IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today in Reader’s Workshop I told the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  We discussed how Goldilocks kept trying to find things that were “just right” for her.  We realized that as readers, we also need to find “just right” books.  The students had so many great strategies for figuring out if their books were “just right” for them: “You can look at the title and see if you think you’ll like it” “You can see how many words are hard for you. . . 4 or 5 means its too hard” “You can make sure that you are understanding your story.” After we read David shared that he found a just right book in his book bag because he understood it and there were only a few tricky words.  I am so proud of our progress in Reader’s Workshop.  The students are already reading independently for about 15-20 minutes.  We will keep working on finding “just right” books all week!

Today was our first day using math journals this year, and they were a big hit!

Thus far this year, we have been exploring different math materials. We have been figuring how to use math materials properly, how to put them away appropriately, and how we can use them to solve different math problems. The first week, we learned about unifix cubes, bears, and links.

Last week students learned how to draw pictures to help them solve a problem. They were exposed to a number line during share time. They explored something called a ten frame, which is a tool that helps us understand the number 10 better and all the different ways it can be made.

Olivia, Jace, Ellie, John, and Abel represent different numbers on our life size 10 frame.

Yesterday we all explored a tool called a 20 Bead String together. We each got to make our own, and then today, students had the option of working with their 20 bead string with a partner during morning choices.

During math workshop today, I read a story problem I had written on big paper. A friend decided we should use bears to solve the problem, so Faith came up and solved the problem for us using the bears. Then I talked about “making our thinking and problem solving visible.” I told the students that I wanted to be able to know what their brains were thinking when they solved the problem, so together we drew a picture of our problem solving process on the big paper, right underneath the question.

Then it was the kids turn. I told them that they were going to get to solve their very own math problem by themselves in their very own math journal. This morning, I had cut out and glued a story problem into each child’s math journal.  Together, we read the story problem. After we had read the problem a couple times, I handed each child their journal. They were able to take their journal, pick one of the math materials we have learned how to use, grab a pen/pencil, and then find a “stuck like glue” spot to solve their problem and show their thinking in their math journal.

After students had worked on the problem independently, they put away their materials. Then we listened to Jackson share how he had solved today’s problem with links.

I look forward to more mathematical thinking and problem solving in the future!

*Material request: In addition to solving problems in our math journal, we are going to begin playing math games next week. A material we will need for one of our games is egg cartons. If you have any, could you please send them into school? Thank you!

During the past two weeks we have been focusing on building our classroom community.  One of the ways we do that is through our daily Morning Meeting.  Morning Meeting consists of four parts: Greeting, Share, Activity, and Message.  The goal of morning meeting is to start our day off in a positive way.  Today our greeting was called “What’s the News?”  Students ask each other what their news is and then everyone has a chance to share something they did over the weekend.  We heard about the State Fair, a Cubs game, playing outside, and so many other exciting activities.  It is so great to see the children listening to one another and wanting to get to know their friends better.  Our activities are fun songs or games where we can practice teamwork.   Our message explains what we will be doing that day for example, today the kids were pumped to learn that we are taking care of the chickens this week!

Friends sitting in our morning meeting circle

Sydney and Donovan greeting each other

Chairo and CJ playing “Double Double This This”

Paiton and Himiko using teamwork to play the game

Feeding the chickens

Saying hello to the chickens

This morning, at the beginning of Readers Workshop, I read the book, The Littlest Acorn. It is a beautiful story about an acorn to runs into a tall pine tree, a brightly colored daisy, and a sweet smelling rose. With each encounter, the little acorn notices how different he is from the other plants and wonders what might be special about him. In the end we learn that the Little Acorn grows up into a strong, tall tree.

After reading the book, I sent students out for their independent reading time. After they read independently, all students returned to the rug for share time. Today, Abel shared his reading. He read some of his book, Grumpy Bird. When Abel was done, I asked him what he did to help him read his books today. He said that he looked at the pictures and the words. This lead into a discussion about differences in our reading and our books. All of last week, we talked about how good readers can read books by looking at the pictures. However, today, Abel showed us that good readers can look at the words in their books too.

This week, I am going to begin putting books into your children’s reading bags. Some of the books will be based on your child’s interests. Others will be based on their reading needs. The conversation today was great because it affirmed students that when that happens, some of us will have books with lots of pictures. Some of us will have books with pictures and words, and some of us will have books with lots of words and few to no pictures. All of those things are different, but just like the story about the Little Acorn, we know that different isn’t bad. We’re all different and that ok!

Abel reading Grumpy Bird in the share chair!