IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Regan, Angela, and Monica inspect the materials.

Yesterday, one of our friends brought in a large container of materials. Inside were all sorts of interesting things; Gatorade and juice lids, old spice containers, milk rings, marker caps, and many other circular objects. The kids enjoyed inspecting and looking at the new materials and were interested in them again this morning during arrival activities. Some friends even started building with the materials and creating pictures. We decided as a class that we would like to have more interesting materials such as the ones brought in for our use in the studio and for future projects. Tomorrow, I will be sending home a letter from our class with more details and a brown paper bag to help hold found objects your child finds at home. Please assist them on this journey in building a more enriching studio for our class. I can’t wait to see where this investigation leads!

Do you see a face?

Christian explains, "I'm trying to figure out which one is the smallest."

Leah shared a book about her trip to Georgia while her captivated classmates listened to her story.

Today was another great day in Kindergarten/1st Grade! We are becoming more comfortable with our daily routines and procedures.

Today was our first day getting to visit the studio. Students created wire creations, acted on the stage, and played in the sensory table. Upon returning to the classroom, we joined together in a math exploration of measurement. Each student took turns leaping as far as they could from a piece of tape we placed on the classroom floor. When everyone had done their best leap, we worked to figure out the best way to measure our leaps. It was decided that we needed to use a measuring tape. However, we faced a dilemma when our measuring tape was too short to measure our longest leap. OUr class worked together and decided to use a ruler and our measuring tape to measure the final leap. It was exciting to see our class work together as problem solvers.

I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get any pictures of our leaping math workshop. Ho

Friends used the rice to make it rain while singing "Rain rain, go away!"

wever, here are some other pictures from our day.

Over the past few days we have been talking a lot about our community.  We have been reading stories, writing class books, and planning what to do to help others.  Today, I witnessed one of the best moments yet this year.  After each Workshop we typically have a share time.  We had so many books today during writing that we shared a few extra at the end of the day.  One of our friends, Kaylee had worked very hard on her book about Mermaids.  As she shared it there was a magical hush that fell over the classroom.  All of the other friends were instantly fixed.  They listened to her entire story and then each student clapped loudly at the end to celebrate Kaylee’s writing.  They even cheered a little!  As a teacher, this is one of the best moments you can have in a classroom.  Our class is sharing, working together, and celebrating each other!  Here is a picture of Kaylee and her proud moment:

Some friends LOVING the computers!

Today was a really good day.  We started our Reader’s Workshop stations yesterday,and the children seem so engaged in them!  Here are some pictures for youto see what the stations are.  One station is putting everyone’s name in ABC order.Another station is using paint sticks to attach a picture to the last word of the sentence.Then, the children can write the sentence after they are done.  The third station playing memory with environmental print.  The fourth station is rolling a letter dice, and then the children graph the letter they rolled.  The fifth station is where the children cut out letters out of a magazine and then they add it to a big piece of chart paper with each letter of the alphabet.  The last station is playing Starfall on the computers.

Enjoy the pictures!

Some friends adding cut out letters to the letter chart paper.

Some friends putting their classmates' names in ABC order.

Some friends making sentences using pictures and the paint sticks.

Sascha and Journey show the boys a new dance move.

We have discovered that our class LOVES to dance! Often during free exploration time, I put on music for the kids to dance to if they choose. The types of music range from pop all the way to world music. I believe in the importance of exposing the kids to lots of different types of music and allowing them to move, express themselves and feel good. We are experimenting with moving to the beat and moving with the tempo and general feel of the song.

A friend answers our daily question, "Do you like to dance?"

Dancing machines!