School: Waiʻanae Elementary School
Grade Level: Grade 4
Teacher: Kacie Fujino
Driving Question: What kind of skills can I learn from nurturing a garden? How can we, the haumana of Waianae Elementary gain skills to rebuild our school garden?
What did the students DO?
Group members from the ʻŌhiʻa Lehua Crew explored learning through nurturing their school garden. Students worked with Travis from Kaʻala Cultural Learning Center to learn about worm composting. They made ʻāina bars from kīawe (mesquite tree) flour with Uncle Vince Dodge and collaborated with friends from MAʻO and Kahumana Farms to enhance their understanding of plants and plant care. They planted kalo and ti throughout different areas of the garden and painted upcycled art pieces using old car tires as planter pots. Weeding and garden maintenance was a task done by all. Students not only planted in pots and in the ground but also created a hydroponic garden tower that housed leafy greens and herbs. …and, of course, one of their first tasks was to plant and care for an ʻōhiʻa lehua tree for which their group is named.
