroom and place the CFLs in their backpacks. This service will be available every day through October 28. We're keeping a simple tally. The school will also earn 40 cents for every CFL exchanged. We're not so focused on the money as we are on the awareness the students are trying to raise about fuel consumption and energy-saving measures. Don't be surprised if you'll hear more from your children about recycling at home or driving less or turning off lights when not in use. We're practicing the same in school.
This week, we're honored to have Dr. George Forman, professor emeritus from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, early childhood psychologist specialist on Piaget, researcher at Reggio Emilia, and author of several books and articles on early childhood learning, working again with our preschool faculty. This will be his third visit to our Reggio-inspired preschool. He works closely with our preschool team, often in monthly webcam sessions. We appreciate his challenging questions and insights about our children's inquiries. He'll be speaking to our preschool parents this Wednesday evening, 5:30-6:30 in one of our classrooms, on "Wondering with Children." MPI is sponsoring his presentation at the annual Hawaii Association for the Education of Young Children fall conference on Saturday, October 8.
I think I've told you in the past about the study group sessions the faculty and I have had for the third year now. We're currently reading Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchart et al. I met Ron at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education this past July, and I was so taken by the focus on thinking routines as helping to create a classroom and school culture of thinking. These routines support our inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning. We've just begun to implement these routines, and I had asked the faculty to test a particular routine in the classroom. Kindergarten teacher Jen Matsumoto wrote in her blog posted September 14 how her students were using a "See-Think-Wonder" routine to analyze their classroom environment.
Jen received an email from one of the authors, Mark Church, on Saturday morning, He wrote: "I just so happened to be searching the web this evening and came across your posting on the Mid-Pacific Institute blog/website. How exciting it was for me to see that a group of you are reading the book and putting some legs on ideas as you work with young learners! It's always of great fascination to me to see where ideas travel and get a sense of how others' interact with what we've written as it makes sense in their context with learners. I'd certainly be interested in knowing more of what your group's learning is as you take this on as a book study." I'll be contacting Mark and will encourage him to read several other teachers' blogs about how the routines are indeed heightening our students' thinking. Hopefully we'll be able to collaborate with him.
All 140+ faculty across the school campus will be meeting this Friday for professional development. We are committed to the goals we determined for our Schools-of-the-Future initiative (see the Kupu Hou page on this website). This Friday, we begin conversations within content areas on curricular concepts and thinking skills. Should be eye-opening and mind-churning!
Enjoy the upcoming three-day weekend, thanks to Discoverers past and present.
For our children,
Edna L. Hussey
Principal
