IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today was such a fun filled day at the Children’s Museum!  We had a blast learning about geckos, seeing them up close, and and pretending to be geckos!  Thank you so much to those that came and volunteered!

Today was our first day of physical education this year at the Lab School.

Miss Boyle this weekend created this tunnel for the children to go through to help them see what it is like to be a gecko.  She made knee pads and gloves that had velcro on them so when they crawled through it added some difficulty!  I cannot tell you how fun it was for the children to do this!  They had a blast and they had a hard time going through it.  We will continue to have it out so that we can see what it is like to be a gecko!

At the end of the day we began a web of things we know about habitats, and the children did such a nice job of coming up with some ideas of what habitats were.  Then, we at the same time were making a list of questions we had about geckos, and these questions provoked some good debates between the children.  One of those questions was “do all geckos have webbed feet?”  Another question was “Do geckos sleep?”  These questions along with the other 9 questions that were brought up really sparked some great discussion.  We hope to find these answers this week when we go to the exhibit!

As many of you have heard our kids have been working very hard on their independent author study books.  We made personal invitations in class today, but just another reminder, we will be celebrating all of this great work on Wednesday from 6-7 at the school!  The kids are looking forward to sharing their hard work with all of you!

As some of you may have heard, there is a new face in Miss Cegielski’s class.  A student teacher has joined the amazing students to learn and grow with them in their learning and thinking.

First and foremost, thank you for welcoming me into the class and allowing me to work with your amazing children.  Each and everyone of them are kind, caring, smart, enthusiastic learners who share their joy with everyone.  It is quite an experience to get to know them.

My name is Joey Crume.  I spent last semester at the Opal School in Portland, Oregon.  Opal School is also a Reggio inspired school and focuses on the education of the whole child.  I was placed in a fifth grade classroom and learned a great deal about the excitement and possibility for Reggio practices with older students.  Our curriculum was focused on the unfolding of historically imaginative play surrounding the New World, starting with Columbus sailing from Portugal.  I also spent a great deal learning about social emotional education specifically in regards to group dynamics and finally math workshop.  This semester, I am honored to be learning about early literacy, story workshop, readers workshop, and the strong building blocks of mathematical understandings.  The experiences I am having, thus far, are also helping me to make meaning of this beautiful and respectful way that children learn and process the world.  Miss Cegielski, the students, and many of the parents have been so kind and welcoming.  I look forward to sharing more stories, hearing more stories and growing with all of you as the year progresses.  Until next time… Joey