plantationtrip

Here are some videos of our field trip.

On Monday, December 16, 2002, our class went on a field trip to Hawaii's Plantation Village in Waipahu. We went there to learn about the different cultures and the life they had to live on Hawaii's plantations. Sugar cane was first cultivated by the early Hawaiians. Small scale manufacturing occured as early as 1802. Approximately thirty years later, commercial cultivation and processing began.

When we first came to the village, we met our tour guide, Miss Lutia, and she took us through the plantation to a building where we met Mr. Tokuda. He showed us some games that the plantation children would play. These games were all homemade because they didn't have much money. The first one was called the buzzsaw. We got a bottle cap with two holes in the middle and some string. We put the string through the holes and tied the two ends together. To use the buzz saw, you spin the string up a bunch of times and pulled the two ends. It is a really neat toy!

2003 is the year of the Koreans, so the next game Mr. Tokuda taught us was a game called Yute, a Korean game. The way you played was you would have four wood pieces as dice with a flat and round side. On your board, you would have pieces to move, one for each player, and you would roll the dice. You would move the pieces however many flat sides there were facing up. If you had all four flats sides, then you have and extra turn. If you have all round sides up, then you move 5 spaces and get an extra turn. The object is to get around the board the quickest way possible. You could also go through the middle, but you would have to land on the bigger circles to change directions.

After we played the games, we made our way to the Hawaiian Hale (house). There, we met Jo Ann, and she told us about different Hawaiian instruments. Some of them were, the pahou, or drum which was made out of coconut tree trunks and shark skin, the ipu, which is made from a gourd, and the ohe hano ihu, or nose flute. The reason the Hawaiians blew through their noses on the nose flute was because they believed that you get bad air through the mouth and the mouth can cause bad things, such as arguments. Then, Jo Ann gave us all a chance to play instruments. I got to play the ka eke eke, which is two bamboo sticks of different lengths that when they are pounded on the ground make different tones.

Before we left the Hawaiian Hale, we played a game called pala ea. It is a game where you try to get the bag down and back up into the hoop. You do a little flick of the wrist to try to get bag back in the hole. It was tough. We said aloha to Jo Ann and headed toward the fish pond. We fed the fish small pieces of bread and headed back towards the visitors center. We then played a few games, the first one called geta. It was a game where two people put their feet in a connected pair of wooden slippers and raced around a cone and back. The next game was when we put a tennis ball on a spoon and ran around without it dropping. The last game was where we put a tennis ball between our legs and had to hop around the cone and come back. It was really fun.

After we had our laughs, we made our way through the village and went in the replica houses. The first spot we went in was the social house, where we smelled lemon grass, and saw Camanaden, a plant, which was used to help cure fleas, or ukus (head lice), and dandruff. We then went into the temple on the top floor of the social house and made our way to the Portuguese area. We went into the kitchen which was separate from the house so it wouldn't catch on fire. After the Portuguese area, we went to the Puerto Rican area, then the Japanese area, Filipino area, and then went back and met our friend Mr. Tokuda. He gave us hollow cuts of papaya stalks that we dipped in a liquid and blew through the stalk. This was another activity children of the plantation used to do. Soon, the air was full of bubbles that we blew. Everyone was getting hungry so we washed up and ate our lunch. It was a pretty full day for us, so we got back on the bus and headed back to school.

This was a very educational field trip. It was hard for the plantation workers because they had to deal with receiving low wages, and not enough money to buy games. We learned much about Hawaii's past. People had to go to the bathroom in a bowl under the bed at night. They used an Achiote, or lipstick plant, for lipstick or making red rice. We learned how different cultures were both similar and different. We also learned how they used natural resources around them for jobs around the house, like how Filipinos used a coconut for mopping the floor. We learned even more than expected, and had fun at the same time.

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Elementary

On Monday, December 16, 2002, our class went on a field trip to Hawaii's Plantation Village in Waipahu. We went there to learn about the different cultures and the life they had to live on Hawaii's plantations. Sugar cane was first cultivated by the early Hawaiians. Small scale manufacturing occured as early as 1802. Approximately thirty years later, commercial cultivation and processing began.
	When we first came to the village, we met our tour guide, Miss Lutia, and she took us through the plantation to a building where we met Mr. Tokuda. He showed us some games that the plantation children would play. These games were all homemade because they didn't have much money. The first one was called the buzzsaw. We got a bottle cap with two holes in the middle and some string. We put the string through the holes and tied the two ends together. To use the buzz saw, you spin the string up a bunch of times and pulled the two ends. It is a really neat toy!
2003 is the year of the Koreans, so the next game Mr. Tokuda taught us was a game called Yute, a Korean game. The way you played was you would have four wood pieces as dice with a flat and round side. On your board, you would have pieces to move, one for each player, and you would roll the dice. You would move the pieces however many flat sides there were facing up. If you had all four flats sides, then you have and extra turn. If you have all round sides up, then you move 5 spaces and get an extra turn. The object is to get around the board the quickest way possible. You could also go through the middle, but you would have to land on the bigger circles to change directions.
	After we played the games, we made our way to the Hawaiian Hale (house). There, we met Jo Ann, and she told us about different Hawaiian instruments. Some of them were, the pahou, or drum which was made out of coconut tree trunks and shark skin, the ipu, which is made from a gourd, and the ohe hano ihu, or nose flute. The reason the Hawaiians blew through their noses on the nose flute was because they believed that you get bad air through the mouth and the mouth can cause bad things, such as arguments. Then, Jo Ann gave us all a chance to play instruments. I got to play the ka eke eke, which is two bamboo sticks of different lengths that when they are pounded on the ground make different tones.
Before we left the Hawaiian Hale, we played a game called pala ea. It is a game where you try to get the bag down and back up into the hoop. You do a little flick of the wrist to try to get bag back in the hole. It was tough. We said aloha to Jo Ann and headed toward the fish pond. We fed the fish small pieces of bread and headed back towards the visitors center. We then played a few games, the first one called geta. It was a game where two people put their feet in a connected pair of wooden slippers and raced around a cone and back. The next game was when we put a tennis ball on a spoon and ran around without it dropping. The last game was where we put a tennis ball between our legs and had to hop around the cone and come back. It was really fun.
	After we had our laughs, we made our way through the village and went in the replica houses. The first spot we went in was the social house, where we smelled lemon grass, and saw Camanaden, a plant, which was used to help cure fleas, or ukus (head lice), and dandruff. We then went into the temple on the top floor of the social house and made our way to the Portuguese area. We went into the kitchen which was separate from the house so it wouldn't catch on fire. After the Portuguese area, we went to the Puerto Rican area, then the Japanese area, Filipino area, and then went back and met our friend Mr. Tokuda. He gave us hollow cuts of papaya stalks that we dipped in a liquid and blew through the stalk. This was another activity children of the plantation used to do. Soon, the air was full of bubbles that we blew. Everyone was getting hungry so we washed up and ate our lunch. It was a pretty full day for us, so we got back on the bus and headed back to school.
This was a very educational field trip. It was hard for the plantation workers because they had to deal with receiving low wages, and not enough money to buy games. We learned much about Hawaii's past. People had to go to the bathroom in a bowl under the bed at night. They used an Achiote, or lipstick plant, for lipstick or making red rice. We learned how different cultures were both similar and different. We also learned how they used natural resources around them for jobs around the house, like how Filipinos used a coconut for mopping the floor. We learned even more than expected, and had fun at the same time.