MidWeek East - Nov 3, 2021

ALLAMERICAN
St. Louis Heights’ Jadey Hagiwara earns recognition.
SEE PAGE 2
‘CAN’DO ATTITUDE
Kāhala Mall hosted the annual Canstruction competition. SEE PAGE 6
A Face Mask That Helps Keiki Learn
FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3, 2021
A PUBLICATION OF
AN EDITION OF
Holy Nativity School first-grade teacher Jenna Kieburtz created clear face masks to help her students recognize and identify sounds properly. LAWRENCE TABUDLO PHOTO
ABY MARIA KANAI
s a first-grade teacher at Holy Na- tivity School, Jenna Kieburtz ran into a problem with her students last
year. While teaching them how to read, her mask was making it difficult for her keiki to recognize and identify sounds properly.
“Teaching phonic lessons can be tricky if students can’t see our mouths,” says Kieburtz. “Some letter sounds are so quiet, and young learners need to see our mouths in or- der to identify the sound accurately and write
the correct letter on their paper.”
That’s how she got the idea to create Clear-
view Masks — special face masks that have a clear face shield portion for the mouth. Another advantage of this mask is its curved shape, which makes it less stifling to wear as it sits further away from the face. She and her teaching partner had already been sewing ori- gami-style cloth masks for keiki, so she de- cided to use those same patterns to create new masks while using a face shield for the mouth portion. Since she works full-time and has two young kids, sewing takes place at night
SEE PAGE 4