IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Friends wave to the “girls”!

This week, we have been in charge of taking care of the chickens- we’re the chicken stewards! Today, we were able to collect 3 eggs from the “girls”. When we came inside for math workshop, we began an impromptu conversation about what to do with the eggs we collected. Messi suggested baking a cake. Regan suggested giving them to Miss Judy, our cafeteria lady. Some friends liked the idea of giving them to Miss Judy but weren’t sure if they wanted to give them all away. We talked about how it might feel good to give to someone else. Regan mentioned that Miss Judy may need all of the eggs to make pancakes for breakfast. Another friend, J’Den, suggested something else.

How about we give her half? J’Den

What is half? Mrs. Argus

Like not all of them, but some. Half! J’Den

If you go, one for me, one for you, one for me, one for you, its half! Messi

But how do we know what half is? We only have three right now. We may get 10 by the end of the week, what would half be? Mrs. Argus

I have an idea, we should do this as like a math workshop problem. J’Den

Going off of J’Den’s suggestion, we grabbed a manipulative (the bears) and closed our eyes and pretended they were eggs. I laid out 6 bears in two rows, 3 and 3. We talked about how half would be one of the rows. We then laid out 8 bears and talked about how one row of 4 would be half. We practiced spotting half in 10 bears. The kids were then challenged with another question…

But what if we only get 9 eggs this week? Mrs. Argus

You give Miss Judy half! See, these for us, these for her… uh oh… J’Den

Its not fair! Beatrice

It doesn’t work. We should probably give Miss Judy more then us.  J’Den

When you can’t divide it fairly, its an odd. Fairly is an even. Mrs. Argus

Odds and evens! Odds and evens! Lucas

We then practiced noticing when numbers could be divided fairly, and when they couldn’t, and described them as either odds or evens.

J’Den talks about odds and evens with the egg problem.

Mr. Henderson and I also noticed a new interest in our classroom- dinosaurs! Throughout last week, friends were making dinosaur puppets and using a few small plastic dinosaurs to tell stories during story workshop. We noticed a lot of conversation circulating around this idea too. Today, we put out pictures of dinosaur bones with some clay and asked the kids to explore the clay. Many friends were inspired to create parts of dinosaurs and even eggs! Addie shared a really neat connection during the day as well- both chickens and dinosaurs lay eggs! I wonder if we will find any other connections…

Addie points out her noticing in a dinosaur book. Great observation!

Tags: arithmetic, capable, chickens, collaboration, curious, problem solving

Today during math, our class explored the ten frame!  This is a rectangle divided into ten squares that can be used as a counting tool or as as an alternative to express numbers one through ten.  We started our lesson using a guided exploration of the ten frame by creating a giant one on the floor!  I asked students to get into the ten frame a few at a time and we talked about what number was represented.  Then, students were given a few frames to study and count individually.  Once they looked them over, they were asked to stand up at different times and do an action depending on the number their frame represented.  They enjoyed this movement break and grasped the ten frame concept quickly!

Tomorrow, we will use our new knowledge to learn a math game… ten frame war!

Ask your students about their first trip to the library today!  They will be allowed to bring their books home starting next week.  Some of your students have leveled readers in their folder to read for their log tonight and others will get their first book tomorrow!

Townes is working on the hundreds chart in the math boxes.

Today, during Math Workshop, we added another section to our time.  As I have shared in previous posts, we have a problem solving piece with our math notebooks.  The notebooks are a daily part of our math workshop as well as today’s math boxes.  The math boxes have different pieces in them that help the kids with number work.  Number work is noticing patterns in numbers, building numbers, decomposing numbers, and really just the basics of numbers.  When students have a strong concept of this they can easily complete more advanced addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems mentally.  The two pieces in today’s math boxes were hundreds charts with numbers missing for the students to fill in and number tiles that the students had to put in order.  As the year progresses we will have more activities in the boxes.

Wyatt is working on his hundreds chart in his math box.

Andrew is putting his math tiles in numerical order.

In math we have been working hard on setting routines for math workshop.  The students have been solving problems in their math notebooks using different strategies.  So far we have come up with these different ways to help us problem solve: Draw a picture, Use cubes or another material, Use a Number Line, Count On, and Make Tally Marks.  Today we introduced Math Boxes.  The students were able to decorate their math boxes and make them their own before we got started.  Then they took time to explore their Math Boxes.  Inside, students had hundreds charts with different missing numbers and number cards to put in order.  The mathematicians were carefully working with their materials while thinking about if their numbers were just right for them.  Madeline shared with me, “My math box helps me learn math, but it’s not too hard for me so I don’t have to struggle doing the numbers.” Some of our friends were in the studio during this time, so they will have the chance to investigate their boxes tomorrow.  I can’t wait to see what discoveries they make!

Kaitlyn uses cubes to help her solve a problem in her math notebook.

Friends decorate their math boxes.

Chairo: “Look guys I solved every problem in three different ways!”

Daysia puts her numbers in order from her Math Box.

Today, Mr. Henderson read the class a story many of them know- Cinderella. Except today, this story had a twist-  it was Bigfoot Cinderella!  Basically, this was the same story but starring a Bigfoot Cinderella who wore wooden clogs instead of glass slippers. The kids loved the new twist. After the story, the kids were shown three shoes that they needed to help Mrs. Argus pick to go on a run. The first choice were a pair of first grade sneakers. We decided these shoes were way too small! The second pair we tried for Mrs. Argus were huge- size 10 men’s! We decided these were way too big! The third pair, low and behold, were absolutely perfect and fit Mrs. Argus just right- just like Bigfoot Cinderella’s missing clog! We talked about how shoes that fit just right are just like just right books- perfect for us! Some friends may have different just right books, just as their shoes fit us differently. We will continue to refer to this analogy throughout the year to encourage the children to decide whether or not a book is at their appropriate reading level. Later this week, we will start to talk about more of the traits that help us recognize whether or not a book is just right!

Mr. Henderson tries Mrs. Argus’ just right shoe- is it a fit?

Sascha tries out Mr. Henderson’s just right shoe!

Tags: reading, thinking