IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

The books we have read so far as a class...

Over the last two weeks our class has really been excited about chapter books!  Each day, while the kids eat snack, we read a chapter or two from our book.  This just started last week with Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the UFO.  The kids were so into this they asked if we could read another one!  By voting, we decided on our next book, The Magic School Bus, Voyage to the Volcano.  The kids have loved learning about volcanic eruptions and what the words “molten lava” means!  We are about finished with our Magic School Bus book so who knows what will come next!

Every Wednesday our class goes to the library.  While each week we check out books, we leave them here at school by the request of the librarian.  Today was a little different.  The kids each got two books to take home to keep.  Our school was given books by a program called Reading is Fundamental.  So when they went to library today they each got to pick out two of their own books!

The kids were so excited to read their brand new books!

Our recycling bin is finally here!  Here are a few pictures from our first experience adding paper.  Please don’t forget to bring in your own paper from home!!

As if our week has not been good enough, it got better today!  This morning, Reid noticed a lot of empty containers in our recycling bins.  He asked the question, “Can we make instruments with these?”  So a small group of kids created instruments during our free exploration time.  They were so excited to reuse some of our recyclable materials!

The group forming their band

So at the same time as our lovely band was going on, we had another group writing about angry birds!  Last week, Wyatt started to write about angry birds and asked to hear the sounds on the IPad.  This spurred a group of boys to write about this topic in their writing.  Below is a picture of the group writing their stories and using the IPad to help guide them.

Our recycling project is on a roll!  This week we have been going to classrooms all over the buildings to present and ask for other students to recycle with us.  So far we have a lot of requests for recycling boxes and everyone is saying yes!  (Please see Mrs. Bucher’s post about one of our first presentations.)  I am so proud of the kids and their ability to tackle public speaking with no fear at such an early age!  In addition, we received good news today.  Our paper retriever bin is scheduled to be delivered to our school on Friday or Saturday of this week!  Once it is here feel free to bring paper in from home.  We need everyone’s help to make our environment a safer place!

Isn’t this impressive?!

I promise this is not photo-shopped! Jaiden is actually doing this!

I am continually impressed with the kids’ dedication to our daily yoga.  I have noticed that as we end everyone is calmer and more relaxed.  We are able to start our Math Workshop in a calm tone.  Mrs. Williams and I have noticed how the kids are really grasping different poses.  Mrs. Williams took our class to the next level today.  Check out the pose Jaiden is doing above!  She, like many others, was able to hold this pose for many seconds.  (I tried it myself and it is a hard one!)