1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

Physical Education

Kula Elementary 4th Grade Field Trip to Kokee

The Curriculum Framework at Kula Elementary

Kula’s curriculum recognizes active, hands-on experiences as the most powerful and natural form of learning. To fully engage ideas, construct meaning, and remember information, students must regularly employ the whole range of communicative media – oral language, writing, drawing, poetry, dance, drama, music, movement, and visual arts. The immersion in experience and expression is balanced by opportunities for learners to reflect, integrate, and apply their experiences to what they have felt, thought and learned. The classroom is considered a model community where students learn what they live as citizens of the school. Kula embraces cultural diversity as well as different learning styles. We believe that students learn best when faced with genuine challenges, choices, and responsibility in their own learning. Kula also recognizes the importance of fostering inquiry to promote a life-long love of learning. Therefore we strive to develop integrated units that:

-Integrate world cultures
-Embrace the notion of community
-Promote sustainability
-Reflect a variety of perspectives
-Create connections
-Examine what it means to be human
-Include rich content
-Emphasize process & project based learning

HABITS OF MIND

Employing Habits of Mind requires drawing forth certain patterns of intellectual behavior that produce powerful results. It means knowing to behave intelligently when you don’t know the answer. It means having a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known: dichotomies, dilemmas, enigmas and uncertainties. The focus at Kula is on the cultivation of a wide variety of skills including strategic reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity, and craftsmanship. It is critical that our students know how to access information and equally important that they know how to act on that information. Habits of Mind are a composite of many skills, attitudes and proclivities including:

-Persisting
-Managing Impulsivity
-Gathering Data Through All Senses
-Listening with Understanding and Empathy
-Creating, Imagining, Innovating
-Thinking Flexibly
-Responding with Wonderment and Awe
-Thinking About Thinking (Metacognition)
-Taking Responsible Risks
-Striving for Accuracy
-Finding Humor
-Questioning and Posing Problems
-Thinking Interdependently
-Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations
-Remaining Open to Continuous Learning
-Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision

INQUIRY BASED TEACHING

• Respects the innate knowledge in every student.
• Takes advantage of children’s natural curiosity about the world around them.
• Requires collaborative planning and thus builds a sense of community among the teachers.
• Encourages teachers and students to learn together which means we are continually modeling a love for learning.
• Encourages students to delve into their communities and builds within them a sense of connectedness.
• Builds personal responsibility for learning.
• Allows us to tailor projects to the individual student’s ability levels and interests.
• Fosters social skills, thinking skills, communication skills, self-management skills and research skills.

Each year, students will study several in-depth units that integrate the various disciplines. The units stress essential understandinga and questions so that by the time the student is ready for middle school, they have a sound grasp of how people work together to understand themselves and the world around them. By exploring these bigger concepts, we aim to instill a deep understanding and respect for the complexity of our world and our ability to understand the past in order to shape the future.

THE CORE ACADEMIC CURRICULUM

Language Arts

Throughout Kula's seven-year program, students will strengthen their literacy skills through a variety of reading experiences that encourage comprehension, analysis and a love for reading. We strive for a balance between teacher-facilitated group reading, shared reading in student-facilitated groups, independent reading, and read-aloud experiences with the teacher. We utilize a program called Fundations in the lower grades to teach reading and writing. We also use the Houghton-Mifflin Literature program throughout the grades. Both programs are supplemented with rich, authentic literature that supports the units of inquiry. Integral to Kula’s curriculum are the fundamentals of reading instruction and vocabulary development, as well as language mechanics and spelling instruction. Structuring ideas, creating drafts, revising and editing, and publishing finished works will help to emphasize the importance of writing as a process. Oral language experiences are used to develop appropriate speaking and listening skills in order to promote self-confidence and overall communication skills.

Mathematics

Kula’s mathematics curriculum prepares students for more complex, abstract courses in secondary school, while at the same time instilling in children an understanding of the important role mathematics plays in everyday life. Our program emphasizes conceptual understanding while building a mastery of basic skills. We also explore the full mathematics spectrum rather than just basic arithmetic. Students progress in mathematical understanding, reasoning, problem solving, and application of learned skills through grade-appropriate practice and applications. Topics include: operations & facts, algorithms & mental math, data & chance, measurement, geometry, estimation & number sense, patterns, sequences, functions & algebra. Finally, our program is based on how children learn, what they are interested in, and the future for which they must be prepared. We use the University of Chicago’s Everyday Math Program.

Social Studies

Students at Kula Elementary will be exposed to a wide variety of past and present cultures from around the world to help them understand and accept the diversity and the connectedness among humans. Children will grow in their understanding of history and geography starting with their own communities and expanding outward to all the continents. Emphasis will be placed on how people from all cultures have tried to make sense of the world around them and how they have worked together throughout history to achieve common goals. We will explore the roots of conflict between humans and explore various ways in which humans have tried to solve and resolve conflicts. Hawaiian history and culture is an integral part of our program. Students will learn about innovators and contributors from around the globe. The social studies curriculum is designed to introduce concepts and skills that will be explored in greater detail during the secondary school years.

ENRICHMENT CLASSES

Music Education

Music at Kula integrates history, choral, and instrumental music. The central question is “How do we express ourselves through music?” Our kindergarten approach to teaching music begins with singing. Rhythm patterns, expressed through walking and body percussion are introduced as the fundamentals for developing students’ musical intelligence. In grades one through three, students develop ear training that lays the foundation for sight-reading. Third and fourth grade students begin composing simple melodies based on repetition and rounds. In all grades, folk music, cultural story songs, street calls and world music enrich our students with global music appreciation. Students will learn about musicians from various times and places who have had great impact on the evolution of music around the world. In addition to choral work, students will be exposed to instruments such as the recorder and ukulele.

Hawaiian Studies

In all grade levels, children are introduced to Hawaiian culture through chants, songs, dances, stories and games. In lower elementary grades, students learn Hawaiian vocabulary about the body, numbers, colors, the surrounding environment and Hawaiian values. As students progress through the grades they learn more sophisticated vocabulary. Upper level students memorize many songs and chants, also learning about the content of the material. Topics covered in Hawaiian Studies include historical events, ruling chiefs and chieftesses, geological formations, and significant places of great beauty. Hula is introduced in kindergarten and is an integral part of the program. By third grade children perform standing dances using a variety of steps. Younger students do hula noho or seated dances. Grade level appropriate craft activities use materials from nature to complement the academic curriculum. Field trips enable students to appreciate the unique power and beauty of their island home.

Studio Art

Emphasizing exploration and self-expression, studio projects will involve techniques to educate students in the six fundamental elements of art: line, value, form, space, texture and color. As students progress in age and gain stronger hand/eye coordination, new techniques and artistic media will be introduced. Students will explore spatial relationships through proportion and perspective, and work with three-dimensional forms. While artistic processes will remain the priority, students will refine their talents and create finished pieces. Students will also investigate the importance of art from a historical perspective.

Handwork

The introduction of specific handwork skills at appropriate times during early childhood development establishes brain connections with benefits that extend to seemingly unrelated subjects such as math and science. Kindergarten, first and second graders sew simple felt shapes, embroider and stuff their creations, make their own knitting needles and learn and practice basic knitting skills. Third graders are introduced to the art of crochet, while fourth graders begin the process of cross-stitching. Fifth graders delve into the complexities of knitting with four needles, while sixth graders explore the realm of fine embroidery.

Technology

Students in the upper elementary grades will use technology to help them learn more about the world around them. The will learn how to conduct searches to find useful information. They will then learn how to use various software applications in order to express what they have learned from their research, class discussions and other experiences provided for them in their classroom. Technology is viewed as a tool to help students construct knowledge while stimulating student creativity and creating connections with the greater community. 

Physical Education

Students in all grades will have ample time for physical activity during the day. We have two forty minute eating and play breaks every day. We also have time built in at least twice during the week for more formal physical education activities in Grades 3-6. Both collaborative and team sports will be integrated into the program. Emphasis will be on trust-building, cooperation and individual development of skills. Students will also be taught about the importance of physical activity in maintaining a healthy life style with the ultimate goal of having students intrinsically motivated to stay fit and healthy through regular physical activity that they enjoy.