IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today was a wonderful “Day 2” at the Lab School!

We continue to spend a lot of our day familiarizing ourselves with the procedures and and routines of the day. Learning how the workshops work, building community, and establishing our culture will be a huge focus at the start of our year.

The students enjoyed learning about some new free choice options today. Yesterday, students were able to build with construction materials, color, read books, and play at the sand table during free choice time. Today we opened up play-doh, animals, and painting! Painting is always a big hit during free choice time. Only four students are aloud to paint at a time, however, I assured them that everyone would get a chance to paint eventually.

DayTwon, Abel, and Jaeda working in the sand table during free choice time. They were problems solvers together, and decided that we needed to add water to the sand so that it wouldn’t make so much dust in the air.

Story workshop, which is a new workshop for us this year, is turning out to be a favorite time of the day for many students. Yesterday and today, I modeled the telling of a story in my life using materials from the classroom. I have then, invited students to do the same. They are using blocks, natural materials, figurines, and art supplies to tell a true or fictional story. After independent work time, I chose a student to share her story with the class. The students listened intently as Aaliyah told her story of a birthday sleepover using play-doh. As our year continues, all student will be able to create, share, and publish their stories. I’m very excited about the opportunity to connect the craft of story telling with the practice of writing. I believe both will enhance each other.

Looking forward to the days to come!

We had a wonderful first day of school in room 107 yesterday!

It was a day full of building community and friendships. We spent a lot of our time familiarizing ourselves with the daily routine and procedures and learning what this whole kindergarten and first grade business is all about.

Our day began with morning choices. Students had the option of reading books, working on puzzles, or decorating name tags we’ll wear throughout the week. Once all students had arrived, we had our morning meeting, which consisted of instroducing ourselves, sharing our favorite superhero or Disney character, and singing a song about our shoes.

After morning meeting, we learned how to use the bathroom in our room. We also practiced our first readers workshop together. Students did a wonderful of finding a quiet spot in the room where they could do their best reading.

After readers workshop, we headed to recess and lunch! Upon returning we had a read or rest time, followed by math workshop. During math workshop, we explored one of the math materials we will be using this year, unifix cubes. Students made patterns, counted cubes, and worked together.

After a quick game of freeze dance, we turned our attention to the last workshop of the day, story workshop. I shared with students a story about my summer vacation, which I told using natural materials. Student then had the opportunity to tell their own stories using blocks, natural materials, or studio materials. Again, I was impressed to see how well students worked together and to hear stories already filled with characters, settings, and plots.

We ended our day with some yoga, free choice time, and a handful of “first day of school” books!

It was a full first day and a great way to start of our year together! I can’t wait for the months to come!

Kynden takes advantage of our read and rest time, so that she can reenergize for the remainder fo the day!

Abel and Ellie work on their stories during Story Workshop!

Hello families!  We hope all of you are as excited as we are to start school again.  Below are the school supplies that each student is asked to bring to school.  If you are looking for more ways to help there will be wish lists in each classroom from each individual teacher.  See everyone at Back to School Night from 6-7 on Thursday!

School Supplies List:

2 composition notebooks

1 bottle of Elmer’s glue

1 backpack

1 1-inch three ring binder

2 boxes of kleenex

1 bottle of hand sanitizer

1 bulk snack item (pretzels, goldfish, animal crackers, etc.)

The Carnival is this Friday, May 18th from 6-8pm!  Join us for games, silent auction, music, and food (including pizza, popcorn, and snacks)!

Tomorrow we will be sending home invitations and six tickets for you to use at the carnival.

Hope to see you all there for a night of fun with your family and friends!

Its hard to believe, but summer will be here in only four weeks! With six weeks of summer vacation, we would love to visit our girls every day, but us teachers are going to need some help! 

Would your family be interested in helping maintain our garden and chickens for a week over the summer? Send Mrs. Argus an email at argusm@ips.k12.in.us and let her know! You are welcome to sign up with other families as well and share the responsibilities, or sign up for a whole week yourself. Chicken and garden stewardship is super fun and when maintained properly, should be very easy. Plus, you get free eggs and veggies- YUM!