IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

We have been talking a lot about good partner work.  What does good partner work look like and sound like? The children have been working together in both reader’s workshop and math workshop.  They shared that good partner work means:

De’Onna: “niceness”

Daysia: ‘having fun working with your partner”

Himiko: “talking nicely to your partner”

David: “learning from your partner so they can help you learn more”

Today we experienced partner work during a new time of the day. . .YOGA! It was so exciting to see the collaboration and cooperation that happened throughout the room.  Mrs. Williams and I were impressed with their first day of partner work and we are excited to see how they continue to grow as they work together!

From this fall’s Butler friends, hello! We’ve started off the semester learning about different kinds of assessment, experiencing components of the Reggio Emilia approach, and getting our first look inside the classrooms. Assessment-wise, we are fast becoming rather assessment wise. Through observations, we are starting to understand the teacher-side (particularly teacher language) of performing effective and appropriate assessments like “running records” and “concepts about print.” From there, we are diving into the unique Reggio Emilia style hands first. Just yesterday, we were discussing (and playing with, of course) clay, wire, and their versatility as teaching tools. For the last three weeks, we have spent our Wednesdays in the classrooms, where we conference with students, track specific students’ growth through our own assessments, and do whatever else the teachers would like us to do. Going forward, we will soon be creating provocations or “things” intentionally placed in our rooms to “provoke” and “invite” students’ attention and questions. For example, Ms. Cegielski’s students want to be more like scientists. So, the future-scientists’ provocation will be magnifying glasses and different objects to examine with their new science tool. We are super excited and can’t wait to see how the semester unfolds!
Written by Katie Rimmel and Chelsea Carroll

Monday we introduced a microphone to our weather map, and the children have really jumped at the chance to use that to help with their weather reports. It has been fun to see them so engaged in this weather reporting! Some friends have really been interested in getting front of the camera while other friends have wanted to film the report!

I really look forward to meeting with you all tomorrow!

Also just as a reminder we have our first Lab Collab (parent) meeting this Thursday from 6-7. Hope to see you there!!

Today, we put our plan into action- we cleaned up the garden! We put our gardening gloves on and talked about the difference between weeds and plants and went to it. Old plants were put into the compost bin to rot and become fresh organic matter and soil that will help our garden grow next year. Friends loved getting their hands dirty and doing some hard work! Mr. Henderson and I are finding that our class has a special interest in our outdoor space- just like last year! This is interesting because gardening was one of our large class project. We are wondering if the children will become more and more interested and this profound affection for the garden will develop into something more…

At recess today, the kids continued discussion about living things in the garden and dug up worms! Many, many friends, including ones that are not in our class, were enthralled with the idea of finding worms and placing them in the “worm hotel”. Some friends from last year even shared that they knew that worms could be beneficial to our garden.

Tags: capable, garden, inspiration, responsible

Today, with the help of our Butler friends, we did a couple activities today during math workshop focused on making ten! Some students used playing cards to play a game called “Make 10 Memory.”. This game involves turning number cards ace-9 face down between two people. When it is your turn, a player can flip over two card, add them together, and see if they get 10. If they do, they keep the cards. If not, they put them back and it is their opponent’s turn. Everyone loved the game and did a great job transferring their knowledge to make a chart of all the number combinations that add to get 10. This is a great game to play at home, so ask your child to teach you the rules!