IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Friends enjoy the dollhouse.

Today, our friends were greeted this morning by yet another new material- a dollhouse. It was neat to see that most of the children spent at least some of their morning arrival or free choice time with the new material. They took turns playing with different characters, creating an assortment of scenarios for their dolls, and practiced negotiating with one another who would play next.

Regan and Cameron learn a new math game with a clock!

Aidan, Lucas, and Da’Sean play The Very Hungry Caterpillar on our “stage”.

 

Tags: friendship

Monica, Da'Sean and Aidan tap dance on the platform.

This morning when the kids came in, they were greeted by a transformed classroom. They found many pieces of furniture and materials re-arranged, learning spaces re-defined, and some new materials to explore with. One of the biggest changes was to our class built airplane. After much class debate and discussion, we have taken a portion of the airplane to remain in the classroom indefinitely, made it smaller, and changed its location. It can still have friends work inside it during all workshops and play and relax during studio and explore. Inside are bean bags that the kids loved trying out all day. We have also re-arranged our whole group meeting area and added some new seating (logs) that they kids can enjoy while we have our whole group meeting times. The new arrangement allows for some more space and a different aesthetic feel to the room! Our studio space has also been re-defined. The kids were so excited to see a large, blue platform in the space where the studio table once stood. “What is this, Mrs. Argus?” Monica and Da’Sean asked. I asked our friends back, “What could it be?” Friends began dancing on it and immediately labeled it a stage. Then different friends came over, Michael and Aidan, and transformed it into a mini airplane. They pretended to fly on it. Lucas, Zek and Tajanaye came over a little later and Lucas exclaimed, “Its a flying carpet!” They sat and “flew” together and laughed and laughed. Later on in the day, Ruth and Regan showed a large group of friends magic tricks they could perform on the platform. I love the new dimension of art that this “stage” brings to our studio space. Art is not only of the visual arts kind!  

An airplane ride.

A magic carpet ride.

Tags: art, collaboration, creativity, inspiration

Kaitlyn offers Aidan his preference on marker color choice for our new game. FRIENDSHIP!

Jenesis works on the new game.

As you may know, have been investigating measurement during Math Workshop. To continue practicing measurement with a ruler, Miss Schmidt invented a new game that the kids absolutely love. Here are some pictures of our friends working together on the new game.

Tags: arithmetic, friendship, problem solving

Miss Estridge celebrating the achievements of a lunch agreement follower!

Over the past few weeks, our class has been brainstorming ways for us to make a more peaceful lunch. One day right before winter break, we came to the conclusion we needed lunch agreements to guide us and our peers in a successful lunch time. As a class, we drafted five agreements and then asked our fellow classes for suggestions. Each friend in our class had a chance to present the agreements to the other classes and field questions and comments regarding them. We were met with overwhelming support from our peers and created draft posters with our five agreements on them.

1. Eat your food.

2. Talk in a whisper (soft voice)

3. Listen to all teachers

4. Stay in  your seat.

5. Be peaceful (kind and calm)

Each day at the end of lunch, the teachers on lunch duty have taken time to acknowledge friends from all the classes that are following these lunch agreements. They have been met with celebration from their friends and much applause. It has been a powerful experience to see the kids start to hold one another accountable for a more enjoyable lunch experience. I even had a friend (who shall remain anonymous 🙂 ) say, “Boy my family could use some lunch agreements!”

Friendly conversation!

Tags: friendship

Miss Robinson helps Ruth try a new technique for her trading card.

Regan experiments with the ruler.

This week during math, we have practiced measuring things in many different ways. We began measuring items around our room with our own hands and then compared results with our friends. We’ve had several conversations about why the results were sometimes different. After investigating the different techniques of measurement, items measured, and then eventually one another’s hands, our friends decided that results were not consistent because people’s hands are different sizes, thus, different results! After our discovery that non-standard measurement can be inconsistent, we worked with a manipulative called the inch worms (you might remember we measured our 24 foot airplane with these) and measured different items around the room with inches in this way. Today, Miss Schmidt and I introduced the ruler to our group. We began by letting the kids investigate and experiment with the ruler. What did they notice? What markings are on the ruler? Is it the same size as anything around you? Tajanaye noticed something very powerful- “It matches the inch worms. I can line then up like this!” Tajanaye then lined up 12 inch worms next to the 12 inch ruler. The kids all looked in amazement- the ruler is made up of inches, 12 inches to be in fact! Ruth then brought up the fact that the other side of the ruler had different markings than the inch side (which had the numbers 1-12 to indicate each inch) and Ruth observed that these numbers went up to 30. She suggested that they looked awfully close to half inches. She also noted that, “No matter which way you look at it, both sides are still equal to 12 inches!” What a fabulous observation.

Tags: arithmetic, friendship, problem solving, think