IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today was our best day yet in Kindergarten/1st Grade! We continued to talk about our classroom agreements, established a good choices jar, and became mathematicians when we did a sink or float experiment with foil boats. For our good choice jar, we filled a jar up with marbles and stones. Whenever I see that ALL of my friends are working together to make good choices (such as lining up quickly and quietly, coming to the rug without talking and efficiently finding a seat, or being good listeners when someone is talking,) we get to take a stone out of the jar. When all the stones are gone, our class voted to have an ice-cream sundae party! I see a lot of good choices in our future!

All friends counted together as we figured out how many pennies our foil boats could hold before sinking.

Good evening!

Today, we spoke about respect, and we made a Respect Is…class book.  We also started a Respect Jar where once we get the jar full by doing respectful things in class, we will go to the big playground.  Our friends are SO excited about this venture so I think it will not take long before we fill it up!

Also today, our class went into the Studio as a whole class for the first time.  They got to explore various things in Mrs. Grotjan’s space, and they really enjoyed it!  Here are some pictures to show you of their fun!

Madeline P. adding some wire to her picture.

DeOnna, Tevona, Cha'kyra, and Mekhi enjoying the sand table!

Today we worked together in our math groups to answer the question, “Will it sink or float?”  The kids all had a chance to make their own boats out of foil.  Once they were made, they had to add coins into the boat until it sank.  One student had ten coins before it floated!  Here are a few pictures from our fun.

Ruth and the one hundred squares

During arrival each morning, the children are given several options for what to do once they come in. These options change each week and are chosen to help facilitate conversation and engagement between students. This week, the choices are building with the unifix cubes, creating designs on the geo boards, or looking at the books in our library. The kids have quickly chosen the geo boards as a favorite activity and love creating designs on them. This morning, Ruth showed me what looked like, “Like a million squares!” I asked her, “Are there really a million?” She wasn’t sure. I asked her how we could find out how many. She started counting to see how many squares went across the top. “This is going to take a long time!” She said. I suggested if we know there are ten in each row, we could count by tens to figure out our grand total. Ruth counted, “Ten, twenty, thirty, fourty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred! There’s one hundred!” All of our friends could hardly believe there were actually one hundred squares!

Aidan and Christian looking good during explore time

During our first week of school, our class worked together to create a list of classroom agreements. This week, we are revisiting these agreements and focusing on one agreement each day. Our four classroom agreements are:

1. We will treat people with care.

2. We will listen quietly when people are talking.

3. We will stay together.

4. We will be gentle with our classroom tools.

Today, we focused on agreement number two, with each child making a picture of a time when they listened quietly. We will compile these pictures to make a “Miss Estridge’s class listens quietly when people are talking,” book. Please feel free to ask your child about our classroom agreements at home.