Third graders capped off a yearlong study of Hawaiian history and culture Friday with a traditional lū‘au and Makahiki games. With the competition of the Sidney and Minnie Kosasa Community for Grades 2 – 5, the third grade lū‘au has settled into its new home, complete with Hawaiian plants, an imu and the open-air Ka’aumoana hale that serves as a place to gather and learn.
Students, teachers, staff and parent volunteers spent the week prepping for the lū‘au, which included pounding freshly harvested kalo, weaving plates out of palm fronds, wrapping laulau, making haupia from just-cracked coconuts, prepping the pig for the imu and more.
BJ Namba, a longtime third grade teacher and the coordinator of the third grade lū‘au, was happy to see the event take place in its new location: “It’s all so close and so beautiful and everyone seems together. What makes it special is that it really feels like home. In a sense, we’ve come back to the feeling of the original Winne Units. So, I feel like we’ve come back home.”