Science Enrichment (Week 6) | Kamehameha Schools – Laukahi Educational Resources

Resource Title: Science Enrichment (Week 6) | Kamehameha Schools

Organization: Kamehameha Schools

Description:

This packet provides a set of place-based activities focused on animal traits, gardening, mālama ʻāina, flower development, backyard birds, and changing environments. Students are instructed to choose one activity each day and work with an ʻohana member to observe, question, predict, draw, explain, and take action in their home environment.

The packet combines science inquiry with Hawaiian cultural and environmental concepts. It includes learning about brown anole lizards, gardening as a way to mālama ʻāina, the movement of water through plants, Mynah and House Sparrow observations, and how environmental change can affect native plants and animals.

Target Audience: 3rd - 5th grade, Educators, Facilitators, K-5

Instructional Roles: Assessment, Enrichment, Main lesson, Ongoing activity

Environment: Classroom, Self-guided

Content Type: Cultural practice, Service, volunteer work, STEM investigation

Type Of Engagement: Create, Investigate, Observe, Play / Explore, Reflect, Respond / Submit

Format: Images, PDF Guide, Video

Activity:

Backyard Ecology and Mālama ʻĀina Investigations

Students choose among activities such as:

Reading about the Brown Anole in Hawaiʻi and completing a 3-2-1 reflection.
Exploring gardening as a form of mālama ʻāina.
Drawing an existing or imagined garden and explaining how to care for it.
Reading/listening to a bilingual Mālama ʻĀina eBook.
Examining a Mynah bird nest and identifying natural and human-made materials used in its construction.
Cleaning or reorganizing items found around the yard as a mālama ʻāina action.
Investigating how water affects pepper and gardenia plants.
Conducting an experiment showing how colored water moves through a flower or celery.
Observing House Sparrows and recording kilo, nīnau, and predictions.
Investigating how changing environments affect animals and predicting what happens to birds when their habitat changes.

Topics Covered:

Kilo / scientific observation
Nīnau / questioning
Prediction
Mālama ʻāina
ʻĀina as “that which sustains”
Gardening
Food-producing plants
Caring for land
Brown anole lizards
Animal traits
Bird behavior
House Sparrows
Mynah birds
Bird nests and nesting materials
Backyard ecology
Plant growth
Flower blooming
Water movement through plants
Plant responses to watering
Environmental change
Habitat disturbance
Native Hawaiian birds
Mosquito impacts on native birds
Effects of introduced pigs, cows, goats, and sheep
Invasive plant removal
Human impacts on ecosystems
Environmental stewardship

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Have a question, found an issue, or just want to connect?
Reach out to us anytime. We're here to help.