For The Teacher

For the classroom or home school teacher, learning about a lu'au is a great way to introduce your students to the rich history and culture of Hawai'i, and to share the "Spirit of Aloha!"

How to Use This Site

Here are several ways that you might want to use our lu'au site.

• Have your class or grade level host a lu'au for their families or another class (don't forget to invite the administration!).
• Have your students prepare individual reports about a particular topic or skill described in our lu'au pages.
• Have a "Living Museum" day with student demonstrations of a particular Hawaiian craft, skill, or recipe (you could really go wild with this idea, and have a school-wide multicultural day).
• Have the students explore our site and complete the on-line, interactive activities such as quizzes, games, and surveys.
• Here's a "I've got nothing else to do with my time" idea - Have students draw and color pictures of a Hawaiian lu'au. Scan the pictures onto your computer. Use a program like Adobe Photoshop for simple editing and sizing. Print the pictures on heat transfer paper. Iron the images onto squares of muslin. Sew it all together to make a "Hawaiian quilt."

Whatever you decide to do, use of Information Technology (IT) tools will greatly enhance your students' learning. Have the students use the Internet for research, and graphic programs like Hyperstudio, ClarisWorks, or Kid Pix for their presentations. Let them create a multimedia slideshow or video tape of the event. Better yet, have them create a web site! Please send us your URL and we will link to it from our site!

The above activities will focus on the following learning objectives for the students. Students will:

• Explore a different culture and compare and contrast it with their own.
• Work collaboratively or individually to master a new skill and demonstrate that skill to others.
• Communicate with peers, school, and community to advertise and organize an event, or create a unique product.

These learning objectives meet the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards (HCPS II), developed by the State of Hawaii Department of Education, for the following areas: Career and Life Skills, Educational Technology, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Fine Arts. Pease click here to access our Student Assessment Rubric, based on these standards.

Class Lu'au

Divide students into teams of 4-5 students. Assign each team a lu'au topic to coordinate, such as menu, flowers, or crafts. Teams with the topics of music and dance should work together for the best effect. Assign each team member a specific task.

• Team Coordinator - oversee team project, develop schedules, timelines, assure timely submission of products or completion of tasks.
• Team Recorder - take minutes of meetings, complete journal or scrapbook of team project, including photos, drawings, or video.
• Tech Coordinator - supervise use of IT tools by other team members, assist with computer and software use.
• Team Communicator - contact administration, parents, and community members regarding permissions, donations, and participation.
• Supply Officer - assure that team has all supplies and resources needed to complete project.

 Team Responsibilities -

• Research their topic using Internet and traditional reference materials. Team must supply at least one reference for project.
• Contact individuals and organizations who can help with team topic. Arrange for donated materials if possible.
• Schedule/organize activities for lu'au (floral decorations and leis should be made ahead of time, dancing and music should be performed during the lu'au, etc.).
• Document activities with video or still camera.
• Create web page, video, or slide show describing activities.

Individual Responsibilities -

• Participate fully in assigned team responsibilities.
• Assist team members in completing all aspects of their project.
• Maintain reflective journal create summary describing team and individual activities.

"Living Museum" - Student Demonstrations

If your students are going to select a particular craft, game, or menu item to demonstrate, this would probably work best as a paired activity, providing opportunities for equal participation and collaboration, as well as peer tutoring.

The team and individual responsibilities would essentially be the same as listed above, though you might want to assign a separate team to document the demonstrations, relieving the other teams of that responsibility.

• For anything greater than individual reports or surfing our site, ENLIST THE AID OF YOUR PARENTS. This will be a great opportunity for them to get involved with their child's learning! They'll be especially valuable helping your students prepare some of the recipes or demonstrating the more difficult crafts.
• Develop KWL charts, project goals and timelines with class prior to beginning. Have students review and reflect at the end of the project.
• Be sure students have equal access to all resources they need, especially technological tools. If computer access is limited, have teams work on different aspects of their project while rotating students through set periods of computer access.
• Heterogeneous teams will aid in peer tutoring opportunities.
• Bookmark web sites for quick student access.

• No flowers? Substitute and Experiment! Don't despair if it's the middle of winter and there are no fresh flowers to be found. There are so many different ways you can use leaves and plant parts to make leis and decorations. Some of the prettiest leis use red and orange leaves. Try different ways of treating the plant material to make it soft. Freeze it, oil it, even microwave it! (We do this all the time with ti leaves.) If all else fails, try making some of our paper leis.
• No lu'au leaves or squid? Substitute and Search! You can always use spinach and chicken. Check the ethnic section of your market for coconut milk and sea salt. If you want the real thing, there are sites on the Internet that will express mail local food items to you. Poi? - now, that might be hard to get! Please tell your students not to eat their glue.
• Check with your cafeteria manager. Most public schools in Hawaii regularly have a kalua pork and spinach meal on their menu, complete with lomi salmon and sweet potatoes. Your staff may be willing to try this. It would be great fun for the students!
• Enlist the aid of your community. Have the students contact local businesses and organizations. Ask for discontinued or discarded items from craft and party supply stores. See if a record store will supply some music, or get a local band to try their hand at some Hawaiian tunes. You might have a Hawaiian Club in your neighborhood that would love to be involved.

Please see our Credits and Links page for Internet links and other resources.

 Support Services and Special Teacher Notes:

• If you are planning to incorporate IT tools in your project, technical expertise and professional development will be needed for use of Internet, computer graphic programs, digital cameras, scanners, etc. Also, a technology troubleshooter will be needed should there be any hardware breakdowns.
• Believe it or not, I know of several elementary schools over here in Hawaii that actually dig an imu and roast a whole pig underground for their May Day celebrations. It can be done!
• A lu'au is a celebration to be shared. The more people you include, the better it will be. Share the Aloha!