IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Lately, we have been learning about Project Approach and its three phases. As a class we experienced first hand what it is like to be a part of this learning process. We started phase one simply by defining what a shape is, in our own words. We made a miniature booklet describing shapes and where we see them in our daily lives. Next we explored our own environment and studied the shapes around Butler Campus. This brought us to the transition between phase one and two, creating a web with the class. Following the creation of the web we separated into groups based on our interests. We continued our investigations through fieldwork, interviews, and experiments to further our understanding of shapes and their functions in society. Continuing on to phase three we created panels with our groups to share and celebrate amongst each other. We discovered the power a child can hold in his or her learning by being their own driving force in their exploration of inquiry. This experience was crucial to our understanding of the project approach and provided us with knowledge for our future teaching!
Written By: Leah Bry, Gabby Powell, and Ellie Pochyly

I know you have all heard, but next Tuesday we are going to The Children’s Museum to help with a mysterious leak!  We are going to use our science skills to help solve the mystery.  In preparation for this, we have been talking a lot about different science tools and terms that we will be using.  So far this week, we have talked about magnifying glasses and pipets!  These are both important tools that we will be using.  For example, we used the magnifying glasses to observe the mysterious stain that the Children’s Museum sent us.  We made predictions and connections as to what we thought it might be.

The tools are new to us, but we also added a new concept today: density.  This morning, Mr. Ward set out a jar filled with maple syrup, water, and oil and asked the kids what they noticed.   Oliver responded with, “The maple syrup is heavier so it sinks to the bottom. The water is lighter than the syrup so it’s on top and the oil is the lightest so it sits on top!”  This began a conversation about density! This is a harder topic to truly explore, but over the next few days we will be looking at density and what it means to us as scientists.

Mr. Ward is holding our jar with the maple syrup, water, and oil. Do you notice the same thing that Oliver noticed?

Today, we learned a new math game called burglar! Students are put in partners and given number sets that have 10-20 numbers. They line their numbers up in a row, then take turns turning their back and taking one of their partners numbers. Once the number has been taken, students mix their partner’s numbers up and invite them to turn back around to see what number is missing! Students loved playing the game and the excitement of figuring out which of their numbers was gone. Not only is this helping us with number recognition, but also with ordering and naming numbers. This would be an easy game to recreate at home with handmade cards or playing cards!

This was the conversation we had at the end of the day today:

(After we saw pictures of Hurricane Sandy)

Mrs. Bucher-“My friends, what did you notice in the picture or what have you noticed or heard about what happened with Hurricane Sandy?”

Jamari-“The car was under the water.”

Israel-“They lost their house.”

Mrs. Bucher-“Oh my goodness. I am so sorry you saw that Israel. You are right, though, there are people that lost their houses.

Mrs. Bucher-“What I would like you to do is close your eyes and think about if you were there in New York or New Jersey and you lost your house or you lost your car. How would you feel?”

Maggie-“I would feel lonely.”

Mrs. Bucher-“Lonely? Why would you feel lonely?”

Maggie-“Because people died.”

Mrs. Bucher-“You are right. People did die. So, yes, I would feel lonely too if someone I knew or loved died. Anybody else?”

Selah-“I would feel poor.”

Mrs. Bucher-“Why would you feel poor?”

Selah-“Because I would not have anything anymore.”

Noah H.-“I would feel scared.”

Mrs. Bucher-“Why would you feel scared?”

Noah H.-“Because I would not have my house anymore which would make me scared.”

Mrs. Bucher-“So, I hear friends saying they would be lonely, scared, poor. Now, we are safe here in our school and we are not going to get any of this weather. What about the people that have been affected. What could we do to help those people?”

(Many hands raise)

Makayla-“We could fix their houses and cars!”

Mrs. Bucher-“Makayla, I love that you want to fix their cars and houses, but here is the problem: we are here (showed Indiana on the map) and the storm devastation is here (showed New York\New Jersey area). I do not think that we can go there to help fix them. That would be quite the field trip, but I love that you are thinking about helping them. Does anyone else have an idea about how we can help?”

Heaven-“We can give them money!”

Mrs. Bucher-“We could give them money, but I do not know about you, but I do not have a lot of money..”

Selah-“Neither do I….”

Mrs. Bucher-“…so how could we get money to send to them?”

Many friends: “We could ask our moms and dads!”

Ashu: “We could send them tools (to fix their houses and cars).”

Mrs. Bucher-“Wow, my friends you are have been so thoughtful! I just wanted to say how much I appreciate how kind you have been offering so many ideas. We have to get ready to go, but we are going to talk about it tomorrow again because there are so many ideas we have yet to talk about.”

**Ahhh…this is where our conversation ended because we had to get ready to go home, but I seriously could not believe how beautiful this moment was. Everyone was being so thoughtful, generous, and kind. Our weather project is definitely taking a bit of turn based on this conversation, and how natural it is that we are changing a bit because of weather! I wanted to share with you this conversation because it was a great moment that the children showed empathy towards others.

Last week in Story Workshop, we did an author’s study of Todd Parr.  The students loved reading his books and noticing what made his books unique.  Many of them have tried his style in their own stories.  Today Sydney shared the start of her book called “The Family Book.”  She was inspired by Todd Parr and that is evident through her illustrations and the start of her story.

This morning our science provocation included a new tool called a hydrometer.  The students explored the tool and made some predictions about what it is for.  Many of them thought it had to do with temperature.  Some students noticed that it had the words “instant ocean” on the side.  They were thinking that because ocean water is saltwater the tool may have something to do with salt.  We  made connections to the note we have from the museum because many students thought the liquid on the note may have salt in it as well. We also had our first science meeting this afternoon.  The scientists learned a new song all about the scientific method.  More to come about our science discoveries this week!