Sessions

Kūkulu Naʻauao - Building Wisdom and Learning

After the workshop sessions are concluded each day, please join us for Kūkulu Naʻauao - a curriculum planning and brainstorming session where educators can apply what they have experienced in their workshops to their practice. During this open-ended time, there will be resources available to help attendees brainstorm with others who share the same interests, disciplines or passions. There will be both online and text resources available to attendees that will help with curriculum planning, analysis and brainstorming support. This time will be invaluable collaboration time where attendees will be encouraged to share out what they have learned and what they have been inspired to incorporate into their teaching and learning practices.

Cultivating Aloha: 'Āina Education and Food Resilience for Future Generations

Tricia Kreidler, Grace Tsubaki-Noguchi and Jennifer Keawe - Kāneʻohe Elementary

How do we prepare our keiki to become future ancestors who care for their ʻāina and each other? In this presentation, 4th grade teachers from Kāneʻohe Elementary School share how they integrate ʻāina education with language arts, science, math, Hawaiian culture, and project-based learning. Through hands-on experiences rooted in their own ahupuaʻa, students deepen their connection to place, develop critical academic skills, and grow into responsible stewards of Hawaiʻi’s future.

Nā 'Āina Kumu Wai o Nā Ko'olau - The watersheds of the Ko'olau

Melani Spielman - Koʻolau Mountains Watershed Partnership (KMWP)

In this session we will explore how our watersheds work, how our modern understanding of the water systems ties to Hawaiian land management practices in ahupua'a, and the roles and importance of our native species and ecosystems.

Making Moʻolelo: Storytelling as a Tool for Conservation, Healing, and Education

Ben Catcho Jr. – American Bird Conservancy and Heidi Waiamau – Kamehameha Schools

This would be a two-part interactive workshop based on the Kaʻao framework of Hawaiian storytelling, which guides participants through learning, action, and return. Drawing from the conservation education partnership Makawalu Manu (American Bird Conservancy + Kamehameha Schools), the workshop integrates moʻolelo as both process and pedagogy.

• Part 1 (Kūkulu, Haʻalele, ʻImi): Building a foundation with conservation stories and resources, engaging grief around species loss, and exploring collaborative curriculum development.

• Part 2 (Hoʻi / Hoʻōla): Sharing curriculum tools, augmented reality resources, and examples of storytelling as restoration, with opportunities for collaboration and classroom integration.

E ka lālā i ka naʻauao la kaʻua; Hoʻonuʻu iho a kū kahauli; Whose learning flows like a stream; eager these to be honored men - Using ʻĀina Literacy to Craft Concept-Based Inquiry in the Classroom

Gabby Holt - Hanahauʻoli School

“More indigenous territory has been claimed by maps than by guns. This assertion has its corollary: more indigenous territory can be reclaimed and defended by maps than by guns.” - Bernard Nietschmann A key part of decolonization and honoring truth is reclaiming ʻāina inoa and revealing the many layers of meaning in those wahi pana. In this workshop, educators will be given concrete strategies and be introduced to many resources to facilitate ʻāina research, and explore how to build culturally responsive curriculum around the ʻike uncovered by that research.

Ho‘okele Ea: Navigating Truth and ʻIke Hawaiʻi through Waihona

Dr. Kanoe Wilson - Kamehameha Schools

In this interactive session, Dr. Kanoe Wilson invites educators to explore Waihona.net as a living source of ea—the breath, truth, and sovereignty that animates Hawaiian education. Through the metaphor of ho‘okele ea (navigating with life and purpose), participants will examine how Waihona empowers kumu and haumāna to create, share, and sustain ʻIke Hawaiʻi in ways that honor both ancestral wisdom and contemporary issues.

Grounded in the principle of ma ka hana ka ʻike (learning by doing), this session integrates reflection, hands-on engagement, and dialogue to illuminate how collaborative knowledge-sharing restores educational sovereignty and reaffirms Hawaiʻi’s truths.

Participants will leave with practical strategies and renewed inspiration to cultivate ea in their classrooms, schools, and communities—anchored by the guiding stars of ʻIke Hawaiʻi, ʻĀina, Collaboration, and Haumāna.

When Stories Live, A Nation Awakens

Kauʻi Sai-Dudoit - Awaiaulu, Inc.

This presentation focuses on the power of moʻolelo—our stories—as the foundation of cultural identity and national consciousness. By connecting with our history, we awaken a deeper understanding of who we are, where we come from, and the values that guide our future. Through storytelling, translation, and community engagement, we illuminate the path toward an enlightened and empowered lāhui.

Ho'opa'a ke kahua

Koʻohiki Napoleon - Kamehameha Schools

Using relevant, Hawaiian-culture based bell ringers and routines can set the foundation for your classroom,  offer opportunity for deeper learning, and build pilina with kanaka and 'āina.

Reimagining ECE Through Community Connections, Intergenerational Relationships, and Culturally Grounded Pedagogy 

Charis-Ann Sole, Shin Ae Han, Germaine Tauati - University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and INPEACE

Elders, families, and communities are an integral part of educating young people in Indigenous communities (Grace & Serna, 2013; Kaomea, 2005). Incorporating elders, families, and communities back into educational systems for all children leads to more holistic, community-oriented programs. Engaging families and communities in the education system in meaningful ways is a movement toward rematriating, a returning, of education. This requires collaborative design and decision-making regarding educational systems. (Bang, et al., 2019).

Pūʻolo Waimaka a ke Aloha:  Strategies for and Impacts of Hawaiian Cultural Worldview Development in Early Childhood

Kalehua Krug - Ka Waihona o ka Naʻauao PCS

There is an imperative to introduce Hawaiian cultural curriculum early in the developmental stages of childhood.  Its importance shapes the ideological worldview through which the children will see and engage with the world as they mature.  This has heavy impacts ffor future building through ecological and societal decision-making in adulthood.

Cultivating Young Childrenʻs Growing Sense of Aloha ʻĀina

Theresa Lock, Donna Reid-Hayes and Alexandria Sisson - University of Hawai'i at Mānoa College of Education

This interactive workshop will guide educators to intentionally plan engaging ʻāina as a foundation for learning, connection, and well-being for young children, from infants through age 8. Educators will reflect on their own sense of connection to ʻāina and explore strategies for supporting children as co-constructors of their physical and social environments. Educators will learn how to integrate outdoor, place-based experiences into daily practice in ways that nurture children's development and learning, and strengthen family partnerships.