IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

It was so great to see all of the children back and ready to go today! We had a very productive day, so I thought I would give you an overview of what we did!

Morning Meeting: We met in Mrs. Clark’s room to talk more about leadership and some of the bullying issues we discussed before fall break.  The students had great ideas for how to be a leader.  The common theme was “we need to set an example.”  Mrs. Clark and I were proud to hear all of their ideas about leadership.

Reader’s Workshop:  We reviewed all of the story elements that we worked on before break and we put them all together today.  I introduced a retelling glove to the students.  This is another way to help them tell what happened in their story.  Ask your child if they remember what each finger of the glove stands for.  We will continue working with retelling gloves this week!

Word Study: The students worked independently today on a variety of different activities that we have done this year.  They loved having the chance to do independent work.  We will continue building our independent work time this week, which will allow me to work with students in small groups.

Story Workshop: We celebrated our personal narratives that we finished before Fall Break.  We also started an author’s study of one of my favorite authors, Todd Parr.

Math Workshop: The students learned a new game in their math box called Race to a Flat.  They used dice and base ten blocks to add numbers all the way to 100.

Closing Meeting: We received an exciting letter from the Children’s Museum today.  There was a leak in one of the museum exhibits and we’ve been asked to help them investigate the leak! They said they needed scientists for this job! We will be going to the museum on November 6th.  Check folders for more information and a permission slip!

Today we had the opportunity to go to the Bookmobile and pick a book.  Each student found something that they really liked and the books are theirs to keep! I encourage you to read them and to make sure that your learner is reading each day over break! We also celebrated De’Onna’s birthday.  The students enjoyed cupcakes and learning a new birthday song that we sang to her. I hope that you have a wonderful and safe break! See you in two weeks!

We had an awesome time outside today! The weather was beautiful and the students worked together as a team to get a lot done! We added dirt to the new garden boxes and helped smooth it out.  Ask your child what their favorite part was tonight!

Today was a huge success! A big thank you to our parent volunteers and volunteers from Dow who came to support us. And most importantly, thank you to the kids who made it all possible! More pictures and stories to come soon. For now, ask your learner about their experience and enjoy these pictures.

Tags: Butler, capable, collaboration, garden, project, relationships, responsible

We have been introducing many new activities in Word Study over the past few weeks.  After fall break, word study will move to a workshop structure where the students will complete these different activities independently and I will be able to work with small groups and individualize the instruction! Today the students rolled two cubes and made words with a partner.  For example n + ame = name.  Then they sorted the words into “real words” and “not real words.”  This activity continues to work on word families as well as blending and chunking words.  The students were engaged with their partners and some students even asked to do the activity later during free choice!