Bringing Hawaiian Wisdom to School Gardens: How Pua Aquino’s Kalo Module Enriches School Gardens Nationwide May 16, 2025

In an innovative effort to bridge cultural understanding through school gardens, our own June “Pua” Aquino has made a significant contribution to “Celebrating Cultural Inclusion in the School Garden,” an online teaching resource. Drawing from her nearly two decades of experience in early childhood education and her role as a Cultural Specialist at Partners in Development Foundation in Hawaiʻi, Pua brings authentic cultural knowledge and educational expertise to this important work. 

Her carefully crafted module exploring kalo (taro) offers educators a profound window into Hawaiian culture, guided by the Hawaiian principle “He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka” – Land is chief and man is its servant. This foundational concept shapes how Pua teaches about kalo, which represents far more than just sustenance—it embodies the deep connection between land, people, and tradition. 

As both an educator and the author of the children’s book “My Kalo Has Lau, Big and Green,” Pua weaves together the parts of a kalo with the symbolism within our ʻike Hawaiʻi (cultural wisdom). Her lesson plan reveals how the very structure of the Hawaiian word ʻohana (family) comes from ʻohā, the kalo’s offspring buds bundled with the mature hā (stalks), illustrating how deeply this plant is intertwined with Hawaiian cultural concepts of family and community. 

The module provides educators with rich, hands-on activities that help students explore these connections while learning about sustainable agricultural practices that have sustained Hawaiian communities for generations. Through Pua’s guidance, students discover how traditional Hawaiian farming systems maximized efficiency and minimized waste, offering valuable lessons for contemporary environmental stewardship. 

Pua’s kalo module is part of a broader educational resource titled “Celebrating Cultural Inclusion in the School Garden” available through Kids Gardening. This module is great for K-5 educators who are looking to effectively center cultural learning in their school garden program. Educators and parents can access this comprehensive teaching resource, along with other valuable garden-based learning materials, by visiting KidsGardening.org. As a nonprofit educational organization, KidsGardening.org relies on sponsors and donors to provide these free garden-based resources to parents and educators, ensuring that cultural knowledge and garden education remain accessible to all who wish to learn and teach.