Phase I: Intergenerational Activities

Sharing Moments,
Building Memories

One of Kansha Preschool Director Charlene Doi's favorite books is Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge:*

"It’s a heartwarming story of a young boy who lives next door to a seniors citizens’ home. His favorite senior is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper, because like Wilfred, she has four names.

Puzzled by the comment that Miss Nancy has lost her memory, he asks the seniors what a memory is, and is told it is “something warm,” “something from long ago,” and “something that makes you laugh.”

Determined to help Miss Nancy, he gathers up his own memories (seashells collected from long ago, a puppet with funny expressions, a fresh warm egg from a hen’s nest) and shares them with her. As she handles Wilfred’s “memories” Nancy begins to recapture and share her own.

This book is what co-locating the preschool and adult day care center is all about: generations helping each other, and building memories along the way."

Kansha Preschool’s curriculum includes weekly focal-point themes with opportunities to share experiences with the seniors.

For example, during “mountain week,” seniors and preschoolers might build papier-mâché mountains, sing “The Bear Went Over the Mountain,” and listen as seniors read the Hawaiian legend of Maui climbing to the top of Haleakala to harness the sun.