IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Friends wave to the “girls”!

This week, we have been in charge of taking care of the chickens- we’re the chicken stewards! Today, we were able to collect 3 eggs from the “girls”. When we came inside for math workshop, we began an impromptu conversation about what to do with the eggs we collected. Messi suggested baking a cake. Regan suggested giving them to Miss Judy, our cafeteria lady. Some friends liked the idea of giving them to Miss Judy but weren’t sure if they wanted to give them all away. We talked about how it might feel good to give to someone else. Regan mentioned that Miss Judy may need all of the eggs to make pancakes for breakfast. Another friend, J’Den, suggested something else.

How about we give her half? J’Den

What is half? Mrs. Argus

Like not all of them, but some. Half! J’Den

If you go, one for me, one for you, one for me, one for you, its half! Messi

But how do we know what half is? We only have three right now. We may get 10 by the end of the week, what would half be? Mrs. Argus

I have an idea, we should do this as like a math workshop problem. J’Den

Going off of J’Den’s suggestion, we grabbed a manipulative (the bears) and closed our eyes and pretended they were eggs. I laid out 6 bears in two rows, 3 and 3. We talked about how half would be one of the rows. We then laid out 8 bears and talked about how one row of 4 would be half. We practiced spotting half in 10 bears. The kids were then challenged with another question…

But what if we only get 9 eggs this week? Mrs. Argus

You give Miss Judy half! See, these for us, these for her… uh oh… J’Den

Its not fair! Beatrice

It doesn’t work. We should probably give Miss Judy more then us.  J’Den

When you can’t divide it fairly, its an odd. Fairly is an even. Mrs. Argus

Odds and evens! Odds and evens! Lucas

We then practiced noticing when numbers could be divided fairly, and when they couldn’t, and described them as either odds or evens.

J’Den talks about odds and evens with the egg problem.

Mr. Henderson and I also noticed a new interest in our classroom- dinosaurs! Throughout last week, friends were making dinosaur puppets and using a few small plastic dinosaurs to tell stories during story workshop. We noticed a lot of conversation circulating around this idea too. Today, we put out pictures of dinosaur bones with some clay and asked the kids to explore the clay. Many friends were inspired to create parts of dinosaurs and even eggs! Addie shared a really neat connection during the day as well- both chickens and dinosaurs lay eggs! I wonder if we will find any other connections…

Addie points out her noticing in a dinosaur book. Great observation!

Tags: arithmetic, capable, chickens, collaboration, curious, problem solving

Wow what a great day we had! I wanted to share a little bit about Math Workshop today and how it will work in the future. Today during Math Workshop, we looked at a few addition story problems that I had projected up on the big screen. We read them as a class and talked about what exactly they meant. Friends took turns modeling the stories with three different  manipulatives they were invited to use. After we practiced a few together, I challenged the kids to try it on their own. I read another story to them from the screen and they were invited to find a manipulative that they were comfortable working with. By their own choosing, the kids sat in little groups together around their selected material and many talked through their problems and thinking with one another. It was really neat to watch this happen naturally. Many friends even chose to work with the number set, a higher set of numbers that can be inserted into the problem. Eventually, I will be adding several number sets to choose from and we will discuss what a “Just Right” number set may be for each friend. During Math Workshop, the kids will always be encouraged to share their thinking with one another. It helps them think through their own process and also may help come to an understanding they did not have before. Listening and supporting one another during workshops also help build our classroom community. We plan on problem solving like this for the rest of the week. Gradually, friends will begin to have the problem typed in their math notebook and will be invited to show their thinking in their notebook after using manipulatives (or use the notebook as a manipulative by drawing pictures).

Tags: arithmetic, capable, collaboration

On Wednesday, one of our friends noticed there was a clear plastic jar sitting on top of the block area. They were very intrigued and wanted to know what the objects were inside! We talked about how this jar is the Estimation Jar and it will be used each week to practice our estimation skills. This week, I placed wooden wheels inside the jar. The kids were encouraged not to open the jar and count, rather guess how many are inside. Messi shared with the class a wonderful explanation of estimation:Estimation is figuring out how many without counting. After our discussion and Messi’s explanation, friends were encouraged to write their name and estimation on a card and pin it up to the wall. We have been anxiously watching more and more guesses pop up! Today at the end of the day, we sat down and talked about each estimation. We will practice making reasonable estimations and learning when some are not so reasonable. After we talked, we counted. What did we find? We discovered that there were 45 wheels in the jar- really close to Beatrice’s estimation of 49! Very exciting! The kids are excited to see what inside the jar next week.

The estimation jar. Can you tell how many wheels are inside?

Tags: arithmetic, collaboration, curious