Aina Haina School

Letter to Parents October 2018

Dear Parents, Guardians, Community Members, and Friends,

This has been an eventful first quarter. It has been great seeing many new and familiar faces at our open houses, PTA meetings, and at the morning drop off areas. Here are some highlights of the great things that went on:

On July 31st and Aug. 1, 2018, Dr. Linda Jordan of the International Center for Learning and Education (ICLE) spoke to our faculty and staff, doing a follow-up talk on the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards), and brain-based teaching and student learning strategies for the classroom. She also shared about what the brain research says about homework. As a result of her talk and working with grade levels, in alignment with the latest research on neuroscience, our school decided to do homework differently this year with a focus on student learning via strengthening families at the heart of how we do homework. Dr. Jordan will be returning on January 18, 2019, for our second Professional Collaboration (PC) day to continue her work with our faculty and staff.

PTA Return to School Night on Tuesday, Aug. 21, was terrific. Despite the storm warning that evening, the turnout was great. I even had the opportunity to learn how to hip-hop dance from the expert dancer that came that night.

Our annual Community Brunch was held on September 14
th. Mahalo to our attendees: State Representative Mark Hashem, representatives from: Councilman Trevor Ozawa’s office, the DOE Community Engagement Office, Kaiser High School, Niu Valley Middle School, Kilauea ‘Ohana Playschool, New Hope Community Church, Koko Head Lions Club, First Hawaiian Bank Aina Haina Branch, Kaimuki-Waialae YMCA, American Heart Association, and Honolulu Police Department Community Policing Division. This event enables us to fulfill our school mission by helping our school to continue to foster and to build reciprocal partnerships with our school community in order to support our students’ learning. Mahalo to our PCNC, Renee Ako, for coordinating this annual event.

Congratulations and a big mahalo to Lisa Elliot, our School Food Service Manager, for her many years of service here at Aina Haina and in the Hawaii Department of Education. She retired from the DOE on September 29
th. Greg Honma is our Temporary Assigned (TA) School Food Service Manager (SFSM). He will work temporarily in this position until a new permanent SFSM is officially hired. Greg comes to us from Makalapa Elementary in Radford Complex where he serves as their cafeteria's cook.

We look forward to 2
nd quarter and beyond in advancing our school's vision & mission & the great endeavors our school has embarked upon with our IB programme, our social emotional learning initiatives, and through the incorporation of brain-based teaching and learning in our classrooms.

By continuing to work together as a school community in moving forward, great things will continue to happen here at Aina Haina.


Your Partner in Education,

Brendan P. Burns

October 2020
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August 2018