IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Evey morning, we have share time as part of our morning meeting. This morning started with sharing about the State Fair and family outings. Then a friend called on Regan to share, and she said something a little different.

“I think we should have, like jobs.”

After hearing a chorus of “yeahs!” We delved a little deeper to find out what exactly Regan meant by jobs. She shared that our class had jobs last year and she would like to see that continued. I then presented the kids with a question, “Well why do we need jobs?” Friends expressed the desire to keep our room tidier and assist in caring for the room. Then Sascha brought up an interesting math problem. She said, “Well we have more kids than last year, so we will need to have more kids doing each job. Last year we had 20 kids doing a job and it was 2 kids for a job. This year, we may need to do like 3 kids for a job, because we have more than 20.” Messi suggested something else, “Well what if some jobs had 2 people, and some had 3, and some had 2, and some had 3?” Bea shouted, “Like a pattern?!” Then another friend brought up another point. Tajanaye said, “Well what if we don’t want to do jobs everyday? Like just some days?” This led us to a discussion about whether or not jobs should be done every day or on rotating days. Friends took turns sharing their opinion and mentioned when they supported one another’s ideas. After a while of sharing opinions, Jo’Vyon suggested something- “We should take a survey.” With Jo’Vyon’s suggestion, we decided to vote on whether or not we would have jobs every day or on rotating days. By a little bit, we decide on having jobs every day. Later on, we revisited our conversation about jobs. It goes as follows.

Why should we have jobs? Mrs Argus

Because its like grownups jobs. Beatrice

So our room will look more tidy. Lucas

The people that clean want it to look nice. My grandma has a job. Tajanaye

My dad works at Fishers High School. Maria

My mom is a lawyer and gets people outta jail. Miles

My dad works on cars and fixes them and gets paid. BreAnna

My mommy works at a food place and a doctor place. Amiah

My grandma works at IPS, she helps people learn. J’Den

My mom is a doctor and helps kids, too. Beatrice

My dad is going back to college to be a nurse. Lucas

My dad, he works at Angie’s list! Dylan

My mommy is a nurse. Messi

Our conversation could have kept going, the kids were so enthusiastic to share about loved ones that they knew with jobs. I am wondering if Regan’s simple idea could turn into a larger investigation on jobs and their purpose… tune back to see!

Tags: collaboration, creative, inspiration, responsible

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

What an exciting first day we had! The day was filled with singing, dancing, making friends, and learning new routines. Today during math workshop, the children were invited to explore one of our math manipulatives, unifix cubes. We sat in a circle and had an open discussion about their possible uses, not necessarily mentioning anything about “math”. Friends showed ways to create and build with them, including making letters and buildings. Then, our friend Beatrice shared something. “You can do math with these. Like patterns!” Friends then began making different types of AB and ABC patterns. Another friend, Addie, had another interesting idea. She explained how she could measure things with a long stick of unifix cubes.  We had a lively discussion about measurement and began measuring things around our circle. Another friend, Lucas, suggested, “Hey, we should put all our sticks together and build something!” and J’Den enthusiastically replied, “Lets do it together!” The kids then took charge on their own, negotiating what piece would go where and eventually decided as a class to build a long line as far as the unifix cubes could go. It was so exciting to see different friends lead and others practice listening to one another. It was a memorable and valuable lesson in working together. Dylan worked as project manager and directed friends to certain ends of the line. Tajanaye, Kalaya and Sascha were gatherers. Amaiah cheered people on. Everyone had a role. When the class piece was finally finished, we sat down and talked about what math had just taken place. Friends mentioned patterning, counting, measurement, and general building. We also talked about how we had worked together and labeled it as teamwork! What an incredible experience for only the first day of school.

Addie shares what she discovered. “You can measure things, like this.”