Aloha!

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Home : 2002 : March : 28

Aloha!
By Julie

I do a whole Hawaiian unit and it is so much fun and the students remember facts about Hawaii for the entire year! One thing they find very exciting is to find their Hawaiian name. There is a web site that does it or there
are little dictionaries with translations. We make name/desk tags with their Hawaiian names and we refer to each other by those names during our Social time. We also discuss other Hawaiian language - aloha, mahalo, wahene, wahena and their alphabet. We actually look at a map and the kids try to figure out what letters they have in their alphabet.
We make leis, do the hukilau,

and the Hawaiian War Chant. There is a great book called "The Last Princess" that gives a bit of Hawaii's history. "The Three Little Pu'au" (Pigs) is a fun one, too.
Another great Hawaiian food hit is Hawaiian Ice (snow cones). The students make a mural to hang in the classroom that depicts the landscape of the islands!
Aloha!