IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today was a really fun day! We continued to learn about schema and how because all of our experiences are different, our schema is different. The children are understanding this more and more which is helping them with the understanding of the texts around them.

We had some astronaut ice cream and helmets donated by Jett’s mom today and boy did we have an exciting time trying on the helmets and eating the ice cream. Mr. Nored held a lively conversation with the class about why astronaut ice cream was different than the ice cream we eat here on earth. There were many thoughtful responses like”There are no freezers in space!” and “It would melt!”

We finished our class book All About Clementines today which finished our conversation on the five senses and juicy words for now. We have been encouraging the children to seek out those juicy words in books that they are reading as well as use them in their own writing!

We ended the day today with a dance party with the whole Lab School! It was such a fun way to end the great week we all had!

Today we figured out that it might take a while to get out into space because we are still working on our space suits and helmets…they keep wanting to work on them and are so engaged that we do not want to rush this experience.  We will continue to work on these things next week so that we are better prepared for space travel.

The children have been learning about schema and continuing to learn about how using our five senses can help give us “juicy” words to help us with our reading and writing.  Yesterday Mr. Nored began writing a class book all about clementines.  They looked at some real clementines and used some great descriptions to talk about what the clementines looked like.  Then, today we focused on the smell and the sound?  Oh my gosh!  I thought the sound part would be difficult, but they were so creative with figuring out that it sounds like it is cracking when it is being peeled!  They were really enjoying the smell of them as we passed around the clementines so we might have had to eat some of them…haha!

We hope the moon journals have been fun to do with your child!!  Mr. Nored and I each mornign have been talking about how the moon looked the night before so we have to do moon journals too now!

It is hard to see but this is a rocket (left) and some constellation artwork (right) of space that some friends put together today! We left it up because they worked so hard on it!

Mekhi looking through our awesome new telescope!

Today was Drum Day in our room at the Lab School! We were painting drums, making drums, inquirying about drums, and using drums!

Our day began by adding water colors to our painting of our observational drawings of instruments. Then, during morning meeting, we each asked a question about music. Many questions inquired about how to make or build certain instruments, mostly drums.

During studio time today, our Butler Teachers helped us make instruments. We all got to make our own drums out of plastic cups, beans, balloons and rubber bands. They were a big hit!

Martavious counts the beans that go inside of his drum.

At the end of the day, we used our drums to create different rhythmic patterns. It was exciting to see the musical inclinations of our students!

Aaliyah, Chloe, and Jamaria work with Ms. Schrock to make their drums.

I’m excited to see where our music project takes us. I forsee further drum exploration in our future!

Shayla shows us her new balloon drum.

This is going to be hard for me to resist and hard for me to forget.  Lucas

This quote brings so much warmth to my heart. These words were spoken by Lucas during our worm dissection with the wonderful Mrs. Grotjan and Miss Robison. Lucas’ words embody the essence of Reggio inspired, project based learning and what our goal here is at the Lab School- facilitate a love of learning. Today, our studio teachers gathered small groups of friends to engage in a detailed worm investigation that included a dissection. It proved to be a fascinating and captivating experience for all involved! Tomorrow, more friends will participate in the activity. I can’t wait to see what about the investigation interests them and what observations will come. More documentation on this incredible experience is coming.

The worm is captivating!

Messi and Cameron work as scientists.

Hutton investigates.

Journey and her worm.

Tags: capable, curious, garden, project, scientific method

Today we had a lot of conversations about trees!  I noticed yesterday that a lot of friends were looking through the tree books and asking about roots.  “What are those?”  “What do they do?”  Today, with the help of white roses, we talked a little bit about roots.  During morning meeting, we added food coloring to jars of water and put the roses in them.  As a class we made predictions about what might happen.  Tylisha said she had seen it before and the flowers were going to change colors!  Some of the other friends agreed, but a few are still skeptical.  Check back in the next few days to see what happens!

What do you think will happen to the white roses?

Selah's tree

This afternoon, we celebrated the warm day and went outside to do observational drawings of the trees.  It was interesting to hear what the kids had to say about their noticings.  Max noticed the bark, or as he called it “skin” on the tree.  Wyatt noticed the buds at the end of the trees.  Selah noticed all the different branches.  They were so observant!

Wyatt was busy working on his tree drawing.

Salih was very focused on his tree.