Ma'ema'e Elementary School: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Aloha! (hello)

We are a fifth grade class from Ma'ema'e Elementary School on Oahu. We just celebrated our 100th birthday. We have won the National Multiple Sclerosis Read -a-Thon for the fifth year in a row. We go camping in the sixth grade at Camp Erdman on the north shore of Oahu and go to the Big Island in the fourth grade to study hawaiian culture and geology. The events that we like best during the year are the Christmas Door Decoration Contest, May Day, Family Night and Talent Show. At Ma'ema'e School, we have grades from Kindergarten to sixth, and have about 700 students. Our school is located in Honolulu, Hawaii on Wyllie Street. In hawaiian, "Ma'ema'e" (pronounced "mah-eh-mah-eh") means "clean and pure". We also have one of the best cafeteria staffs in the state.

In Hawaii, there are many historical sites that tourists visit. Some of them are the Bishop Museum, Pali Lookout, the Honolulu Zoo, Aloha Tower, Diamond Head, Pearl Harbor, Koko Head and Punch Bowl. Some of the favorite things that the fifth graders like to do are going to the movies, basketball, surfing, soccer, volleyball, football, shambattle, boogie boarding and baseball.

Most of the time, the weather here is sunny, but right now is quite humid. The highest temperature so far is in the 90s. The lowest temperature here was in the 50s. The water we get here is filtered naturally by the mountains by dike rock. Our water is the most wonderful water in the world! In fact, the hawaiian word for "wealthy" is "wai wai". "Wai" means water.

We would like to share with you some of the common hawaiian words we use like Kokua ( cooperation), Ohana is Family, e komo mai means come in, Mahalo means thank you. The hawaiian foods that we enjoy are Poi (mashed taro), Lomi Salmon (salted salmon dish), Haupia (coconut gelatin), Mahi Mahi (fish),Kaki Mochi(rice crackers), Butterfish, Shave ice, Kimchee, Pipipi (small sea snail), Manapua, Tako (octopus), Sushi and Musubi. Our foods are influenced by the many different cultures in the islands.

Aloha! (also means good-bye)
We are looking Forward to working with all of you!