IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Today there was quite a lot of discussion about what we needed to do to prepare for the movie. The children made a list of the things we are going to work on tomorrow. Some of those things on the list are: set up chairs, set up tables, make signs for the tables, get the ticket booth ready. After we got done talking about this show, Joe turned to me and said, “I am SOOOOOOO excited!” That summed up how everyone is feeling right now!

Today we also celebrated many of our friends’ birthdays! They baked delicious cupcakes and we had fun celebrating them! Happy Birthday to our December birthday friends!

With the tragic news of this past Friday, I expected a little sadness or anxiety for the day from me. The moments before school indeed felt that way, but the children really brought such engagement, joy, and eagerness that all of that sadness and anxiety melted away soon into the day. I heard no one talk about the tragedy all day; instead it was joy and anticipation for the Hurricane Puppet Show coming up on Thursday.

I had so much fun with the children today! We danced, learned, discussed what we need to do to prepare for the puppet movie, talked about friendship, and really were present in the moment.

3 days until the show….

As you know, we have been working hard on critique and revision during Story Workshop.  Our Story Workshop Cycle has now grown to include the new phases that we have been working on: Think and Plan, Write a Draft, Critique, Revision, and Publish.  The students each have a clip with their name on it that they will move to reflect which part of the cycle they are working on.  Today we had one friend move into the publishing phase! Chairo started his final book and shared his experience at the end of the workshop.  Martavious shared a story that he wrote and published last year in Miss Estridge’s room.  It was great for the kids to see a finished product and have an idea of what they are working towards!

As I reflect about the sad news that occurred today, I am reminded about how thankful I am to be here teaching and guiding the children at the Lab School. Thank you for all of your support. Thank you for caring for each student in this class and school. Thank you for all that you do to celebrate the amazing things that are happening here.

I know that everyone is going to be hugging their little one a little closer tonight.

It was so interesting today watching Miss Jeffrey lead Reader’s Workshop today because there was such a great discussion on whether or not this certain book Miss Jeffrey read was non-fiction or fiction. She read two books about space-one was fiction and one was non-fiction. Then they compared the two books. Niall explained that one book was non-fiction because cats cannot go into space, and the other book was fiction because it gave us information. Isaac then interjected saying that the space book with a cat in it was non-fiction because it gave us information about space just like the other one. There was no resolution to the discussion, but it was a great example of children being able to state their opinion and know that there might be some agreeing and some disagreeing, but that there are valid points to all.

We did our second writing prompt today. We asked the children to write about a time they taught someone something. We only did it with half of the friends, but I was really impressed with how the children worked. There was a lot more writing and depth to these prompts compared to the first one. I look forward to seeing how they continue to progress throughout the year!

Miss Jeffrey led a great discussion about how to make friends feel better if you know they are upset or lonely, and there were some great ideas like make a picture, visit Maggie’s Joke Box, play with them, help them. We ended the day with the Friendship Meeting again, and so many friends were celebrated for their interactions with each other.