IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

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

This week, it is our responsibility to be chicken and garden stewards! We went outside and to our delight, there were 6 eggs to collect from our girls. After we fed the chickens, we took a look at the garden and noticed all the changes from the beginning of the year. We noticed many of the plants have gone to bolt (have flowered) and are about done producing. We noticed some plants still need to be harvested and may need a little more time (peppers!). We talked about what needs to be done this week to take care of the garden. Some suggestions were:

weeding

pulling out bolted plants

watering

making pesto from basil

We plan to act on this list tomorrow. The garden is such a wonderful space for us. We are so lucky to have it. 🙂

Tags: chickens, curious, garden, responsible

Tags: capable, dinosaurs, project

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, we did observational drawings of dinosaurs in preperation for creating sculptures. We discussed the importance of paying close attention to the details in our subject. Later this week, we will revisit our drawings and use them as our plan for our sculptures.

Tags: dinosaurs, observation, project