IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today was an exciting day! First we learned that we will have 1 new friend join our class on Monday (now it is up to 3 new friends) so we were talking about how supportive and welcoming we will be to the new friend(s) we will see on Monday. The children were being so sweet and saying how they were going to play with the new friend, Sarah!

Then we were outside during recess and Renna ran up to me to tell me that there was a butterfly that had been hurt and was now on the ground. I went over there and Zakeyah quickly asked if we could make it a home to make it stronger! A crowd began to form around this butterfly,and I quickly saw this as an opportunity to put into action what we had talked about this morning-being supportive and nurturing to this new pet of ours.

We took it in and every child had so many ideas about how we could nurture this butterfly and fix it! A fabulous conversation took place where we talked about what kind of home we were going to give it-examples where building it out of wood,borrowing a mesh butterfly home,volunteering family members to build it.

After we talked about the home, I asked our friends why we were doing it, and Maggie said, “to make it feel good.” Heaven then asked, “What is its name?” Again, a flurry of activity began as children were naming many names like Fluffy, Lei Lei, Ashu, Leah, Speeder, Crystal and more. At the end of the day we all took a vote and the name of our butterfly is….CRYSTAL SPEEDER!!

This experience is project work at its best..something provokes an interest, passion, emotional connection where it drives the children to think deeply, collaborate thoughtfully,and discuss intensely!

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