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The Sky — Ka Lani

ByKate Righter

E nānā i luna. Look up. What do you see? Clouds? A rainbow? The moon? Stars?

Can you name what you see? There are different names for the clouds, constellations and the moon phases in Hawaiian than the ones used for science. Hawaiian names contain both local and cultural knowledge. Scientific names are used worldwide so that people all use the same terms when describing what they see. Both types of names offer us different ways of looking at the world.

This post offers a variety of ways to investigate and think about what is happening in the skies above us.

Topics in this post:

  • The sky — General resoureces
  • Weather — Ke Anilā
  • Clouds — Nā Ao
  • Stars — Nā Hoku
  • Moon Cycles — Kaulana Mahina

The Sky

Join or visit the Skyscapito Appreciation Society to learn more about the art and science of clouds, and how people nature journal about clouds.

Brooke Morales has a routine of painting the sky every single day, and shares videos of her painting technique: https://www.lifenoticed.com/365-skies-2024/

Weather — Ke Anilā

Kamehameha Schools created a weather report worksheet with versions in both Hawaiian and English. (Note: They have a number of other great worksheets and lesson plans on their Ohana Resources webpage.)

From the Hawaii Climate Data Portal: Glossary of terms

Some Hawaiian words for rain from Orion Magazine.

Maps of the names for the clouds and rains in Manoa (a place famous for its rainbows): https://www.manoaheritagecenter.org/moolelo/manoa-valley/wind-and-rain-names/

Sometimes the sky brings us weather that makes it hard to go outside. For example, how do you nature journal when it’s raining? I created a list of prompts to help guide observation: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FmrLOFgjWO84XBBhlgH_RV56XsPOdzXW6ee1RrCWvmI/edit?usp=sharing

Clouds — Nā Ao

Hawaiian Cloud Chart part 1 and Hawaiian Cloud chart part 2 by Steven Businger and Gavin Shigesato (from here: https://coe.hawaii.edu/kahuaao/cloud/)

A video for identifying 10 common clouds, with links to more quality, kid-appropriate videos about the weather.

There is also a worldwide Cloud Appreciation Society with a lot of great resources and lesson plans.

This blog post is a great Hawaii-based explanation of how deep observation and documentation of the clouds you see and the weather patterns you notice can help you learn and make predictions.

ʻŌlelo Noʻeau (Hawaiian sayings) related to clouds from waahonua.com

This is just so fun and adorable by artist Chris Judge (what if you drew cartoon images of what you imagine in the clouds in your journal?): https://mossandfog.com/chris-judges-daily-cloud-interpretations/

Stars — Nā Hoku

From Bishop Museum: Chart of the night sky for this month

Learn about the ancient methods of navigation using the stars, wind, and currents, and how they’re being taught and used in modern times: https://waahonua.com/

From Imiloa: Learn about the four star families

From Roseann Hanson: Journaling Night Skies

From John Muir Laws: Astronomy Nature Journaling

Moon Cycles — Kaulana Mahina

Monthly and seasonal cycles of the moon impact the weather, tides, and dictate the spawning habits of fish and coral. What else do you notice that changes throughout the month and the year?

Today’s moon phase (so you can include it in your journal!): https://apps.ksbe.edu/mooncalendar/

Printable lunar calendars with information about the importance of knowing the moon phases: https://www.hawaii.edu/climate-data-portal/hawaiian-lunar-calendar/

Other sites with descriptions of the names and meanings of all the moon phases:
https://kohalacenter.org/spawning-guide/culture-and-history/hawaiian-moon-phases
https://www.napea.info/hawaiian-moon-names

Nature Journaling the Sky

International Nature Journaling week (a yearly event in June) had a sky themed day: https://www.naturejournalingweek.com/program/skies

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