IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

This morning, our friends were happy to see a new teacher had joined us- Mr. Henderson! Mr. Henderson is our student teacher from Butler University. He will be with us the entire semester. We are so happy to have him.

Our friends were introduced to a new material this week for storytelling- collage. Earlier this week, we experimented with different colored paper to create pictures. Today, we experimented with various found objects to create stories. The kids loved telling stories this way. We look forward to seeing what stories their collages tell tomorrow!

Sascha creates words with the new material.

Each day at the end of Story Workshop, we have share time. Sometimes, friends are asked to act out their story, sometimes they read from a book they have written in. Friends are usually invited to share if they have done something that our other friends can learn from or they have been working particularly hard on a piece. Today, Ayden and J’Den were invited to share. Each boy took their turn sitting in our rocking chair and reading their story aloud to our friends. After the story, the author can call on two friends to give compliments or suggestions (if the story isn’t finished and the author would like some). We are practicing giving authentic compliments that are specific. Practice giving compliments at home- it feels good!

J’Den reads his story about the carnival he went to on Friday.

Evey morning, we have share time as part of our morning meeting. This morning started with sharing about the State Fair and family outings. Then a friend called on Regan to share, and she said something a little different.

“I think we should have, like jobs.”

After hearing a chorus of “yeahs!” We delved a little deeper to find out what exactly Regan meant by jobs. She shared that our class had jobs last year and she would like to see that continued. I then presented the kids with a question, “Well why do we need jobs?” Friends expressed the desire to keep our room tidier and assist in caring for the room. Then Sascha brought up an interesting math problem. She said, “Well we have more kids than last year, so we will need to have more kids doing each job. Last year we had 20 kids doing a job and it was 2 kids for a job. This year, we may need to do like 3 kids for a job, because we have more than 20.” Messi suggested something else, “Well what if some jobs had 2 people, and some had 3, and some had 2, and some had 3?” Bea shouted, “Like a pattern?!” Then another friend brought up another point. Tajanaye said, “Well what if we don’t want to do jobs everyday? Like just some days?” This led us to a discussion about whether or not jobs should be done every day or on rotating days. Friends took turns sharing their opinion and mentioned when they supported one another’s ideas. After a while of sharing opinions, Jo’Vyon suggested something- “We should take a survey.” With Jo’Vyon’s suggestion, we decided to vote on whether or not we would have jobs every day or on rotating days. By a little bit, we decide on having jobs every day. Later on, we revisited our conversation about jobs. It goes as follows.

Why should we have jobs? Mrs Argus

Because its like grownups jobs. Beatrice

So our room will look more tidy. Lucas

The people that clean want it to look nice. My grandma has a job. Tajanaye

My dad works at Fishers High School. Maria

My mom is a lawyer and gets people outta jail. Miles

My dad works on cars and fixes them and gets paid. BreAnna

My mommy works at a food place and a doctor place. Amiah

My grandma works at IPS, she helps people learn. J’Den

My mom is a doctor and helps kids, too. Beatrice

My dad is going back to college to be a nurse. Lucas

My dad, he works at Angie’s list! Dylan

My mommy is a nurse. Messi

Our conversation could have kept going, the kids were so enthusiastic to share about loved ones that they knew with jobs. I am wondering if Regan’s simple idea could turn into a larger investigation on jobs and their purpose… tune back to see!

Tags: collaboration, creative, inspiration, responsible