Categorized | Education

Making a classroom-canoe connection

Makalii Senior Captain Chadd Paishon answers Waimea Country School students’ questions about navigation and voyaging. (Photo courtesy of Waimea Country School)

Makalii Senior Captain Chadd Paishon answers Waimea Country School students’ questions about navigation and voyaging. (Photo courtesy of Waimea Country School)

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Waimea Country School’s fourth and fifth grade students recently visited the Makalii, the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s third voyaging canoe, as part of their history and social studies class.

Students were able to explore the vessel and talk to Master Navigators Shorty Bertelmann and Chadd Paishon about their experiences aboard the Makalii and her ocean voyages.

The fourth and fifth grade curriculum includes Polynesian migration and voyaging, with a focus on how Hawaii was first settled and how the Polynesian Voyaging Society and the Hokulea helped to inform and deepen our understanding of that settlement.

“I want my students to know this history, but I also want them to be able to connect it to something that is real and relevant to their own lives. I want them to know that voyaging is not just history, but that it is alive and thriving now, in their lifetimes. I want them to see, feel, and experience being on board a voyaging canoe, so that they can imagine what a long ocean journey might be like,” teacher Laurel Matsuda said.

“Today, we took a step in the right direction,” she said. “I am really grateful to Na Kalai Waa and the Makalii captain and crew for allowing us to visit and have this exciting educational experience.”

Student Nina Gonzales summarized what the students learned while visiting the Makalii. “I learned how they got food, how they would survive when there was a storm, and how they would navigate.”

Student Ethan Levine was excited to learn that the Makalii was built in Waimea, not very far from his school in the quonset hut on Parker Ranch.

Mia Horton said, “The boat that we were on actually sailed to Tahiti and back with no instruments! I saw how hard it would be to stay on the Makalii for a month to go to Tahiti and back, because you’d probably get seasick and you would have to stay away from your pets and family… but it would still be fun to sail on it for a day!”

When asked to explain why the trip to the Makalii was meaningful, Gonzales said, “Obviously they can’t fit their whole story into a book. They can’t tell you everything. You can get a lot from reading a book, but you can get more from being there and talking to a real person and asking your own questions.”

Nicholas Barrick added, “Actually going to one of the voyaging canoes is exciting because we can see things, and feel things, and hear things and you can’t get that from just reading a history book.”

Founded in 1996, Waimea Country School’s mission is “to provide an outstanding K-6 child-centered, multiage and multicultural learning experience which incorporates the core values of inclusion and respect.”

The members of the Board of Trustees are Lisa McCarthy, Nancy Perry, Kelly Barrick, Randy Campbell, Felicity Johnson, Desiree Watson, and Scott March.

— Find out more:
www.waimeacountryschool.org

Makalii Senior Captain Chadd Paishon explains to how to use the hoe (paddle) to steer the canoe. (Photo courtesy of Waimea Country School)

Makalii Senior Captain Chadd Paishon explains to how to use the hoe (paddle) to steer the canoe. (Photo courtesy of Waimea Country School)

One Response to “Making a classroom-canoe connection”

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