Name: Sandra Hu
Age: 50
Position: First-grade teacher at Kaahumanu Elementary
Education: University of Hawaii-Manoa
Pastimes: Aerobics, gardening, reading

Weaving art, music and drama into the curriculum, Hu hopes to set the foundation for her first-graders to enjoy learning.

Hu, who has been teaching for 25 years, only recently began using this teaching method.

"I believe they learn and retain more through these creative activities," she said.

Hu made farmer's hats, and her students pretended to be farmers learning about the stages of the plant life cycle. Through a song, students learned wolves are not all evil, as portrayed in "Little Red Riding Hood."

Colleague Cathy Yasunari said Hu is a gifted, talented, exciting teacher: "She really gets a lot of learning done. They produce a lot in writing, in art, because she has high expectations and she helps her students reach that."

Hu is always willing to share her expertise and ideas with other teachers, Yasunari says.

Hu won C-SPAN's and Oceanic Cable's equipment-for-education grant for 1995-96 by demonstrating the students' understanding of the election campaign process. Her first-graders held a mock election for a state animal in class.

Principal Gayle Simmons Ozawa says Hu uses all her talents so students can learn in different ways: "She really cares about her children."