IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Regan checks out the hens!

This morning, our class excitedly went outside to check to see if Thelma, Louise, or Dottie had left us any gifts. To our disappointment, they had not laid any eggs, but our class did not give up on the girls. Later in the afternoon, we went to check again, and low and behold, we had one, beautiful brown egg! We aren’t sure which hen laid the first egg, but the class talked about  figuring out which hens lay which eggs.

The kids were also enthralled with a new provocation in our room this morning. Yesterday evening, the storm knocked down a small bird’s nest in my yard. Unable to put it back into its place, I brought it in for the kids to see. Next to it, I placed a question, “Who lived here?” The kids were encouraged to use watercolor pencils to tell the story of the nest. There were some incredible stories, I can’t wait to see what the kids come up with tomorrow.

Carriea's picture tells the story of the wind knocking down the bird's nest.

Who lived here?

Ruth, Messi, and Regan create stories about the nest.

Tags: chickens, story telling, story workshop

What an exciting day! This afternoon, two of our generous parents, Mr. Newbold and Mr. Reiberg, were generous enough to build three, 4×10 garden boxes. The boxes are beautiful and built of rot-resistant cedar. We can’t wait to plant in them on Wednesday. Remember to send your child in clothes they can get dirty for the big planting!

Zek reads our Beautiful Chickens book in ancicipation of our coop.

Jenesis finds a chicken she likes in the Beautiful Chickens book.

This morning, I was greeted by friends shouting things like “CHICKENS!” and “Do they come today?!?” Friends were so anxious to meet our new hens. This afternoon, Andrew Brake from Naptown Chickens brought us our beautiful coop and three, lovely Rhode Island Red hens: Thelma, Louise, and Dottie. We are lucky enough to have this opportunity thanks to Mandy Owens and Carly Swift, Jett and Hutton’s moms and the owners of Just Pop In! Just Pop In! was kind enough to fund this project for our school. This afternoon, each class went outside to learn a little bit about our new friends and how to care for them. The plan is to have each class share the responsibilities weekly. We also talked about some chicken rules we will need to follow to keep Thelma, Louise and Dottie safe as well as ourselves. Because we don’t want to frighten them, we will try our best to talk in a soft voice around the chickens and not touch them. We are so excited to see how much more we are going to learn about our new friends!

The girls! Meet Thelma, Louise, and Dottie.

The coop and the girls.

Maggie checks out the coop.

Tags: and Dottie, chickens, curious, garden, Louise, responsible, Thelma

Good news! We have set a date to build and plant our school garden. On Monday of next week (the 31st), several parents will be helping us assemble the boxes. We plan to do three cedar garden boxes, four feet by ten feet each. Please let me know if you would be able to help with this.  We will also need help spreading soil that day.

 We will be planting our vegetables and herbs in the boxes Wednesday, the 2nd. This will begin around 9:15. We will have help from some of our Butler friends and would love for family members to join in on the fun if they are able, too. Send me an email if you are planning on coming. I will be sending a reminder, but next Monday and Wednesday, please make sure your child is in washable play clothes and old shoes. We plan to get dirty!

Friends work together to create a Terrarium.

This morning, Sascha brought in a little plastic jar which she had captured several worms from her back yard. She shared that she had put lots of grass and leaves inside for the worms, to keep them happy. This was a great lead to our conversation about habitats today. Sascha actually created a mini habitat in that plastic jar- something we call a Terrarium. This morning after Sascha shared, we explored six different types of habitats that plants and animals live in: desert, tundra, rain forest, grassland, pond, and forest. We talked about what each habitat has in common: they all sustain life. After talking about the necesities for plants and animals, we set out to create our own mini habitats. The kids worked in pairs and small groups to plant a variety of seeds and plant cuttings and create their own Terrarium. After we were finished, Journey said something interesting.

“Mrs Argus, we don’t have any worms in our habitats.” Journey

“Why is that important?” Mrs Argus

“We need them to keep our soil healthy, and to make new good soil.” Journey

“We need worms in our habitats!” Michael

Friends loved what Journey had to say and after her comment, we each placed several worms into our Terrarium from our compost bin. What incredible thinking.

Friends work together to create Terrariums!

Cameron and Tajanaye plant their seeds.

Carriea, David, and Angela work together to assemble their habitat.

A completed Terrarium with worms inside. Later on, they all crawled to the bottom. We wondered why!

Tags: capable, collaboration, curious, garden, inspiration, project

As you may know, our class is immersed in a garden project. We have been learning about vermicomposting, seed germination and plant development, the benefits of gardening locally, how insects benefit our garden, and are starting to talk about urban farming on a larger scale. Within the next two weeks, we will be assembling some garden boxes for our school and planting some small vegetable plants we have started from seeds. We are so excited for where this project has led us, and the learning opportunities thus far have been incredible. As we get ready to plant, I wanted to ask families if they would be interested in assisting us with the task of starting our garden. Please let us know if you would be able to do any of the following:

donate plants for the school garden

come in and help build the garden boxes depending on the day

come in and help spread soil depending on the day

come in and help plant the beds depending on the day

donate gardening gloves or help find a donor for them

donate gardening tools (hoes, rakes, shovels, or trowels) or help find a donor for them

donate mulch or help find a donor for it

donate a 50 ft hose and spray nozzle or help find a donor for it

Thank you for your support with this project! We hope this garden becomes a part of our school culture and that it teaches responsibility, care for nature, and the importance of sustainability, amongst many other things! Make sure to ask your child about a special announcement that is coming on Thursday afternoon…

Compost bins

Tags: capable, collaboration, family focus, garden, responsible