HANALEI — If there’s anything better than being on Kauai, it’s being a kid and growing up on Kauai.
Menehune School in Hanalei is a place where keiki can be keiki and have fun while they’re learning. Menehune School was the first preschool on the North Shore when it opened in 1974. Owner Diane Daniells is celebrating the 44th anniversary of the preschool this fall.
“My main inspiration was my dad, who was an elementary school teacher,” Daniells said of becoming a preschool teacher. ”I have always been interested in working with children at this age group.”
Menehune School is across the street from Hanalei School, nestled behind her husband Mark Daniells’ gallery. Before Diane Daniells built the school with help from her husband and her father Rudy, the school was held at the historic Waioli Church Hall just down the street.
If you visit Menehune School you’re likely to find children learning numbers, letters, and Hawaiian words. When they’re not learning, doing activities, or on a field trip, you’ll find the children playing outside. Dancing, singing, and creating art are a big part of the fun at Menehune School, too.
Daniells, or “Teacher Diane” as the kids call her, says a lot of the important skills being developed at the preschool are social skills, which play a big role in learning at elementary school in the future.
“Our program includes encouraging a love for learning, noncompetitive play, creative problem solving, nonviolence and beginning academic skills,” she said.
Attitude and environment also play important roles at the school.
“The children gain confidence through patience, tolerance, and compassion,” she said. “Young children deserve a loving and caring environment and our small class size helps to create a happy place for children to be.”
Spending time with animals like the class pet that Daniells adopted, a young chicken affectionately named ”Chicky,” is part of an important lesson for the kids in how to interact with animals.
“I am privileged to be able to spend time with children as they laugh and play through days filled with hope and happiness and love,” she wrote in a letter welcoming new students and parents to Menehune School.
Daniells studied early childhood education at Maui Community College and received a Montessori teaching certificate from St. Nichols Training Centre in London.
Applications for enrollment are available at the school. The fall semester begins Aug. 6.
Info: Diane Daniells at 652-0460 or dmdhanalei@yahoo.com.
Makes me wish I was 3 years old again ! “Teacher Diane” is a gift to the Garden Island….