2025 SUMMER PROGRAM
Thank you for a wonderful TSWN 2025 Summer! Applications for the 2026 program will open in March of 2026.
Completing its sixth summer program in 2025, The Skills We Need is an immersive full-day learning experience at Hanahau‘oli School designed for rising 2nd & 3rd Grade public school students to nurture literacy and math skills in a fun, interactive, collaborative environment.
Offered free of charge to HIDOE public and charter school students, with priority given to those who qualify for Free & Reduced Lunch and students at Title 1 schools.
Please Contact TSWN Program Coordinator Leslie Fleming at lfleming@hanahauoli.org with any questions.
The Skills We Need at Hanahau‘oli School
TSWN Educational Program Overview
TSWN curriculum aligns with Hanahau‘oli School’s thematic and interdisciplinary approach. TSWN students engage in a thematic unit of study centered around an essential question. Examples include: How can understanding myself and others help us navigate a changing world? What can learning about sea creatures teach me about who I am, how I relate to others, and our changing world? Framed within this thematic unit approach, TSWN focuses on the following learning objectives:
Listening and Speaking: Students should develop skills and understanding in listening/speaking by expressing thoughts verbally, listening attentively, posing questions, presenting formally, following multistep directions, and processing information.
Mathematics: Students should develop skills and understanding in mathematics by learning to predict, evaluate, analyze solutions, express their math understanding using a variety of strategies, symbols, and math vocabulary, and make connections to the real world by applying math to real life.
Reading: Students should develop their skills and understanding in reading fiction and non-fiction texts about sea creatures while improving comprehension, and achieving self-identified individualized reading goals to support their development.
Writing: Students should build their ability to communicate their ideas and feelings on paper by practicing organization, editing and revision, and studying writing mechanics and spelling.
Wellness and Mindfulness: Students should develop greater awareness of the connection between their body and mind through guided practices. They will develop a repertoire of strategies and activities that they can use to support their emotional regulation.
Self-Efficacy and Social Relationships: Students should develop confidence in their academic achievement goals and readiness for the upcoming school year (self belief), and build meaningful relationships with their teacher and peers (socially interactive).
Home to School Collaboration
Central to the philosophy of Hanahauʻoli School and progressive education is the belief that an investment in nurturing relationships with and within families will have a long-lasting impact on a student’s success in both school and life. TSWN teachers work with children and parents to ensure a close connection between home and school through regular sharing and a Presentation of Learning.
Support the continuation of the
2026 TSWN Program and beyond
The Skills We Need (TSWN) summer bridge program continues to thrive, directly serving the needs of Hawai‘i Department of Education (HIDOE) students who have been disproportionately affected by the lasting academic and social-emotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through TSWN, Hanahau‘oli draws upon its proven expertise in progressive education to extend its impact beyond Hanahau‘oli's school-year student body. TSWN aims to build and improve skills in language arts and mathematics, and to inspire in students healthy attitudes about oneself, one’s family, the community, and to spark the joy in learning. Thanks to the generous support of the Maurice & Joanna Sullivan Family Foundation, the Atherton Family Foundation, the Brennan Foundation, and many individual donors, the program remains tuition-free, providing essential and formative learning opportunities to students who need them most.
““My kids enjoyed Hanahau‘oli because they were engaged in child-centered classrooms, engaging and relevant curriculum, and were actively learning every day with creative, collaborative, and exploratory activities. Teachers were facilitators who built relationships, coached on strengths and weaknesses as learners, and gave timely feedback about learning growth. They both came away from TSWN with improved social and academic skills that set them apart as they started their new school year. When my daughters reflect on childhood memories, Hanahau‘oli will no doubt be among the standout experiences. This was a place full of love and joy, where they felt alive in
their learning.””
Mahalo to the Hawaii Foodbank and Sodexo for their partnership in generously providing free lunch to all TSWN participants during Summer 2025!
