IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today during our Friendship Circle with Mrs. Argus’ class we discussed the idea of maybe having a handshake that everyone would do each day as we enter our Friendship Circle.  Ruth, in Mrs. Argus’ class, thought that maybe combining some of the handshakes that we have already seen would be good because then we would not be leaving anyone out.  So, we combined some ideas from Selam and Tevona’s handshake and then from David and Christian’s handshake.  The children were very excited to have this new handshake so let’s see how we do on Friday when it is our first day implementing it into the Friendship Circle.

The children have been very in to the idea of painting the past week so today I brought in a book about stained glass to talk about how that is created (which also fit into our idea of How-To books).  The small group of children noticed that there were a lot of black lines that drew what the image was on the glass and then the color was filled in between the lines.  So…that small group started to do that with paper, black felt tip markers, and watercolor paint today.  We will continue to explore this idea this week, and we will see where it goes!

Some of our friends working on the new handshake for the group!

Madeline S.'s image of a house, flowers, a sun, and sky.

Shaniyia working on her stained glass painting.

So, we had indoor recess today.  When I came back from my lunch break, I walked into some of the kiddos walking into the classroom hooked together like a train and singing a song they had learned while in Mrs. Grotjan’s room.  Then, as the other friends came in to the classroom from Mrs. Argus and Miss Estridge’s rooms they just joined in the fun of the train link.  There was no instruction from me.  The children just hooked on and had a BLAST singing this song and having fun together.  It was a fun and unifying moment for our class that I had no part except being part of the train and enjoying the fun.

We began reading Charlotte’s Web today, and I cannot even tell you how engaged the children were when I read chapter 1.  I am really excited to continue to read this book as well as have engaging conversations about the content.

We read a How To book called “I Love to Paint” today.  While reading the book one of the pages talked about blot paintings.,  The children thought it was SO cool so we decided to do them during our Free Choice time.  There were some beautiful paintings that were created so I am excited to put them up in the room!

We have a new game in our room called Score Four.  It is a game where we have to try and get four of the same beads in a row to win.  Jonah, Saa, and Isaac just LOVED this game.  It took strategy and thought to try and get four beads in a row!

We had so many friends that wrote How-To books today which is what we have been talking about this week.  We had some How To Draw a Car, How to Draw a Princess, How to Draw a Kite.  They were really getting the concept of teaching someone else the steps to make something!  It was great to see!

Playing Score Four!

Mekhi and Miss Templeton working on the blot painting!

Today we started making grass gloves!  What are grass gloves you say?  Well, you take a clear glove and fill in each finger of the glove with one damp cotton ball.  Then you put some grass seeds in each finger of the glove.  We hang them up on the window and hopefully watch the grass grow!

The friends really were interested in doing these grass gloves so we will see what happens and if anything grows!

Oliver measuring some items while we talk about labeling "inches" after we measure something

Malachi working on the grass gloves

Today, Mr. Nored, had his first day with us, and let me tell you he just fit right into our little family!  The kiddos just loved having him there so I am excited for what is to come next with him being in our class now.

So, the past week we have been measuring items around us with various tools (hands, feet, inchworms, and rulers).  This week we are still exploring measuring but looking more closely at rulers (inches inparticular).  Today, we measured the leaves of our plants we planted last week.  We predicted how many inches we think the leaves will grow by next week when we measure them again.  Jamari said, “It’s gonna be 8 inches.”  Jonah said, “I think it will grow 2 inches.”  We will see next week how much more it grew…if it grows. 🙂

Some friends working together to measure and graph our measurement of our plant.

Mr. Nored playing Jenga with some friends as they come into class this morning!