IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

We had a busy day today! Earlier this week, I blogged about money.  We had started learning about pennies on Monday.  Well today we put that knowledge to work.  The kids had a chance to build a bird feeder for outside in our school courtyard.  There were a lot of choices of what to put on the bird feeder, but each student only got 6 cents and they had to make the decision on what to buy with their money.  (No worries, they got the pinecone for free!)  They spent yesterday planning their creation and what materials they needed to buy and today our store opened!

In Writer’s Workshop we have spent this week talking about different details in writing.  Today we took that into our play.  As a class we talked about details we see in writing and how we can add them to our play.  Sophia gave us the idea that we could add details in our costumes.  So today, we spent our time planning and sketching our costumes.  A few friends even write lists of what they needed to make their costumes!

Finally, today was the last day for our Butler friends!  We had a wonderful semester with them and I personally appreciated all the support and help they provided!  While we will miss them, I have already been told they will be back to visit 🙂

Miss Kirby opening up her gift from the class.

Miss Hunter, Miss Prop, Miss Moheban, and Miss Weist opening up their gifts from the class.

Reid and Kristien are working hard on their swords!

Now that we have the play written and revised we are starting to work on other parts.  Today, Reid and Kristien started working on props.  They are both litter guards (who protect the Litterbug) and they both felt they needed swords.  So today, with the help of Miss Robison, they took a how to book and followed the directions on how to make swords.  Both have been try excited about this since the prop book was introduced to the class.  It was a very exciting to see the finished products!

The finished swords!

Kristien is sharing his snake painting.

As we shared last week, we finished writing the first draft of our play.  This week we are going to be working on revising it.  Today we made our first attempt at this.  As a class we decided on the protocol to revise.  If a friend has an idea they can present it to the class and together we vote on if we would all like to include it in the play. (This is everyone’s play so we all have a say!)  This afternoon, Kristien brought a new character to our play.  He wanted to revise the play and add a snake to the story.  He explained his thoughts and together we all decided to add the new character!

This afternoon, during Math Workshop, we started to talk and learn about pennies.  As we start studying money, I can already tell that the kids are excited about it!  Today we talked about it’s value and the different things we noticed about the penny.

BreAnna is looking for Abraham Lincoln on the penny.

Just a reminder: We are having our April Family Night next week on April 19th at 6:00pm.  We will have activities that have to do with Science.  Get ready to have some fun!

Today we started exploring the concept of photosynthesis.  Over the last few days we have been talking about how the trees help the earth. (When trees make their own food through photosynthesis, they also have left over oxygen that they push out into the air.)  At the beginning of our talks the kids could tell me that the trees take in the bad air and push out the good air.  While this is a simple explanation, I wanted them to know more!  My goal is for them to gain new vocabulary such as photosynthesis, oxygen, and carbon dioxide!  So today we experimented with this idea.  This morning I set up an experiment.  Together, we completely submerged an aquatic plant in water.  We then put it under a light that represented out “sunlight.”  As the kids watched me set this up Dorothy made an impressive prediction.  She said, “I think the water will turn bubbly.”  Reid helped her out by explaining that the good air would be the bubbles in the water.  As the day went on the kids were very excited to see what was going to happen to the plant.  At the end of the day each friend got a chance to closely observe it.  Many said, “I see bubbles!”  They were very excited about this!  We had a short conversation that the bubbles were made by the plant and the fancy word for the bubbles would be oxygen.  While this may seem like a intense topic, I know that after a few more experiments and experiences all of the kids will be able to explain photosynthesis!

David and Selah are observing the bubbles in the water.

Do you see the oxygen?!