IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Lucas and Jackson explore Dino World.

Dylan, Ayden, Jackson, and Hutton enjoy playing with the dinosaurs in Dino World.

Beatrice and Maria use watercolor to represent dinosaurs.

Addie paints a water dinosaur.

Today, our class looked an 8.5 x 11 picture of a T-Rex from the Children’s Museum. We talked about how the picture was just a representation of how big the actual dinosaur was- we knew he was much bigger than the size of the paper! Mr. Henderson and I challenged the kids with a simple question-  how could you show us how big a T-Rex really was? We pointed out there was a scale on the picture of 1centimeters = .5 meters and allowed the children to explore various measurement tools in our classroom. Some friends went straight to the rulers and yardsticks, some went for more non-conventional forms of measurement: using bears, unifix cubes, and looking closely at our dinosaur toys. One of the most exciting things about an inquiry like this is the conversation that happens while we are wrestling with new ideas. Many of our friends chose to work in pairs or small groups and talk through their thinking with one another. While we didn’t quite solve the mystery today, we will resume our work tomorrow and pick up where our thinking left off!

Here are a few snippets of insight from our friends.

I’m trying to see how many bones he has to measure him. 20 bones! He has 20 bones! Beatrice

If a T-Rex is a meter, that means he would be 100 centimeters. Lucas

I think he would have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 centimeters. Because that’s half of this stick. Makenzi (talking about half of the ruler’s 30 centimeters AND making the connection that we need half of something- incredible!)

We have to see how close it can be to the cubes. Dylan

Its very interesting! Jackson

J’Den measures our picture.

Maria and Amiah use the plastic dinosaur figurines to get a measurement.

Beatrice checks her measurements.

Jackson, Dylan, and Regan are on to something… they line up the yard sticks along the floor…

More friends work together to line the sticks along the floor.

Tags: arithmetic, capable, collaboration, problem solving, project

Maxwell creating his strategy poster.

Over the past few weeks we have been talking a lot about using different strategies to solve our math problems.  In Math Workshop, we encourage kids to solve the problems the way that it makes sense to them.  We want them to build their own knowledge and come to an understanding on their own terms.  It is our belief that when kids build their own knowledge they can see not only how numbers work, but WHY they work that way.  Today, at the end of Math Workshop, we talked about the number line as a possible strategy to use to solve a problem.  Maxwell created an example of a number line on a poster that we will hang in the room as a reminder for all of the kids.  As we gain more strategies we will create more posters to help us in the room!

Our class has really been enjoying yoga.  We go to Yoga every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning with Mrs. Williams.  (On Mondays and Tuesdays we do it together in our classroom!) The students have been excelling in their focus, concentration, and balance.  We practice different poses and then we meditate at the end.  During meditation De’Onna said “Think of a peaceful and serene place.”  When we finished up, Daysia turned to me and said “I think we’re going to have a great day.” We are noticing that starting our day with yoga really helps our focus and peacefulness throughout the day.  I am excited to watch them grow in their yoga skills throughout this year.  Enjoy your three day weekend!

Meet Mrs. Williams!

Starting off by stretching and warming up our muscles.

Practicing our deep yoga breaths with cotton balls.

Paiton practices yoga breathing.

How far will your cotton ball go when you take a deep breath?

Meditation. . . thinking of ways to have a peaceful day!