IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today was a wonderful “Day 2” at the Lab School!

We continue to spend a lot of our day familiarizing ourselves with the procedures and and routines of the day. Learning how the workshops work, building community, and establishing our culture will be a huge focus at the start of our year.

The students enjoyed learning about some new free choice options today. Yesterday, students were able to build with construction materials, color, read books, and play at the sand table during free choice time. Today we opened up play-doh, animals, and painting! Painting is always a big hit during free choice time. Only four students are aloud to paint at a time, however, I assured them that everyone would get a chance to paint eventually.

DayTwon, Abel, and Jaeda working in the sand table during free choice time. They were problems solvers together, and decided that we needed to add water to the sand so that it wouldn’t make so much dust in the air.

Story workshop, which is a new workshop for us this year, is turning out to be a favorite time of the day for many students. Yesterday and today, I modeled the telling of a story in my life using materials from the classroom. I have then, invited students to do the same. They are using blocks, natural materials, figurines, and art supplies to tell a true or fictional story. After independent work time, I chose a student to share her story with the class. The students listened intently as Aaliyah told her story of a birthday sleepover using play-doh. As our year continues, all student will be able to create, share, and publish their stories. I’m very excited about the opportunity to connect the craft of story telling with the practice of writing. I believe both will enhance each other.

Looking forward to the days to come!

 

Addie and Makenzie tell stories with wild animals during story workshop.

Lucas, Beatrice, and Jackson tell stories together with their animals.

We had another great day at the Lab School. Our friends are adjusting to the routines and schedule of the day and transitioning well. Right now during Story Workshop, we are talking about what stories are. This week, we are encouraging the kids to use various materials to tell stories (fictional and real). Using materials helps the kids verbalize their story, which in turn will help them when they go to put their story down on paper. Yesterday, we story told with little plastic bears. Today, friends were invited to use wild animal figurines and barnyard animal figurines. It was so fun listening to everyone share! Later this week, friends will be invited to use multiple materials throughout the room. They will also be encouraged to write and draw pictures of their piece after they have created their story. I have already seen such creativity and enthusiasm in story telling this year so I know this process will be beneficial in helping us develop as stronger writers.

BreAnna and Cariah experiment with the light table.

We also enjoyed exploring more of our classroom today. The light table was a big hit with many friends. It was neat to see BreAnna, one of our older students, showing some of our kindergartners how to use the light table. She even helped create a piece with several younger students. Such wonderful collaboration.

Tags: creativity, story telling, story workshop

We had a wonderful first day of school in room 107 yesterday!

It was a day full of building community and friendships. We spent a lot of our time familiarizing ourselves with the daily routine and procedures and learning what this whole kindergarten and first grade business is all about.

Our day began with morning choices. Students had the option of reading books, working on puzzles, or decorating name tags we’ll wear throughout the week. Once all students had arrived, we had our morning meeting, which consisted of instroducing ourselves, sharing our favorite superhero or Disney character, and singing a song about our shoes.

After morning meeting, we learned how to use the bathroom in our room. We also practiced our first readers workshop together. Students did a wonderful of finding a quiet spot in the room where they could do their best reading.

After readers workshop, we headed to recess and lunch! Upon returning we had a read or rest time, followed by math workshop. During math workshop, we explored one of the math materials we will be using this year, unifix cubes. Students made patterns, counted cubes, and worked together.

After a quick game of freeze dance, we turned our attention to the last workshop of the day, story workshop. I shared with students a story about my summer vacation, which I told using natural materials. Student then had the opportunity to tell their own stories using blocks, natural materials, or studio materials. Again, I was impressed to see how well students worked together and to hear stories already filled with characters, settings, and plots.

We ended our day with some yoga, free choice time, and a handful of “first day of school” books!

It was a full first day and a great way to start of our year together! I can’t wait for the months to come!

Kynden takes advantage of our read and rest time, so that she can reenergize for the remainder fo the day!

Abel and Ellie work on their stories during Story Workshop!

We had a wonderful first day of school today!  It was exciting to see all of our friends come into the classroom.  We were busy today making new friends, learning about each other, and sharing stories from the summer.  Take a look at the pictures below to see some of the things we did!

Wyatt was busy reading his new books during Reader’s Workshop!

Jermaine is busy on the monkey bars at recess.

What an exciting first day we had! The day was filled with singing, dancing, making friends, and learning new routines. Today during math workshop, the children were invited to explore one of our math manipulatives, unifix cubes. We sat in a circle and had an open discussion about their possible uses, not necessarily mentioning anything about “math”. Friends showed ways to create and build with them, including making letters and buildings. Then, our friend Beatrice shared something. “You can do math with these. Like patterns!” Friends then began making different types of AB and ABC patterns. Another friend, Addie, had another interesting idea. She explained how she could measure things with a long stick of unifix cubes.  We had a lively discussion about measurement and began measuring things around our circle. Another friend, Lucas, suggested, “Hey, we should put all our sticks together and build something!” and J’Den enthusiastically replied, “Lets do it together!” The kids then took charge on their own, negotiating what piece would go where and eventually decided as a class to build a long line as far as the unifix cubes could go. It was so exciting to see different friends lead and others practice listening to one another. It was a memorable and valuable lesson in working together. Dylan worked as project manager and directed friends to certain ends of the line. Tajanaye, Kalaya and Sascha were gatherers. Amaiah cheered people on. Everyone had a role. When the class piece was finally finished, we sat down and talked about what math had just taken place. Friends mentioned patterning, counting, measurement, and general building. We also talked about how we had worked together and labeled it as teamwork! What an incredible experience for only the first day of school.

Addie shares what she discovered. “You can measure things, like this.”