IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Kristien is sharing his snake painting.

As we shared last week, we finished writing the first draft of our play.  This week we are going to be working on revising it.  Today we made our first attempt at this.  As a class we decided on the protocol to revise.  If a friend has an idea they can present it to the class and together we vote on if we would all like to include it in the play. (This is everyone’s play so we all have a say!)  This afternoon, Kristien brought a new character to our play.  He wanted to revise the play and add a snake to the story.  He explained his thoughts and together we all decided to add the new character!

This afternoon, during Math Workshop, we started to talk and learn about pennies.  As we start studying money, I can already tell that the kids are excited about it!  Today we talked about it’s value and the different things we noticed about the penny.

BreAnna is looking for Abraham Lincoln on the penny.

Just a reminder: We are having our April Family Night next week on April 19th at 6:00pm.  We will have activities that have to do with Science.  Get ready to have some fun!

Today we started exploring the concept of photosynthesis.  Over the last few days we have been talking about how the trees help the earth. (When trees make their own food through photosynthesis, they also have left over oxygen that they push out into the air.)  At the beginning of our talks the kids could tell me that the trees take in the bad air and push out the good air.  While this is a simple explanation, I wanted them to know more!  My goal is for them to gain new vocabulary such as photosynthesis, oxygen, and carbon dioxide!  So today we experimented with this idea.  This morning I set up an experiment.  Together, we completely submerged an aquatic plant in water.  We then put it under a light that represented out “sunlight.”  As the kids watched me set this up Dorothy made an impressive prediction.  She said, “I think the water will turn bubbly.”  Reid helped her out by explaining that the good air would be the bubbles in the water.  As the day went on the kids were very excited to see what was going to happen to the plant.  At the end of the day each friend got a chance to closely observe it.  Many said, “I see bubbles!”  They were very excited about this!  We had a short conversation that the bubbles were made by the plant and the fancy word for the bubbles would be oxygen.  While this may seem like a intense topic, I know that after a few more experiments and experiences all of the kids will be able to explain photosynthesis!

David and Selah are observing the bubbles in the water.

Do you see the oxygen?!

Monday and Tuesday we began exploring the Greek symbols for each planet.  With the research that was happening with each group, a friend found the Greek symbol for their planet in a book.  That began a wonderful discussion of the Greek symbols and why they look the way they do.  The children each got their planet’s Greek sumbol and then they made out of their choice of materials.  We took photographs of them and then put them up in our room so we could reference our new knowledge.

Today we had a beautiful walk to and from The Children’s Museum.  On the way there and back we noticed the houses, the Moon that was out, and really enjoyed getting that fresh air.  While at the Museum, the children were so excited to see the show about “The Secrets of the Cardboard Rocket!”  Madeline P. said, “I feel lucky because I know a story about stars!”  Jamari noticed that when the show began it seemed like we were moving.   He said, “It is moving!  We are moving!”  As we were learning about all of the planets, Emily said, “Earth is small!  It doesn’t feel it when you are on it!”We learned new things about each planet which we will take with us for a long time!

Saturn's Greek symbol that Oliver, Mekhi, and Geneva worked on!

Walking back from The Children's Museum.

Our first week of implementing story workshop in the classroom has been filled with discovery about the processes of authors. The kids were introduced to three different materials during free choice times and encouraged to explore and experiment. Later, during Story Workshop time, the kids were asked to see if they could use the same materials to enhance their own writing and search for a process that worked for them as an author. Do they prefer to write first, then illustrate with materials? Do they prefer to work on painting a picture with watercolors for several days and then write? Do they like to write, illustrate, write, illustrate, and so on? These are the things we hoped the kids would work through as we delved into this journey.

Today, Aidan decided he was done with his story. He had worked all of Monday’s Story Workshop on an intricate watercolor of magical color changing flowers and taken the two following days to write the corresponding story into a book. After some together, Aidan announced he wanted to publish his story.

We began by Aidan reading his words from the story and myself transcribing onto a word document. Upon typing, I wondered how Aidan would prefer his writing to be typed. Should I follow his lead of invented spelling or type the known “adult” spellings instead? Aidan read me his title, All About Plants.  As I began to type the title of his book, instinctively, my hands typed the adult spelling “all” instead of Aidan’s “ol”. Aidan watched the screen and corrected my typing.

“Mrs. Argus? I actually spelled it “O” “L” for “all”.”

“Oops! I made a mistake Aidan. Can you repeat that to me?”

“Sure, “O” “L”. All!”

We continued this process of Aidan reading his story and me observing his written words as he read, being as careful as possible to honor his writing. We stopped several times to make sure all words were represented exactly the way Aidan had written.

After printing and looking at the final piece, Aidan noticed something.

“Hmm…”

“What’s that Aidan? Do you want to change something?”

“Well, no. I can’t change it now.”

“Of course you can. That’s what authors do. They revise and edit.”

“Revise and edit? Like make it different?”

“Authors go back and change things they want to make better.”

“I want to edit this. Right here. I have an exclamation mark for this sentence but not for this one. Or this other one. Lets add those.”

At this point, Lucas walked over to the computer screen and crouched down beside us.

“What’s this all about?” Lucas said, motioning to the screen.

Aidan explained he was publishing his story.

“You know, Aidan, you could do two or three exclamation marks if you are really excited, instead of just one.”

“I think I want to do that. Can I do that?”

“Of course you can! You’re the author! Add them in.”

While Aidan, Lucas and I added in punctuation for each sentence, Zek came over to the screen.

“Wow! Its official now.”

“It’s published!” said Lucas.

“Mrs. Argus, I would really like to share this. I wrote like an author.”

Tags: collaboration, creativity, story workshop, writing