IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

We had a very exciting day today.  We took our field trip to the White River Recycling Facility.  This Facility specializes in recycling paper so we saw many different types: cardboard, newspaper, copy paper, print paper, and even more!  We learned how they sort it and what the do to reuse and recycle the paper.  I am sure the kids are coming home excited about their day! 

Look at all of that paper!

The actual belt with the paper that needed to be sorted was a class favorite.

 

Did you know the paper bails were that high?!

 

I know that this trip will lead to a very exciting conversation tomorrow.  We are working on developing our own recycling center at the school and plan on using a few ideas from today’s trip.  Keep reading as we will be putting more information about our school recycling up soon!

So, I forgot to mention two little stories that have happened the last two days.  Yesterday, when we started reading during our independent reading time, everyone was so excited to read their new books in their book bags.  I went to work with Saa, and he said, “I can’t read chapter books!”  I said, “Sure you can.  Let me help you.”  As he read the words on the page, he started to smile.  I asked him why he was smiling, and he said, “I can read chapter books.”  I was so proud of him during that moment!

Today, when we were having snack in our community circle, Sydney started spelling something with sign language.  I asked her what she spelled, and she said, “I spelled ‘I love all of my friends.'”  Ahhh….

Today was an exciting day!  We continued to talk about bravery (in terms of our performance coming up).  We went and saw Jamari and Makayla perform a short skit with a theater group that has been coming for the past few weeks.  It was wonderful because we had to practice being the audience instead of the performers.  Our group did such an amazing job listening to the actors perform and participating when needed (Our job was to say “The sky is falling” when the director told us to).

Yesterday and today we played a game called “Buzz” during Math Workshop to work on counting by 10’s and 5’s.  One group stood in a circle and we counted to 100.  Everytime a child got to “10”, “20”, “30” etc.  they would be buzzed to sit down.  The last person standing won the game.  The other group I played with played the same game but counted to 300 by “5’s”.  They really loved playing this game so it might be a game we revisit!

Today during our Yoga time we learned a new pose-the mountain pose.  The children for the second day in a row did an excellent job listening, breathing, and doing the poses that Mrs. Williams asked of us.  You might ask why we are doing yoga in our class.  The reason we are doing yoga each day after recess is to get our minds and bodies ready for Reader’s Workshop.  It helps us focus and prepare for continued learning for the day.  I am really excited about Mrs. Williams yoga each and every day.

Oliver and Jonah sharing each other's books during Writer's Workshop.

Madeline S. showing us the "Mountain" pose during our yoga time.

Our friends being a great audience for the theater group!

As we progress through the year we use a lot of things in the classroom.  Our class is in need of a few of the following items:

*Clipboards

* Dry Erase Markers

*Ziploc Bags, gallon size

* Blue or black pens

Thank you!

Michael leads our calendar time.

This month, we have started a new routine in our class: calendar. Each day, we add a day to the calendar and talk about the name of the day, the date, and the month we are in. We also talk about important dates that are coming up (Airport Field Trip, Thanksgiving) and count down how many days until those special dates. At the end of each day, a different child gets to write an important event from the day on our day on the calendar.  Doing calendar each day is important to children’s understanding of the concept of time. We also enjoy this time as a special time to reflect on the past and present.