May 2025 Newsletter

• 4/30 - Panda Express Fundraiser Night, go eat Panda's!
• 5/2 - Science & Curriculum Night @ 5:00 PM in the Cafe
• 5/5 - PTA Meeting @ 5:00 PM, virtual
• 5/5 - Teacher Appreciation (Wear your teacher's favorite color)
• 5/6 - Teacher Appreciation (Create a portrait of your teacher)
• 5/7 - Teacher Appreciation (Write your teacher a thank you note)
• 5/8 - Teacher Appreciation (Compassion in action: Tell a joke or give a compliment to your teacher)
• 5/9 - Teacher Appreciation (Choose Love: Students choice, do something cool for your teacher)
• 5/11 - Mother's Day
• 5/20 - One-Day Book Fair Buy One Get One Free
• 5/26 - Memorial Day (NO SCHOOL)
• 5/27 - Field Day!
• 5/28 - Wednesday dismissal time changed to --> 2:00 PM
• 5/29 - Grade 6 Graduation
• 5/30 - STUDENT'S LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! 🎉 Friday dismissal time changed to --> 12:50 PM

Aloha!

My name is Joycelyn Mison aka Miss Joyce. As a former MES student, I’ve grown with this school and am proud to be a Jr Ram alumni. As a parent I’ve seen many positive changes that makes Makalapa what it is today. Now as an office assistant, it is my pleasure to be here in the front office welcoming and assisting the parents, students, and staff that come through our doors.
As the school year comes to a close…for those of you leaving, may you keep your memories here at MES close to your heart, and know you’re a part of our Makalapa Ohana forever. For those of you returning, I look forward to seeing you next school year, when we can make new memories. May you all have a great summer…A hui hou malama pono!

Give mom the night off! This Wednesday, come on down to Panda Express @ Moanalua Shopping Center off of Warden Avenue(next to the NEX). Give them our code: 3839382, or just tell them it's for the Makalapa El. fundraiser. They will donate 20% of the sales to our PTA.

I still have 13 spots left for field day volunteers!!

Anyone intersted? Just email me @ melissa.mccain@k12.hi.us, to get your name on the list before it fills up!

To Our Dear Teachers,

We send you all a tremendous THANK YOU!!! You are pillars of our society that carry a heavy load, molding the future generation. Your patience, and determination are unmatched. We benefit from your passion for education. You tirelessly give our students so much of yourselves every minute of every day, we are truly grateful for the time and energy you so generously share. Our hope is that in return, our students have the opportunity to plant little seeds of joy and happiness in your hearts that will live on for years to come. You are truly valued members of our community, our gratitude is yours.

Sincerely,

On Behalf of the Staff, Administrators, Students, and Parents

Nice job kids! Congrats to everyone who got an award for Jr. Ram, GLO, and Choose Love. You made good choices, showed diligence, and did hard work. Let's keep up the energy through the last quarter!

Kudos Grade K, your rendition of "Lava," was one of the cutest things I've seen all year. Our students had great volume and great energy! The music fest featured many different schools from our complex, with choir and band/orchestra performances. They were all very good, practice made perfect!

🤙Thank you to our hardworking Kindergarten teachers: Mrs. Perreira, Ms. Suzuki, Ms. Nguyen, Mrs. Hughes! You rock!🤙

Our JPOs participated in the state's field day competition. They represented Makalapa Elementary school well. I would like to congratulate the Makalapa JPO's, Ms. Lisa, and Mr. Reilly on a score of 100% during their individual drill. Our JPO's serve on campus every day, our learning environment is better because of you!

On Saturday, April 12, 2025, Makalapa's Gifted and Talented students participated in an underwater robotic competition called Seaperch sponsored by the Coast Guard. Students designed and built a Remotely Operated Vehicle(ROV) to compete in 2 different courses: 1. Obstacle Course 2. Mission course. The 4 teams represented Makalapa Elementary School with pride and honor. As a result, One Makalapa Elementary Team earned 3rd place and the other team earned 1st place.

🤙🤙 Big shout out to Mr. Maeda & Mr. Ahue, thank you for facilitating this wonderful opportunity for our GT students. 🤙🤙

In honor of MOMC (Month of the Military Child), we had a spirit week with fun dress-up days that students participated in to show their support for Military children. Mrs. I and Mrs. Sakamoto did a lot of fun activities all week with our students, these are some of my snaps from around campus for the week.

Our students got to visit Radford's campus to attend the Blue Carnival. Students and teachers at Radford set up a bunch of stations for the kids to visit that would help them learn about autism. The kids had a great time cruising around with their buddies and collecting little trinkets. Thanks Radford!

What a fun night filled with cards and games! Thank you to all of our families who came down to participate, I hope you enjoyed yourselves. Thank you to all of our volunteers who came down to run stations, the night wouldn't have been the same without you!

Phew! I was getting tired watching this event! Our students did so well, they gave it their all, tried hard, and didn't give up. It was so touching to see them really putting their whole effort in. I'd like to send a huge shout out to Mr. Kawasaki, and Mrs. Pajimola, for all of their hard work training our students this season. Job well done runners!

What an awesome competition. It was so nice to see a large group of kids deep thinking and being quiet! What a great skill for our students to learn! Mr. Au, Mr. Yanos, and Ms. Mejia outdid themselves, this was a super fun activity. In addition to multiple games of chess they had snacks (thank you to all the parents who donated treats!), and pizza (thank you to the PTA!). Congratulations to our 2024/2025 SY Chess Club Champion... Rylan from Grade 6!!!

🫶🫶Thank you again to: 🫶🫶
Mr. Au

Mr. Yanos

Ms. Mejia

Calling our Makalapa Ohana! Grab a couple of Mc-Fun books to support our Kindergarteners! Each Mc-Fun Book is filled with fantastic deals and coupons for McDonald's and local family attractions. Not only will you enjoy great savings, but a portion of every purchase goes directly to benefit our Kindergarten classrooms — supporting bus repayment, supplies, and resources that help our youngest learners thrive. If you need a flyer you can come by the office to grab an extra, don't mind the deadline, they have extended it.

Aloha Parents!

We had fun celebrating Month of the Military Child here at Makalapa and it was great seeing everyone at our Game Night! I'll be at our Science Night on May 2 - hope to see you there. As always, if you have questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please reach me at 808-265-0715 or visit my website via the PCNC webpage.

Mahalo, Carly (Ms. I)

This summer, have adventures while at home, in the park, or on the beach. Read for 20 minutes every day! Makalapa will be part of the statewide 2025 Summer Reading Challenge which will begin on June 2, 2025 until July 25, 2025. Unlock virtual badges by logging your reading time on the #808READS website or app. Get a reward for completing the Summer Reading Challenge when you return to school in August!

To kick off the challenge, we will have a one-day BOGO Book Fair in the library on May 20, 2025 during school hours. Visit makalapalibrary.weebly.com for more information.

For the last week of school, there will be a dismissal time change. Makalapa does extend our apologies if this inconveniences our families. Thank you for your patience.

5/28 - Wednesday - Dismissal time changed to 2:00 PM

5/30 - Friday - Last day of school - Dismissal time changed to 12:50 PM

If you are moving or downsizing soon, we need your balls! Our P.E. department would be happy to take anyone's old field supplies. We would use it for recess time and also for P.E. class with Mr. Kawatachi. If you have any questions, or would like to request a ball donation pick up please email Michael Kawatachi @ michael.kawatachi@k12.hi.us, thank you!