The cacophony was reminiscent of conch shells — two dozen of them sounding all at once.

Really, it was a classroom full of fourth-graders blowing through bamboo flutes they had crafted to mimic the conch shell's distinctive trumpet, something ancient Hawaiians had done when the large sea shells couldn't be found.

Across campus, students were making rubbings of kukui leaves, while others were braiding palm fronds for a game.

Later, the students all went outside to learn to play 'ulumaika, aiming koa shafts and rock disks through wooden stakes.

It was the first time Jefferson Elementary had so many kupuna and makua on campus — about 25 from schools across the Honolulu district — and the schoolwide Hawaiian Culture Day was a fitting start for makahiki season, a four-month period of rest, thanksgiving and blessing.

"This is the first time in the state the kupuna are doing it," said principal Vivian Hee.

As first-grader Trevon Pulley described his leaf rubbing, makua Puamana Crabbe reminded him how to say colors in Hawaiian: poni for purple and 'oma'oma'o for green.

Pulley said the Hawaiian language and culture lessons were not only fun, but important.

"It's because we live in Hawai'i," he said.

That's the intent behind the kupuna in the schools program, which has been expanded from "grandparents" to include younger Hawaiian culture practitioners, makua and kumu.

While not mandated by the state Department of Education, over the past two decades, about 200 of the 219 elementary and middle schools have brought community members into the schools to teach Hawaiian culture.

"We teach the children Hawaiian values, we teach them counting and the names for the body parts," said Crabbe. The kids said they particularly enjoyed arts and crafts, dancing and singing.

Makua Dorian Kim said she never anticipated becoming a teacher, but she found her 20 years of practicing hula was something she could pass on to students.

"I would never trade my job for anything," she said.

Kupuna Julie Shimabukuro had set her class to work making pala'ie, a loop and ball game. Asked why she dedicates her time to teaching Hawaiian culture, she said she felt a responsibility "to perpetuate the knowledge of Hawai'i" by passing her knowledge along to the next generation.

Many of the children said they appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the place they lived, and for some, the traditions of their ancestors.

As she waited in line for her turn at 'ulumaika, 8-year-old Chelsea Hayashi said she always enjoyed when the kupuna came to share their mana'o.

"It's fun, and I know a little bit of what she's saying in Hawaiian," she said, adding that she's part-Hawaiian herself. "The fun is when we learn new chants and while I play they game we're playing now."

Donovan Faitaui, 9, one of the first to get his koa stick through the goal, deemed the culture day "pretty cool."

For him, it was novel not just to play traditional Hawaiian games, but to be outside playing at all.

"I don't really play these kinds of games," he said. "I usually play PlayStation."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.