IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

This week we have been adding to our physically fit classroom.  On Monday we started yoga in our class.  We do this after recess before we start Writer’s Workshop to calm ourselves and get ready to write.  The kids really love this!  Here are a few pictures of them “finding their breath.”  We have been practicing breathing deeply to calm as we begin.

While yoga is so great we have even more good news!!  As many of you have noticed, the kids have been bringing home A to Z Readers.  These are the little white paper books that are leveled readers.  Every six days (we have six groups) I meet with the students and work with them on a book that is at their exact reading level.  They then get to take it home to practice and keep!  We are in our first rotation and the kids are really excited about them!  Please help them by reading the books at home.  The more successful they feel the more excited they will be about reading!

Yesterday we started new literacy stations, and the last two days have been great with them!  We are making name graphs with our names.  We have to sort them by first letter, and then if the group gets done with that the children have to sort the names by the last letter of the name.  We are designing posters for our puppet shows.  We are taking a clipboard cruise and writing the words we see in our classroom.  We are seeking out objects out of a brown paper bag and then we are writing the first letter we hear or the whole word.  We are creating sentences by filling in our friends’ names within the sentence.  The last group is a station working with me…:)

The children have done such a nice job on these stations so I am excited to continue to do them each day!

Another exciting thing we did today was yoga!  The children at first were like, “What are we doing Mrs. Bucher”, but then they got into especially when we were doing the Tree Pose.  🙂

Talking with Mrs. Grotojan about how friends made successful helicoptors.

Fly, helicoptor, fly!

Every Thursday, our class gets a chance to work with Mrs. Grotojan in the Big Studio. The Big Studio has a large number of materials and resources different than the studio in our classroom and the kids always love going for a visit. Today, Mrs. Grotojan and the kids made helicoptors and tested them. They practiced measuring where to make their special cut with a ruler and weighted them with one, two, or three paperclips. Some friends’ helicoptors flew, some seemed to glide through the air, and some didn’t seen to fly at all!  During our discussion, we talked about why we supposed the helicoptors did the things they did and what changes we could make.

Today was quite the day!  Our puppeteer, Miss Debbi, came into school today, and she showed us a few different kinds of puppets including Trent.  Our friends loved talking to Trent and was definitely a highlight of our time with Miss Debbi.  We all made some puppets (with a moveable arm) and then did a little performance while Miss Debbi played some music.   Thank you to the families that came in to enjoy this experience with us as well as help our friends with creating their puppets.  It was really nice to see you all there.

Another exciting part of today was that today was the first day we had our Butler students in our class.  Mr. Henderson, Miss Lauren, Miss Jessica, and Miss Jeffrey came into our room for the entire day today, and the children just adored them!  They will be in our class every Wednesday (and occasionally on Monday) so I am sure that you will here about them.

Remember that tomorrow night at 6pm is our first Lab School Parent Meeting.  We will be meeting to discuss what we want our Parent group to look like in our school.   There is no childcare available so if you need to bring your child please provide a book or quiet activity that they can do while we meet.

A closer look at a puppet Madeline P. created!

Our friends working hard creating their puppets!

Trent!

Tevona, Makayla, and Saa sharing their puppets.

Today was an exciting day in our classroom!  Our four Butler friends came!  They will be with us on most Wednesdays and some Mondays. It is such a wonderful opportunity because the kids get even more support than a normal day.  It was a great day of small group work and one on one work.  We are very excited to have Miss Adams, Mr. Ward, Miss Goshert, and Miss Sjoerdsma in our classroom.  Here are a few pictures of them working with the students today.

Miss Adams is working with a group during Literacy Stations

Miss Sjoerdsma is working with the "Write the Room" group during literacy stations.

Mr. Ward and Miss Goshert are guiding our students along at the computers.

Mr. Ward is once again guiding a few students at the computers.