IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

The other day, at the end of math workshop, one of our friends was upset that they had not been able to get the correct answer for one of our division problems the first time they tried to solve it. She figured it out in a couple of minutes but was still frustrated by the process.

Instead of doing a normal sharing about our problems solving strategies at the end of math workshop that day, I decided to lead a community circle discussion about learning instead. I shared with the class that I remember being in first grade and thinking that learning how to read was really hard. I didn’t feel confident in my reading, so instead, I would just have other friends read to me. I told the kids that sometimes I felt mad or sad or frustrated when I was learning how to read, because it was hard for me. Then I shared how, in second grade, after lots and lots of practicing, I was suddenly able to read and I never stopped.

I then invited each child in our class to share a time (past or present) when they were trying to learn how to do something new and it was challenging for them. Many kids shared things that were hard for them to learn. They were very honest as they talked about their feelings. I was very proud of them!

I could tell it was good for every child to see that they were not the only one who felt challenged by learning something new. Together, we talked about strategies we could use when we were learning something and feeling frustrated. Kids said that they could…

1) Keep trying and practicing. They said they shouldn’t give up.

2) ask a friend for help.

3) Take lessons

A couple months ago a went to a class at my gym that I had never been to before. I was quickly reminded, even as an adult, how hard it can be to learn something new for the first time. It can be frustrating and even embarrassing to feel like you’re the only one who doesn’t know how to do something.

What a great reminder to remember what learning can look like for our kids. In the coming weeks, and throughout the rest of the year, I intend to have more opportunities to come together as a class and celebrate our EFFORTS towards learning. Really, that is so much of what learning is all about!

Today was a very special day in our year…it was the first snow of the season!

The first snow is always so exciting in kindergarten and first grade. So, instead of ignoring this special occasion, we honored it today by taking a break from our morning meeting and heading into the hallways to look at the snow fall through the windows! It really was beautiful and the kids enjoyed it!

In readers workshop, we are spending our second week talking about Flippy Dolphin and vowels. Last week we began talking about the different vowels and the sounds they make. We learned that if you are sounding out the word with one sound but it doesn’t work, you can use Flippy Dolphin to flip over and try the other sound that vowel makes. The kids are doing a nice job, but vowels can be tricky, so we’re taking some extra time to firm up our understanding of vowels and their sounds. Today we read Sue MacDonald Had A Book by Jim Tobin. It’s a fun story about the vowels (to the tune of Old MacDonald) if you ever want to check it out at the library sometime.

During math workshop, we are also reviewing and extending what we discussed last week…division. Last week, we only divided numbers into groups of two. This week, we are beginning to divide numbers in to groups of three and more.

In our last workshop of the day, story workshop, we did our second gallery walk of the year. During morning and free choices, students were able to do an observational drawing of a lamp in our room. Three of those drawings were selected and hung in the room. Then, during story workshop, students moved around the room with a post-it writing down compliments and suggestions for each drawing. As a class, we critiqued the three drawings. Tomorrow, those three students will do a second draft of their lamp drawing, and we will be able to take a look at what critique and revision really looks like.

Olivia and Jaeda work on their observational drawings of a lamp during morning choice time.

Additional reminders:

Thursday is picture retake day. If you would like your child to have their school picture retaken, please let me know, and I will send home a second picture order form for you.

Friday is our Fall Carnival from 6-8. I will be sending home a flyer and tickets tomorrow. This Fall Carnival will be in place of the November Family Night that was originally scheduled for Thursday.

Lastly, we are still working on our classroom identity panels. If you have not sent in a letter about your child yet, please do so. We will be sharing the remainder of those over the next couple of weeks, and I would love for every child to have something to share! Thanks so much!

Today was a fun day in 107!

It was exciting to take advantage of a presidential election to dive into the minds of our students.

The day began with voting for our daily question. The question was “Should we freeze dance to Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift.” You know…the really important questions in life! Justin Bieber won, but that was only the beginning of our voting for the day. We also voted on our snack and which materials we should use throughout the day.

During morning meeting, we read If I Ran for President, by Catherine Stier. It is a great book that goes through the whole campaign and election process. We also read, I Am Patriotic by Sarah L. Schuette during readers workshop. We talked about our responsibility to vote as well as other things we can do to show our patriotism.

As students entered the room this morning, I asked them who the president currently is and what a president’s job is. Most every child knew that Obama is our president (although, I did get a “Mr. Smith” and a “I don’t know…Martin someone.”) Their idea of what the president does varied thought. Some of the kids’ responses were…

He makes people do the right thing.

The president gives questions.

He takes care of the city.

He talks speeches loud.

He lives in the white house, gives speeches, and he rules the country.

I don’t really know. I’m guess that he says when people are mean to be nice.

He takes care of us.

He teaches us.

He protects us.

He keeps us safe.

We also took a private poll. Students were able to vote for who they thought should be president during attendance this morning. Fifteen students voted for Obama. Three voted for Romney. One voted for Batman, one for Justin Bieber, and one for George Washington!

Lastly, I asked students what they would do if they were president. Here’s what they said.

I would do something very nice to take care of somebody who is hurt or sick.

Have a party.

I would make laws and rule the country.

If people hit, I would tell them not to.

I would help somebody if other people were bullying them.

I would rock.

Probably I would just like help the world.

Happy Election Day!

This Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, our very own Lucas, Beatrice, and Ruth will be performing in The Wiz at Warren Central High School. As they make their stage debut, we would love to support them as a community. If your family is able, come out to the show! Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students. We would love to see you there.

Veronika Lewis and Ally Wessels
Blog about Miss Estridge and Mrs. Bucher’s classes 10/31/12

Today was a great and busy day! There were multiple instances of discovery today during math workshop. One of the students observing the one hundreds chart before math workshop shouted out “Ooh Miss. Estridge, I noticed something new”. Of course we were all eager to see what was found. She noticed that as you go down the number chart in the same column, the number goes up by ten and has the same number in the second digit every time. For example, she pointed out how after 9 it goes, 19, 29, 39, 49, etc. “There’s always a 9!” After that student made this discovery, so many other students started to notice a pattern and math workshop journals working with tens today went a lot faster for many of them due to their newly learned knowledge. Miss Estridge afterwards let them explore the pattern by coming up to the chart and asking for proof of their knowledge. “What is 47 plus 10?” Ms. Estridge said, and the class IMMEDIATELY answered “57” in unison. Miss Estridge exclaimed, “How do you know that so fast?” “That’s when the children explained the pattern to Miss Estridge and took on the teacher role, proud of their new findings.

Before story workshop, both Mrs. Bucher and Ms. Estridge’s classes discussed the effect of critiquing and how to make each other’s final products better using each other’s knowledge. One student in Miss Estridge’s class went up to another to ask for a critique. He was making a comic book and so far had done huge drawings with minimal written words on the pages. His critique was to make it look more like a comic book by making pictures smaller, and boxing them up. The fact the kids were comfortable enough to approach each other for help and ideas at such a young age made this an exciting event of the day. They understood the idea of critiquing really well!
Mrs. Bucher’s class discussed current events which are beneficial when learning to teach real world experiences. Since hurricane Sandy has been such an apparent topic in the news recently Mrs. Booker decided to bring it up to her class and see what some of their responses would be when posed with the question “How would you help them?”. Multiple ideas were given about raising money. One student said, “We can use the money in my piggy bank to fly out there and help them.” Another boy said to buy tools to rebuild and fix things. The Butler School 60 is so generous and full of amazing ideas to attempt to solve real world problems.
We fed the chickens today in Miss Estridge’s class! What a fun experience. The special part of chicken week for Miss Estridge’s class today was that a child suggested doing observational research or drawings of the chickens, their coup, and eggs during the feeding time. This was such a wonderful idea that multiple children chose to partake in this. The fact they wanted to explore chickens beyond just feeding them was awesome. The kids also collected two eggs today and since it was the last day of the month, they were used to bake cupcakes for the class! There were two children’s birthdays in October so at the end of the month, today, they were celebrated. These two kids got to partake in the making of these cupcakes and learned about experimentation and recipe in the kitchen. Awesome real life exploration for them!