“Without roots, one becomes ruthless”

Next, students researched about Haloa (the first Hawaiian) and our connection to him.  As a highly important part of our culture, Haloa stood as a symbol of unity in our classroom and rooted the haumana to the one culture that every child shared.  Student’s created a Kalo art piece that represented them, using water color.  Each student was given three squares for the three parts of the kalo.  This included the kalo, the ha and the lau.  As a class we talked about how we are all connected and have all influenced each others lives in some way.  Because of this, the students traded their kalo and ha pieces with a classmate, keeping their lau as their own.  We also discussed how although the pieces may not exactly match up, that is what makes each of our kalo’s and each of us unique. No one kalo or person is perfect.  The kalo or the corm, was where student’s wrote words or phrases about what “roots” them.  For example; their geneaology, their `ohana, their island, where they come from and their ethnicities.  The second part was the ha or the stem and this is where student wrote about what made them happy and strong (like people, places, food, hobbies and interests).  The final part was the lau, or the leaf and this is where they wrote down their hopes and dreams.  Together we created our own lo`i kalo in our classroom.  It is all of our kuleana to malama this lo`i because it is a representation of ourselves and is a vital part of our Hawaiian culture.

Student’s final kalo pieces.

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maui campus

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Kaipuolono Article, Maui Newsroom, Maui Elementary School, Maui campus

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