IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Our friends are busy trading!

This afternoon we had a special event.  Mrs. Argus’ class had earned a party for their class.  They were allowed to invite another class and they picked us!  So at the end of the day today we were invited to a Trading Card and Ice Cream Party!

I have not blogged about trading cards yet, but they were something that started in studio with Mrs. Grotjan.  They are cards that the kids design with different studio materials.  They create different pieces of art that can be traded with other students.  We have this as an option during Free Choice each day and there are friends who spend their entire time making trading cards.

Needless to say we were very excited to be asked to come to a Trading Card AND Ice Cream Party.  The kids were counting down all day!

Ice Cream for Max and Lucas!

Look at all of our friends eating the ice cream in Mrs. Argus' airplane!

All of our friends love trading cards!

Cameron and Monica are trading away!

Today we had our January birthday celebration!  Thank you to Olivia’s mom for coming in and helping her make the class cupcakes!

Smile!

This week we went on a hunt!  For the past two days the kids have been “hunting” for different lengths of items in the classroom.  Each student was given a string to find things that were the same, longer, and shorter.  They were so excited to find the items in the room!

Salhi is measuring away to find something that is the same length of his string.

We also have another new friend in our classroom!  Raki joined us today and will be with us for the rest of the year 🙂  She is a great addition to our wonderful classroom community.  As with out last new friend, our kids have been so welcoming and helpful!

Raki loves to smile!

Today in Math Workshop, I introduced a new area to the students.  As I have said before, the workshop is split into two sections, one working with me on the lesson and the other playing math games.  Today I introduced math puzzles. (These will take place during math game time.)  Each student has a folder that will hold different independent puzzles.  These are not what you would typically think of as a puzzle, but rather a number game.   For example, today each student started with a hundreds chart that had spaces left blank.  The students had to look and figure out which number was missing.  They could count or they could notice patterns in the numbers to figure out their answer.  Either way they are working with numbers in their head!  As we get into this routine, I will add more advanced puzzles and mind games for the students to complete.  I know I have said this all week, but I was so proud of their work today!  They all took these puzzles very seriously!

Each day we ask the kids to answer a lot of questions.  Instead of telling them what to do, it is more effective if the kids problem solve to figure out the process and answer themselves.  Today, I posed two questions.  In Math Workshop I asked, “Which line is longer?”  During our science exploration I asked, “How do you grow grass?”  I am very proud to say that both questions were answered quite well!

During Math Workshop, we have been focusing on measuring.  So today, there were two tape lines on the floor.  Once I asked the kids about the lines, I observed them brainstorm.  One student said, “Maybe we can use a ruler, no wait…that didn’t work for the straight line yesterday.”  Another student jumped in and said, “Wait!  We can use the tape measure that we learned about yesterday!”  (In my head I thought ‘connection!’)  After the group had decided what their process was we went off to measure and answer the question.  With the use of the tape measure, we actually found out that the zig-zag line was longer even though it appeared shorter!  The group’s conclusion was it is always important to measure!!

Which line is longer?

This afternoon, I was working with a group of students on this week’s science exploration.  Once I posed the question we had a list of ideas!  “Grass needs soil!”  “Grass needs water!”  “Grass needs food!”  With very excited students I introduced the idea of growing grass in gloves.  By putting a water soaked cotton ball into each fingertip of the glove, the kids had their “soil” and water.  They then added grass seeds to each cotton ball.  Once this process was complete, I posed another question.  “Can you grow grass in a dark room?”  The students all thought I was funny and instantly responded, “NO!  We need sunlight!”  Then as a group, we decided to tape the gloves out in the hall on the window so the grass would have a chance to grow.

A few of our grass gloves taped in the window.

When reflecting back on just these two situations, I am so proud of the kids and how they were constantly problem solving!  They are continually working together to accomplish goals 🙂