IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Yesterday I introduced story stones to our classroom community. Story stones are black stones that have cut out pictures that are modge podged onto them. These story stones are a tool that the children can use if they are needing support coming up with a story idea during story workshop. Today was so much fun because we had three friends pick a stone at random, and then three other friends had to come up with a story using those stones. The three stones selected were a clock, a piece of broccoli, and …I am having trouble remembering the third. It was so funny including broccoli in the story, but it was a great example for the children to see that by using these stones stories can come alive. During Story Workshop then, a group of friends used the stones to create some great stories. I loved having discussions with them about their chosen stones and stories as well as beginning, middle, and end.

Yesterday we began playing this game called “It’s Not a Stick.” The point of the game is that the children are in a circle. One friend goes in the middle with a yard stick. We then yell “Be careful with that stick!” The friend in the middle says “It’s not a stick” and then we ask “Then what is it?” The child in the middle then proceeds to pretend to do something or act out something with the stick, and we have to guess what the stick it! The children have really enjoyed playing this game, and they have come up with some pretty creative ideas for what the stick could be.

Joseph is writing down his skateboard story after he built it out of blocks.

Today, in Story Workshop, we added blank books as one of the choices for the kids to use.  As a class we talked about how they could create their stories using materials and then write down the story or how they could create a little and then write a little.  The goal with introducing the blank books later was for the kids to see how powerful the materials can be alone and how they can help add to the original stories.  It was great to see how many of the students chose to write while they were creating!  They wanted to remember their story!

Story Workshop is something that I am really excited about this year as a teacher.  In the past, we have has Writer’s Workshop for our writing.  While the two workshops are very similar, in my opinion, Story Workshop allows for even more creativity.  The kids are able to use manipulatives and materials to act out, paint, sculpt, or even draw before they put the story all together.  In the past, they were limited to paper, and writing materials such as crayons, pencils, pens, and markers.  With Story Workshop, they are going to be able to use clay, collage, blocks, natural materials, watercolors, oil pastels, and even more!     These materials can help the kids add more details to their stories! It adds a deeper level to their creations.  It is almost as if they are creating their first “draft” when they are using the manipulatives.  I am looking forward to seeing where Story Workshop takes us this year!

Today we explored a lot of new ideas during school. We talked about\learned about so much that I am going to stretch out the ideas over the next few days; otherwise, this blog entry would be so long!

Math Workshop, we explored a couple of new tools that we could use to solve math problems. One of those tools was the bead string. This bead string is made up of 5 red beads, 5 white beads, 5 red beads, and 5 white beads. We discussed first what we noticed about them,and they said things like: it was a pattern both by color and by number. Then the children had some great ideas of how to use the bead string to solve problems. I gave 2 plus 2 as one problem, and Malachi suggested that I slide over two beads, then slide over two more beads and then count how many are altogether. We did it together and it really seemed to help picture the problem. Selah mentioned how much she loved doing math using the bead strings so I am excited to see if the children will really use it as a tool!

I taped down a big rectangle that had 10 squares in it. I then asked a five friends to get inside the squares. I then posed the question “How many people are in the frame?” Maggie said 5 and I asked her how she knew that. Maggie said that she knew two plus two is four so she needed to add one more which would be five. Isaac said he counted each person inside of his head. I discussed with the children that it is important that we discuss the why when we get an answer so that we can see that we have a true understanding of math concepts. It was a great discussion that we had, and I look forward to seeing them continue to construct and respect how various strategies can get to the same result or even different results.

Wow what a great day we had! I wanted to share a little bit about Math Workshop today and how it will work in the future. Today during Math Workshop, we looked at a few addition story problems that I had projected up on the big screen. We read them as a class and talked about what exactly they meant. Friends took turns modeling the stories with three different  manipulatives they were invited to use. After we practiced a few together, I challenged the kids to try it on their own. I read another story to them from the screen and they were invited to find a manipulative that they were comfortable working with. By their own choosing, the kids sat in little groups together around their selected material and many talked through their problems and thinking with one another. It was really neat to watch this happen naturally. Many friends even chose to work with the number set, a higher set of numbers that can be inserted into the problem. Eventually, I will be adding several number sets to choose from and we will discuss what a “Just Right” number set may be for each friend. During Math Workshop, the kids will always be encouraged to share their thinking with one another. It helps them think through their own process and also may help come to an understanding they did not have before. Listening and supporting one another during workshops also help build our classroom community. We plan on problem solving like this for the rest of the week. Gradually, friends will begin to have the problem typed in their math notebook and will be invited to show their thinking in their notebook after using manipulatives (or use the notebook as a manipulative by drawing pictures).

Tags: arithmetic, capable, collaboration

Today we began using clay in story workshop. I introduced clay last week to a handful of students during free choice time. Ellie, Davi, and Jaeda all became clay experts for our classroom.

Today was the first day that we used clay to tell stories though. Olivia created a story about her cat and her grandma’s dog at a family reunion. Olivia was then chosen to share her story during the sharing portion of our story workshop. Students listened quietly as she told her tale. I’m sure other students will continue to explore the power of clay within story workshop in the future!

Olivia tells her cat/dog/reunion story.

Ellie told a story using play-doh that involved a snowman:

“One time I heard the snow falling. I woke up and went and woke up my mom. We put on our coats and we went outside. We saw and snowman. I touched him and he melted. I tasted him and he tasted like juice, so I drank him up. Then end!”

Ellie shares her snowman story.

I can’t want to see what creative stories our students continue to tell through out the year!