IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Last week in Story Workshop, we did an author’s study of Todd Parr.  The students loved reading his books and noticing what made his books unique.  Many of them have tried his style in their own stories.  Today Sydney shared the start of her book called “The Family Book.”  She was inspired by Todd Parr and that is evident through her illustrations and the start of her story.

This morning our science provocation included a new tool called a hydrometer.  The students explored the tool and made some predictions about what it is for.  Many of them thought it had to do with temperature.  Some students noticed that it had the words “instant ocean” on the side.  They were thinking that because ocean water is saltwater the tool may have something to do with salt.  We  made connections to the note we have from the museum because many students thought the liquid on the note may have salt in it as well. We also had our first science meeting this afternoon.  The scientists learned a new song all about the scientific method.  More to come about our science discoveries this week!

I’m sure you have heard a lot about our upcoming trip to the Children’s Museum.  The museum staff sent us a letter asking for our help to figure out which museum exhibit has a leak.  They also sent us a note that has some of the liquid from the leak on it.  During morning meeting the students received Curious Scientific Investigators Journals.  They decided that we needed to observe the note with the stain on it because that is something that scientists do first.  The students used magnifying glasses to look closely at the stain and then they drew and wrote in their journals.  They already have many theories about what the stain is and how to figure out where the leak is happening.  Many friends think that the water has some kind of salt or glue in it because the stain on the note is bumpy.  We also decided that we need to learn more about water before we go on the trip because that will help us solve the mystery!

Today our daily question was “Do you think we should have science meetings to get ready for our field trip?”  Most of the students answered yes to the question! They are excited to start preparing to solve the mystery of the leak at the Children’s Museum.  This morning we practiced using pipettes during our science investigation: “How many drops of water can fit on a penny?”  During morning meeting, the students shared their results and we realized that we got a lot of different answers.  Here is a part of our conversation:

Cameron: “I got nine drops on heads and 10 drops on tails.”  Isabella: “I got 17 and 18 drops.”  Jermaine: “I got 20 drops.”

I then asked the students why they thought our results were so different.

Himiko: “It could be different amounts of water because we have two different pipettes.”

Chairo: “I think the pennies could be different like one could be rough and one could be smooth.”

Jermaine: “It matters if the penny is on heads or tails.”

Their theories about our different results were very thoughtful.  We will continue our investigation this week and start our science meetings soon!

Isabella and Jermaine test how many drops of water will fit on a penny.

Martavious, Kaitlyn, and Himiko investigate our penny theories from this morning.

Tomorrow is the last day for box tops! If you have any, please send them in with your child tomorrow. Thanks!

As I mentioned yesterday, we had morning meeting with Mrs. Clark’s class.  We met again today and Mrs. Clark led the group in thinking more deeply about what a leader is.  Mrs. Clark shared pictures with the group and the students had to put their thumbs up if the picture showed a leader and thumbs down if it did not.  Some of the leaders we talked about included Nemo, the Lorax, and Merida from Brave.  The students shared why they felt that these characters were leaders for example: “she was brave” and “he stood up for the trees.” We then made a list together of what a good leader does: they are brave, they are helpful, they are respectful, they stand up for others, and they help the bullies. We plan to continue joining our two classrooms together each Monday morning to continue building community and developing our understanding of leadership as the oldest students in our building!