IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

This morning, our daily question was, “After break, would you like to have an author celebration?”

To our delight, 100% of our class answered YES! I haden’t planned on discussing the details during Story Workshop, but BreAnna had a great suggestion, “Lets come up with a team of people who can talk about what needs to be done!” Friends got so excited during this time that we decided we had to talk about our celebration then and there. Per BreAnna’s suggestion, we made a list of all the possibilities we would like to include for our Author Celebration.

Some of the suggestions were:

Invite families!

Have friends share their books on a stage

Have it after January 7 (Bea said, “We can’t have it on the 1st, we won’t be there!)

Have treats

Create a whole class book to share

The kids enthusiasm is CONTAGEOUS- and I love that they are making this event their own. One of the many great parts of being at The Lab School.

It was a wonderful, peaceful, and happy day today. This morning, we learned two new sight words, come and from, and we had a blast creating new jingles to help us remember them. The one for come is really beautiful, have your child sing it to you! I love how our class has been collaborating on creating music together for our sight words- it seems to fit so well with our Listening/Sound project!

This week, we are also examining different holidays that are celebrated around this time of year. Today, we learned about the traditions of Hanukkah and compared and contrasted them to traditions we know for Christmas. We had a great discussion about whether it was OK or not for people to celebrate different holidays (we decided it was, because “Everyone can be different”- BreAnna). We also read a story about a child who celebrated both of those holidays, which we also decided was ok (“Another different thing, an ok thing!”- Makenzi). We look forward to delving into more traditions as the week goes on.

Tags: collaboration, curious, differences, holidays, music, project, sound, traditions

Today was Mr. Henderson’s last day! We threw him a little party, with cards, gifts, and some treats. We also drew portraits of him which were awesome. We will definately miss him.

There were many other great parts to our day as well… we read the Polar Express and the kids had quite the surprise when they went to put on their coats for recess- bells were inside their pockets! It remains a mystery who put them inside and everyone was so excited about them. It was truly a great day. Your children are the best.

Addie’s Ear Book

Today we had something exciting happen- a friend finished a final draft! Addie and I worked together for several days to figure out exactly how she wanted her book published and what the final details would be. This is a story Addie has been working on for two weeks now, during our unit on critique, revision, final drafts, and sharing sound stories. After finalizing her published copy, I asked Addie where we could display the book in our classroom, as an example of exemplary work. Immediately, Addie took her book to our classroom library, found an open shelf, and placed it on a display easel. Addie exuded excitement, pride, and confidence as she did this. As Addie walked back from placing her book, she was surrounded by a chorous of “Good job, Addie!” and high-fives. Such a proud moment for our entire class.

As you may know, we have been working quite a bit on peer critique and feedback. Often, when a student wants to make their writing better, they grab a critique sheet and ask a friend to listen to their story and add suggestions. This week, we are taking it a step further. We have slowly been introducing criteria for creating a final draft. If a student chooses to make a final draft, they are encouraged to use our “Am I Ready For a Final Draft?” checklist. This checklist includes things such as making sure there is detail in the words and pictures, the story makes sense with a beginning, middle, and ending, and making sure that it is beautiful work that the author is proud of. It is not an expectation that students will always publish/make a final draft of their books, rather they will choose this only for stories they have a special connection to and feel strongly about. I feel so proud that our class has taken such an interest in such an important life skill!

Tags: story workshop, writing