IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

We had an awesome time today at the museum.  The students loved exploring the Ruby Bridges exhibit.  They learned new things about Ruby, made connections to what we had already discussed, and came up with questions they are still curious about.  Ask them about their experience tonight!

Mrs. Clark and Miss Cegielski’s classes are having a combined pajama and movie party tomorrow! Students may wear their pajamas to 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!

This morning, our daily question was, “After break, would you like to have an author celebration?”

To our delight, 100% of our class answered YES! I haden’t planned on discussing the details during Story Workshop, but BreAnna had a great suggestion, “Lets come up with a team of people who can talk about what needs to be done!” Friends got so excited during this time that we decided we had to talk about our celebration then and there. Per BreAnna’s suggestion, we made a list of all the possibilities we would like to include for our Author Celebration.

Some of the suggestions were:

Invite families!

Have friends share their books on a stage

Have it after January 7 (Bea said, “We can’t have it on the 1st, we won’t be there!)

Have treats

Create a whole class book to share

The kids enthusiasm is CONTAGEOUS- and I love that they are making this event their own. One of the many great parts of being at The Lab School.

Today our classes joined together to watch the movie, Ruby Bridges.  The children were so excited to see the movie and they were making connections to what we have already discussed while they were watching.  Last week, we analyzed the different perspectives in the Norman Rockwell painting that depicts Ruby Bridges walking to school with the U.S. marshals.  When this part happened in the movie the students made the connection to the painting, “Look those are the marshals that protected her!”  They were completed engaged during the movie and we can’t wait to see their reactions to The Power of Children Exhibit at the museum tomorrow!

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….