IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Wow what a great day we had! I wanted to share a little bit about Math Workshop today and how it will work in the future. Today during Math Workshop, we looked at a few addition story problems that I had projected up on the big screen. We read them as a class and talked about what exactly they meant. Friends took turns modeling the stories with three different  manipulatives they were invited to use. After we practiced a few together, I challenged the kids to try it on their own. I read another story to them from the screen and they were invited to find a manipulative that they were comfortable working with. By their own choosing, the kids sat in little groups together around their selected material and many talked through their problems and thinking with one another. It was really neat to watch this happen naturally. Many friends even chose to work with the number set, a higher set of numbers that can be inserted into the problem. Eventually, I will be adding several number sets to choose from and we will discuss what a “Just Right” number set may be for each friend. During Math Workshop, the kids will always be encouraged to share their thinking with one another. It helps them think through their own process and also may help come to an understanding they did not have before. Listening and supporting one another during workshops also help build our classroom community. We plan on problem solving like this for the rest of the week. Gradually, friends will begin to have the problem typed in their math notebook and will be invited to show their thinking in their notebook after using manipulatives (or use the notebook as a manipulative by drawing pictures).

Tags: arithmetic, capable, collaboration

Today we began using clay in story workshop. I introduced clay last week to a handful of students during free choice time. Ellie, Davi, and Jaeda all became clay experts for our classroom.

Today was the first day that we used clay to tell stories though. Olivia created a story about her cat and her grandma’s dog at a family reunion. Olivia was then chosen to share her story during the sharing portion of our story workshop. Students listened quietly as she told her tale. I’m sure other students will continue to explore the power of clay within story workshop in the future!

Olivia tells her cat/dog/reunion story.

Ellie told a story using play-doh that involved a snowman:

“One time I heard the snow falling. I woke up and went and woke up my mom. We put on our coats and we went outside. We saw and snowman. I touched him and he melted. I tasted him and he tasted like juice, so I drank him up. Then end!”

Ellie shares her snowman story.

I can’t want to see what creative stories our students continue to tell through out the year!

On Wednesday, one of our friends noticed there was a clear plastic jar sitting on top of the block area. They were very intrigued and wanted to know what the objects were inside! We talked about how this jar is the Estimation Jar and it will be used each week to practice our estimation skills. This week, I placed wooden wheels inside the jar. The kids were encouraged not to open the jar and count, rather guess how many are inside. Messi shared with the class a wonderful explanation of estimation:Estimation is figuring out how many without counting. After our discussion and Messi’s explanation, friends were encouraged to write their name and estimation on a card and pin it up to the wall. We have been anxiously watching more and more guesses pop up! Today at the end of the day, we sat down and talked about each estimation. We will practice making reasonable estimations and learning when some are not so reasonable. After we talked, we counted. What did we find? We discovered that there were 45 wheels in the jar- really close to Beatrice’s estimation of 49! Very exciting! The kids are excited to see what inside the jar next week.

The estimation jar. Can you tell how many wheels are inside?

Tags: arithmetic, collaboration, curious

Today we spent a little bit of time talking about our hopes and dreams for our school year.  This was a building conversation that came from our strengths and what we want to learn at school over the next few months. It was wonderful to see some hopes and dreams so I thought I would share a few.

Reid- My hope is for all of us to work together and build a contraption.

Melina- I hope I will always have a nice time and everyday will be a fun day at school.

Jermaine- My dream is that I can read and write about cars.

Raki- I hope that it’s never the last day of school.

In the next few days we will be looking at our hopes and dreams and creating them using clay.  Check back next week to see our progress :).

This week, we established a list of classroom agreements!

Students came up with ideas of things they could agree to do to help us have a peaceful environment where all students could do their best learning. The list we decided upon was:

1) I agree to be kind to everyone

2) I agree to be respectful

3) I agree to be peacful

4) I agree to treat our classroom/school with care

5) I agree to treat others the way I want to be treated

These are all things we have been referring back to this week! Feel free to talk to your child about these agreements at home!

Other exciting news…we began doing share time today. Seth shared what it looks like to be a good reader at the end of readers workshop. Salih shared what it looks like to be mathematician, and Aidan, Geneva, and John shared stories they created.

Seth shows us what great readers look like

Lastly, we began working with clay today. During our first free choice time, Ellie, Jaeda, and Davi learned how to use the clay and clay tools. During our second free choice time, those students were able to begin teaching other students how to use the clay. They did a wonderful job! Eventually, we will use clay during story workshop.

Our clay experts!