IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today was quite an exciting day!  As a group, we discussed that we needed to begin planning out our puppet stage so over the weekend I printed out some pictures of possible puppet stage layouts.  We voted on which one we are going to do this morning, and then over our project work time some of the children helped me lay out our pieces of wood to match the layout that won the most votes.  The children then labeled each part of the stage.

Towards the end of the day, Mr. Nunn (one of the preschool teachers), and three of his friends came into our room to talk about tool safety and show us how to use his tools (which we will be using during the rest of the week while building).  The children were excited for the prospect of using tools so I think they will be quite excited to start building!

Madeline's label she put on the "bottom" of the stage.

The beginning of our puppet stage!

Some of our friends helping carry the wood over to its spot.

Mr. Nunn and some friends showing us how to use the drill.

Today Isaac brought in an airplane book and shared with the class some of his paper to make some special airplanes.  H

We celebrated Heaven and DeOnna’s birthdays today by making cupcakes for the class!  Thank you to DeOnna’s family and Heaven’s family for helping bake the delicious cupcakes!

Last night we had a wonderful first Family Night!  Each family made a wire sculpture representing their child, and then we shared what each other made.  It was so nice to be able to spend some time seeing you all work and share together!

Have a good weekend!!

After watching the puppeteer on the video make puppets on Monday, the children were so enthusiastic about making one of the puppets they saw on the video.  Today, we made the snake puppet!  The children were so excited to make the puppets and were so engaged during the process!  They had to dry, but we will be sending them home tomorrow!

We had our first experience at the school library today, and the children did amazing!  They did such a nice job of respecting the librarian, Ms. Dennis, and were so excited to check out a book.  The books have to stay at school, but we will be ensuring that the children can read their books they chose throughout the week until we go back next week to the library!

Heaven and Emily being supported by Miss Jeffrey while making their puppets.

Isaac and Jett working hard making the spiral for their snake puppet.

Miss Lauren and Jason working on his puppet!

Geneva working hard on her snake puppet!

Hello hello!  Yesterday we started new literacy stations, and let me tell you…the children are SO engaged in the various activities!  One station is stamping words that have to do with puppet shows.  One station is doing the clipboard cruise again, but this time they have to find words that begin with A, B, and/or C.  The children have really been searching for those words around the room.  Another station is matching upper case and lower case letters together, and then they have to write the letters.  If they get done with that then they can begin to write words or draw pictures that begin with the specific letter they are at!  Another station they will do is writing words they see in various puppet books that I have gotten from the library.  The fifth station is cutting out pictures from The Three Pigs, and then gluing it in a beginning, middle, or end box.  We have begun to talk about how stories have a beginning, middle, and end so this is a tangible way to show beginning, middle, and end using a story we are familiar with.  The last station is working with rhyming words and styrofoam cups!

I was so proud of our friends today!  They worked so hard throughout the day especially during our Writer’s Workshop and Math Workshop time!  I love seeing our friends really stretching with their thinking and learning!

Tomorrow we will be going to the library as a class for the first time…SO EXCITED!!

This weekend I found a great video created by a puppeteer.  He shared his knowlege on how to create a frog, , , lion, and a zebra.  The children LOVED this video, and some used what they learned from the video to add ne detail to their puppets.

Jamari's puppet he made after he saw what the "puppet man" did on the puppet making video!

Our friends watching the video on puppet making.