IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Next week, I will be traveling to The Opal School in Portland, Oregon with several other colleagues from The IPS/Butler University Laboratory School. We will be engaging in some professional development to enhance our teaching skills and also be visiting a school that is very highly regarded in project based and Reggio inspired learning. I am so sad to leave the class for an entire week but know, with full confidence, that things will be in good hands with Miss Schmidt and all of our Butler support. Today, Miss Schmidt and I talked to the kids about what would be happening and assured them that I would be back the next week. We talked a little bit about Portland and where it is and the kids were interested in how long it would take (on an airplane, imagine that!) for me to get there. Sascha also suggested the class keeps track of the weather in Portland and the weather in Indy and note any similarities and differences. What a fabulous idea! I will be checking in with Miss Schmidt daily and also check my email on a daily basis while I am on the trip. I feel so fortunate to be a part of a school where professional development such as this is possible- and so fortunate that I have a wonderful student teacher who will lead our troops wonderfully -AND wonderful children and families who are supportive of my growth as well as their own. Have a wonderful evening!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 BLAST OFF!  We are on our way into Space.  We read some books today on rockets, watched a shuttle launch on NASA’s website (which the children were just fascinated by), and then some friends made rockets during our Project Work/Free Choice time.  It was so fun and they were asking so many great questions so I am excited to see where this goes.  The three friends that were making the rockets out of found materials were talking about making “boosters”, and the “triangle on top” and the “wings” so I am excited to see that they are remembering what we have talked about when it comes to rockets/space shuttles.

Today while reading Charlotte’s Web the children were so captivated by what we were reading.  When I got to a stopping point, they begged me to keep reading!  It was great so I kept reading!!  We have about 40 pages left in the book so I am going to start looking for a new chapter book to read with the children!

Three of the rockets that were made today...BLAST OFF!

Some of our friends making rockets!

CJ, Dorothy, and David are excited about making their birthday cupcakes!

We had our February birthday celebration today!  I know our three friends, CJ, Dorothy, and David were counting down the days until they got to bake their cupcakes.  They came into school cheering about it!

Dorothy is busy adding sprinkles!

All three friends are working together to make the cupcakes!

Exploring our new sensory table material.

“Mrs. Argus- a flower!” Hutton

Cameron and Kaitlyn do drawings of their grass heads.

The grass heads are getting some sun.

What a fabulous day. We have a new material to explore in our sensory table- dirt! We are also becoming familiar with some gardening tools while we play with this. Our friends were also enjoying doing observational drawings of the many plants and new growth around the room. Hutton even pointed out a blossom on a plant that has been in our room quite a while! Perhaps we will look into why this blossom just sprouted recently. We have also created grass people. These people look like heads that have been stuffed with pine shavings and grass seed. We dipped them in water and placed them upright on a sunny table in our room. We are hoping the grass will grow and look like hair! Each day, it will be the kids’ responsibility to document what has happened to their “head” and draw a picture showing any changes, just as a scientist would.

Tags: curious, garden, project, scientific method

We discuss creating a cutting with one of our favorite plants!

Cameron and Maggie help plant our new cutting for preschool.

Monica shares her book from writer’s workshop.

Miss Schmidt reads A Seed is Planted to us and our preschool friends.

Kaitlyn presents our cutting to the preschool.

Last week, we read a story called A Seed is Planted. This is the story of one child who starts a chain of giving by creating a small clipping of a sapling. The children were engrossed with the idea of how just one seed turned into many. We read it again today and together, we created cuttings of several plants in our own room. Carriea then suggested something special.

We can take a plant and give it to other people and it might grow! Carriea

We can take it and break it in half like in the book and keep doing the same thing over and over again. Aidan

The one seed is going to grow a lot, and we made another one. Messi

Their buckets are going to explode! Angela

It feels good to fill buckets. Carriea

During writer’s workshop, Monica created a book called, All About Planting a Garden. Inside, the story read, “To plant a garden, you need to get seeds, water, and sunlight. And when the plant is done growing, you can give it to somebody. And the flower is bright like the sun.” After sharing, Michael exclaimed, “It’s just like A Seed is Planted!”  

Later this afternoon, we decided to put Carriea’s idea into action. We went down to the preschool room and shared our story and cutting with them. The kids remarked how good it felt to share our plant with the preschool. It was also a nice way to reflect on some of our newly learned knowledge of how to take care of the plant and answer some of the preschooler’s questions about plant growth in general.

Tags: friendship, garden, inspiration, preschool, project