Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 2, 1 February 2021 — The Kūkulu Kumuhana Project Bears Fruit [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Kūkulu Kumuhana Project Bears Fruit

By Kekaianiani lrwin With humility, we share the latest curriculum development efforts of the Hale Kuamo'o Hawaiian Language Center and its Kūkulu Kumuhana project. Like a compass with aloha 'āina as its pull, the project name was chosen to continually orient thoughts towards working together to rebuild ancestral knowledge. As described by Joseph Nāwahīokalani'ōpu'u in 1895, "Aloha 'Āina is the magnet constantly pulling the heart of a people towards independence and liberation grounded in their own plaee." In order to collaboratively follow the pull of Nāwahī's aloha 'āina compass while nurturing a new generation of 'ōlelo resource developers, Hale Kuamo'o convened a new development process joining younger writers with more experienced staff in eaeh of four grade level writing groups: the Piko team (papa mālaa'o), the Ali'i team (papa 1), the Pele team (papa 2), and the 'Onipa'a team (papa 3). Eaeh writing group collaborated with Hawaiian medium teachers, subject matter experts, artists and photographers, as well as senior faculty of Ka Haka 'Ula o Ke'elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language. All in all, more

■ than 50 people worked together in this development process ! The result is a wide array of new Hawaiian language materials including 40 new leveled 'ōlelo Hawai'i books for students in the target grades with supporting kumu-gen-erated curricula, and a series of resources supporting 'ōlelo Hawai'i in families, classrooms, and the broader community. . Community resources currently nearing completion include: | Ke 01 a Nani, a word book focused on verbs of all kinds; ! interactive vocabulary-building activities utilizing the Qui-

zlet platform; a book on the history and shared values of the kaiapuni movement; two 'ōlelo no'eau collections; a volume sharing mele and oli from across the islands featuring 'āina where kaiapuni schools are situated and accompanying voice recordings to facilitate learning and teaching; and Ke Kūlia e Kāmau ai (described in Kamalani Johnson's article in this edition of Ka Wai Ola). All of the above resources are currently being finalized and published for distribution to kaiapuni schools and 'ohana by September 2021, after whieh time they will be available to the broader community. Many other

'olelo resources are currently available at Hale Kuamo'o's website and e-commerce store (under construction) at www.halekuamoo.com. ■ Kekaianiani Irwin is aformer kumu of 10 years at the kula kaiapuni of Pā'ia, Pū'ōhala, and Kamakau. Since 2005 he has served as a writer, curriculum and evaluation specialist, program developer, and project director at the Hale Kuamo 'o Hawaiian Language Center at UH Hilo with collaborative perpetuation of 'ōlelo Hawai 'i as his ongoing goal.

i Mai ka mo'olelo nūpepa na S. M. Kamakau (1870) ma ka nūpepa 'o j Ke Au Okoo i ki'i a ha'i hou 'ia ai ka mo'olelo no Kahekilinui'ahumanu ma i ka pae heluhelu o nō keiki papa 1 . ■ ; Ki'i: Hana Yoshihata, © 2019 naka Hale Kuamo'o