Our Kūpuna and the ʻāina Project
With the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and restrictions, we asked the question: How has the recent loss of some of our social structures combined with the social and emotional isolation, affected our
community as a whole? And what about those who were already feeling isolated?
Through word of mouth and news reports, we knew that our elders and Keiki, our most vulnerable community members, felt this disruption of family and community, the most.
Our Project Series, OUR KŪPUNA AND THE ʻĀINA, was born from this need to re-connect. Our goal was to introduce inter-generational story-telling as a way to spotlight life values and place-based learning, combining traditional story-telling with digital multi-media, audio visual art that Keiki enjoy today.
Values
Our goal with OUR KŪPUNA AND THE ʻĀINA Project is to expand awareness of how the world and our place in it constantly changes outside of us, and within us. The children learn how their community has changed and how people have adapted to it, the value of resilence and perseverance.
HOʻOMAU - A practice in becoming an active, compassionate listener, a deeper observer, and to hear beyond the words being said by the Kūpuna. By understanding their contributions in our lives and in our community, we learn.
KA NANA NO A 'IKE. (By Observing, One Learns.) We explore the importance of showing respect for adults, teachers and leaders in our community, and to each other in school, on the playground, at home.
HŌ'IHI - The sense of belonging to an extended family and larger community, acknowledging the responsibility and integrity to uphold that connection. A practice of respect, especially toward our elders.
LAULIMA and ʻOHANA - Elevating Kupuna to a place of value & purpose in our communities to understand that Elders are living treasures, rich in heart and in spirit.
Making a Stop Motion Video
Shelley Toon Lindberg, WWSF Visual and Media Arts Director and teaching artist, brought her Multi-Media Arts expertise to the 4th and 5th grade classroom. The activities over that week began with Shelley helping the students identify the characters in their (song) story, design their color wheel, and draw and paint the backgrounds for their music video.
Next, the students learned how to utilize multi-media visual and digital technology with special I-pad set ups. They composed the stop-motion visuals with the art they created that matched the rhythm and lyrics in the song.
