Updates for the week of December 7, 2015

.Aloha Grade 5 students and families,
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and was able to enjoy and relax during their time off. It has been a while since I've posted an update so this will be a long one! Lol

We were so sad to say goodbye to two of our classmates Landon & Princeton. Landon and his family have moved to the mainland and Princeton has moved to another school. We will miss Landon's bright smile and fun personality and we will miss Princeton's humble spirit and basketball skills (wink, wink). Both boys will be greatly missed and we wish them the best in their future endeavors.
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I'd like to welcome Taylor Pacual and Connor McDougal and their families to our Ho'okele Ohana! Tayor is joining us from Holomua Elementary and Connor is joining us from Oregon. Both students fit in perfectly with our grade 5 family and we have enjoyed making new memories together. 

The students enjoyed our field trip to The Pacific Aviation Center on Tuesday 11/24. We learned so much about the history of aviation in our islands and about the brave aviators and support personnel who defended our freedom in the Pacific Region. Among the many experiences, the students visited a former seaplane hangar that survived the December 7, 1941 attack and another hangar that still had the glass windows with the bullet holes that were left by the Japanese attack! The students were also able to become a WWII pilot during the combat flight simulator experience. They had so much fun flying their planes off a runway to take off and then return back and then "dog fighting" with an enemy. So cool! Check out our pictures on our Photos page.

On Wednesday 11/25 our entire school practiced a fire drill immediately followed by an off campus evacuation. The grade 5 students did an awesome job following procedures and setting an example for the rest of the students. Thank you, grade 5 students, for showing mature behavior and practicing safety first! 
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Congratulations to our Grade 5 students on Ho'okele's first ever basketball team: Blaine, Tommy, Jonah, Taylor-Rose, Sierra, Shea, Chayne, Kaitylyn, Kawika, Kanoelani, Jazarae, Solomon, Jazmin, and Kaleinani. They did a fantastic job representing Ho'okele at the Kapolei Complex Basketball Tournament last week Friday 12/4 at Kapolei High School. Ginormous shout outs and thank you's to Mr. Yamamoto and Mr. Watson (Kalei's dad!) for taking time out of their busy schedules to coach, mentor, and motivate these students. The students had an absolute blast and learned so much!

Congratulations to Rylee who was a winner in the Kapolei City Lights Keiki Art Contest! She won a prize and will have her art displayed at Kapolei Hale! Way to go, Rylee!

This week the students are taking their iReady Winter Diagnostic Reading & Math assessments. The students will be receiving their scores following each test and will be calculating and tracking their growth from their August assessments. I will be sending home the results from both assessments for you to see. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

“Dreams don't work unless you do.” – John C. Maxwell

Thank you for all you do!
Ms. Stevens

This Week
Tuesday 12/8:  
- iReady Winter Reading Diagnostic Assessment 
Thursday 12/10: 
- PLC Rotation: Art, Hawaiian Studies, and P.E.
- 5:30 pm Spacefest Science Night
Friday 12/11:
 - After School Hula and RTI classes 2:15-3:00 pm

Upcoming Week: 12/14 - 12/17
No PLCs or RTI this week.
No Hula and after school iReady classes.
Wednesday 12/16:
- 8:30 am  Ho’okele CARES awards assembly
- 2:05 Student Release! (Change in schedule with Thursday)
Thursday 12/17:  
- Last Day of Quarter 2
- 12:40 pm Student Release
Friday 12/18:  No School-Winter Break!
**December 18-January 5:  Winter Break
Tuesday January 5:  Teacher Work Day
Wednesday January 6:  Students return to school