IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today is the day we finally figured out how long the whale shark is!

Thanks to the help of a couple friends who brought in measuring tapes today, we were able to measure the length of our pipe line. At the end of free choice time, all the students had a seat by our string of pipes, next to the wall. We investigated the measuring tapes and found out where the inches lines and feet lines were. After we had an understanding of our tool, we began to measure. Unfortunately, our measuring tape ran out when it reached twelve feet. Not to worry though, because we had a second twelve foot measuring tape. When this one ended, I asked the students how far we had measured so far if we had gone twelve feet and then twelve more feet. One student informed me that we had measured twenty-four feet of our pipe line. At the point, we were out of measuring tapes, so I asked the students how they thought we should measure the remaining pipes. Spencer told me that we could use the ruler now, so I got out a basket of rulers and laid them end to end until we reached the end of string of pipes. The students had been counting with me and we found out that our string of pipes was only thirty-one feet long. We continued to lay the rulers down, counting from thirty-one up to forty. By the time we reached forty feet, our rulers had made there way into the hallway and the kids were ecstatic! Who knew a whale shark could be so long! The students helped me lay duct tape down next to our pipes and rulers so that we could have a more permanent representation of our whale shark’s length. Needless to say, the kids were excited to have finally reached our goal of measuring the whale shark. There excitement spilled over into all the other ideas they had of what we should do next with our shark project! Now we’re thinking we need to begin some shark journals for all of our research, and I was told I need to contact a shark specialist to come and talk to us about sharks too! I’ll keep you updated! It’s sure to be great!

Our whole class sits along the length of our whale shark. Tyrese is standing at the very end to show how far the tape goes!

We have been taking yoga since the beginning of the year! So far, we have learned the sun salutation, a series of connected poses, along with breathing and meditation techniques. Each day we have yoga time with Mrs. Williams, we get better at the vinyasa (flow) of the poses and the meditation time! Practicing yoga helps us to calm our mind and bodies and enables us to have a successful end to our day. Ask your child to show you their favorite yoga pose. For a lot of students this may be guard dog or playful dog!

Students doing child’s pose.

Students doing downward dog.

Today, we took our observational drawings and created wire sculptures from them. We practiced paying close attention to detail in our wire, just as we did in our drawings. The results are incredible! The conversations we had were also very neat as the kids discussed the carious body parts of the dinosaurs.

Conversation 1

What was this part for? Hmm, maybe he whacked predators with it! Regan

This part? Its his sail. I think its just to like show the predators that you have to be quiet and he shakes it and all the other dinosaurs be quiet. Sascha

If I was a T-Rex, I would be scared of it! Regan

Conversation 2

I can turn this into a big head! Its the same as the dinosaur! Ayden

I made his head big too. I made this big head and this pink stuff so he will be protected. I made twisties so he has bones. Beatrice

This will be his big crest. I think it was to bump away other predators and break their bones. Dylan

His head had like rocks on it so he could bump into other dinosaurs. Like his friends. Beatrice

They’re not rocks, just bumpy things! Dylan

Here’s his crest! Hutton

I’m trying to make his body just like my picture! Jackson

Tags: creativity, dinosaurs, project, sculpture

Today was our second Wednesday with our new Butler friends! Mr. Davidson, Miss Head, Miss McDonald, and Miss Hurt will be with us every week for a full day until December. Their tasks will include working with small groups of children and individual children and trying out teaching experiences such as leading guided reading groups and reading aloud of the students. They are very popular amongst our class and have already made a positive impact in our school day!

Miss Hurt working with Kaelina during story workshop.

Miss McDonald working with Griffin during story workshop.

Mr. Davidson working its DaMauryon during story workshop.

Over the past few days the kids have had a chance to create their own games with boards and pieces that are set out in the morning time.  They have large interest in games and we want to continue with this to develop it into our first class project.  Mr. Ward & and I were so impressed!  Here are a few pictures and game descriptions from the past few days.

Raki, Selam, and Kayla playing King Gal.

“First all of the pieces go right here.  She is trying to get as many kings as she can.  There are so many levels.  After you get a boss, you get a bosser.  When everyone gets a bosser then you can start taking everyone’s pieces.  When you have a bosser and take everyone’s pieces you win.”

Avelyn and Ruth playing Fruity Jump.

“One person is a fruit or duck.  When someone is next to you they need to jump you, but that’s a good thing because you need to get around and the 1st person to get around is the winner.  If you jump it gives you a extra space.  It’s all about luck.  It’s all about the dice and luck because you have to get the right number.”

Ruth, Oliver, Miles, Andrew, and Jonah playing Animal Tracking.

“You start at you blue, yellow, red, or green dot.  Whatever color you start with you have to go left.  If you get to your arrow and it’s too many numbers you have to go back all the way back to start.  If you land directly on your arrow you win.  If you land on a black dot you get an extra animal which helps you win.  You move by rolling a yellow or red dice.  If you want low numbers you roll the red dice.  If you want higher numbers you roll the yellow dice.”