IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Tags: friendship, project

The kids have been so excited all week about meeting again in our friendship circle. During calendar today, Miss Schmidt asked some of our friends what day was today. Angela told her it was Friday and said she knew because, “It is friendship circle day!”

During friendship circle, our two classes celebrated several friends that got to add pieces of fabric to the friendship loom. They got to do this by acting like a friend throughout the week.

Sydney and Emily share a handshake with our friendship circle.

After we recognized our special friends, Mrs. Bucher, Miss Schmidt and I asked the kids about special handshakes. What handshakes had they worked on this week? Did they have any prospective ideas for our friendship circle handshake? Many pairs shared what they had worked on this week. We saw many different kinds of handshakes, including some with hand clapping, hugs, noises, and counting. Next week, we will talk about deciding on a friendship circle handshake we can do each time we meet. We are so excited to see where this time leads us!

David and Da'Sean share a cool greeting with us.

Tags: creativity, friendship, project

Lucas works hard on creating trading cards during studio and explore.

 Today during math, our friends had a challenge- find four objects to measure in the room. The twist? Measure them without rulers- use your hands! Miss Schmidt led a conversation revisiting non-standard measurement with the kids and talked about how you can measure with many different types of objects- including your own body! We practiced putting one hand in front of the other, close together, to get the most accurate measurement we could find. The kids were then given partners to work with and find objects to measure. They were then asked to compare results and think about why some answers may have been different.

Miss Schmidt and Tajanaye measure the table with their hands.

We also revisited something that the kids have worked on in the Big Studio with Mrs. Grotojan- trading cards! Trading cards are 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 blank cards that the children can decorate with various mediums to create works of art. We then have special trading days that the kids can share their work with friends and receive special pieces of art. The kids really enjoyed working on these cards during free choice times today.

Da'Sean and Kaitlyn work on trading cards.

Tags: art, friendship, problem solving

Aidan counts the friendship links. Does it match the number of pictures?

What a great day! I have to comment on how enthusiastic and well behaved the kids have been since we have been back from break. Today was no exception. Before break,  we began creating a board with pictures on it of people in our class showing friendship. There is a sign that reads, “What is friendship?” We also started keeping a chain which has descriptions of each friendship moment on it that is documented. This morning when he walked in, Aidan noticed almost immediately that there were new pictures. He and Monica talked about the new pictures. “But it they don’t match the chain, Mrs. Argus!” Aidan exclaimed. I asked him what he meant. “There are only six chains, but there’s eight pictures.” I asked Aidan how many chains with descriptions we needed to add. He counted the chains again, then the pictures. Then he looked at his hand and held out two fingers, one at a time, “Seven, eight. We need two more chains! I counted on!” Later in the day, Miss Schmidt led a discussion with our friends about both new pictures. One was Angela helping her friend Michael zip up his coat for recess. Another was friends helping assemble our unifix cubes in two groups of five, to equal ten unifix cubes-such great teamwork. We wrote a brief description of each event on a link, and added it to the chain.

David points out a new friendship picture to the class.

Our trip to Clowes Hall today was a lot of fun. The kids were excited to see Butler University and asked a lot of questions about college on the bus ride there and back. We saw the play, A Caterpillar, a Bear, and a Moonby Eric Carle which showcased many of our favorite Eric Carle characters through really neat looking black light puppets.

Carriea shares Angela's heavy load to the library.

Tags: Butler, friendship, project, relationships

This week, we are talking about non-fiction books during both Writer’s and Reader’s workshop. Our friends have loved discovering the wide range of non-fiction books in our class library, especially those about animals! Today, Miss Schmidt read the kids a book about tigers and introduced them to the table of contents and its function. Every time the kids were interested in a particular question about tigers, we referred to the table of contents to find the page that led us to the answer. They are also being encouraged to write their own non-fiction books, using resources around the room, and adding page numbers and a table of contents like the books we have learned about. During read, rest, write, and studio/explore, the kids have been very motivated to look through our books and search for tables of contents! Da’Sean found an index at the back of a book and had an opportunity to share his find with the class. We talked about the differences between a table of contents and an index, and Ruth was even able to share when she used an index to help her write her non-fiction book about dogs yesterday! Tomorrow, we go to the library and the kids are hoping to check out some non-fiction books to add to their Reader’s Workshop bags for the week. I wonder what they will pick!

Tags: Reader's Workshop, Writer's Workshop, writing