IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Word study is now a constant part of our daily agenda. This is a time for students to play with letters, sounds, and words. Sometimes we do whole group word study. Other times students work independently or in pairs. Yesterday for word study, I wrote the name of one of our friends on the board. I then asked to students to go out in pairs and write down words that they could make using the letter in that name. After about five minutes, they came back and shared. Then, we came up with a few more words together.

Friends came up with eight words you can spell using the letters in Faith’s name.

This would be a really fun activity to do at home with your child. You could even write a word down on paper, and have them cut out the letters so that they could move the letters around and really build the words.

Later in the day, Spencer and Abel made math posters for us. The day before, these two friends had illustrated math strategies in their math notebooks in a very clear way. I then asked them to make a poster out of that strategy, so that I could hang it up for all friends to see and use for future problem solving. As they year continues, we will continue to add math strategies to our math board. So far, we have uni-fix cubes, tally marks, and a number line.

Abel works on his poster showing how to use tally marks.

At the end of the day, Mrs. Williams taught us how to be in control of our breathing. Each student received a cotton ball. They were told to put it on the palm of their flat hand and then try to blow the cotton ball to the very tip of their fingers. If it fell off, they had to start over. This was a great activity, even for adults. Later, students had to sit at one end of their yoga mat and try to blow their cotton ball all the way to the other end! Kids had a great time with this activity, and it is sure to lead to better breathing for yoga in the days to come.

Ben takes a deep breath and tries to blow his cotton ball all the way to the end of his yoga mat.

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