Principal's Message
Aloha from Kohala Elementary School!
We are a rural school on the north end of the island of Hawai’i. Kohala Elementary School is the only public elementary school in Kohala and we work closely with our middle school and high school to ensure all students are successful at each phase of their educational journey.
Our school is a Title 1 school and we use those funds to strengthen learning in our core programs and to accelerate students needing higher levels of interventions. We’re a West Hawai’i Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grant school and we are using these resources to get all students reading on grade level by grade three. We started with Success for All reading program in grades kindergarten through grade two in the 2020-2021 school year and in 2022 - 2023, our grades three through five will also adopt the program. The embedded cooperative learning strategies will allow for more student discussion and increase student engagement in learning.
After receiving training from Dr. Ban Har Yeap in lesson design, we transformed our math instruction to incorporate more student discussion, collaboration and math modeling. In 2021-2022, three classes piloted Eureka Math Squared and we’ll expand use of the program to five grade levels before full implementation in the 2023 school year. Our Educational Aides have been trained in strategies to break math down to the concrete and pictorial levels to strengthen understanding of the math concepts with the students they serve.
Our Academic Plan includes opportunities for students to apply their learning in hands-on learning experiences, therefore, our students have resource classes on five day weeks. Students engage in Hawaiiana, computer, guidance, garden and in the 2022-2023 school year, we will add P.E./Health. We are also fortunate to have dedicated teachers passionate about developing student leadership and through their efforts, now have an active Student Council who lead many school spirit activities throughout the year. Check out their addition to the “Live Pono” mural in our pictures. The Student Council led by their advisors added an artistic rendition of descriptors of living pono below the original mural.
We love this place where we live and our Alaka’i (student leaders) lead the entire student body in morning piko. Each morning, all students gather on the blacktop as Alaka’i blow the pu and leave them in song and chant to start the day.
We have an amazing school and work with our community and families to provide a quality education for our students!
