IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Monica, Da'Sean and Aidan tap dance on the platform.

This morning when the kids came in, they were greeted by a transformed classroom. They found many pieces of furniture and materials re-arranged, learning spaces re-defined, and some new materials to explore with. One of the biggest changes was to our class built airplane. After much class debate and discussion, we have taken a portion of the airplane to remain in the classroom indefinitely, made it smaller, and changed its location. It can still have friends work inside it during all workshops and play and relax during studio and explore. Inside are bean bags that the kids loved trying out all day. We have also re-arranged our whole group meeting area and added some new seating (logs) that they kids can enjoy while we have our whole group meeting times. The new arrangement allows for some more space and a different aesthetic feel to the room! Our studio space has also been re-defined. The kids were so excited to see a large, blue platform in the space where the studio table once stood. “What is this, Mrs. Argus?” Monica and Da’Sean asked. I asked our friends back, “What could it be?” Friends began dancing on it and immediately labeled it a stage. Then different friends came over, Michael and Aidan, and transformed it into a mini airplane. They pretended to fly on it. Lucas, Zek and Tajanaye came over a little later and Lucas exclaimed, “Its a flying carpet!” They sat and “flew” together and laughed and laughed. Later on in the day, Ruth and Regan showed a large group of friends magic tricks they could perform on the platform. I love the new dimension of art that this “stage” brings to our studio space. Art is not only of the visual arts kind!  

An airplane ride.

A magic carpet ride.

Tags: art, collaboration, creativity, inspiration

The kids have been so excited all week about meeting again in our friendship circle. During calendar today, Miss Schmidt asked some of our friends what day was today. Angela told her it was Friday and said she knew because, “It is friendship circle day!”

During friendship circle, our two classes celebrated several friends that got to add pieces of fabric to the friendship loom. They got to do this by acting like a friend throughout the week.

Sydney and Emily share a handshake with our friendship circle.

After we recognized our special friends, Mrs. Bucher, Miss Schmidt and I asked the kids about special handshakes. What handshakes had they worked on this week? Did they have any prospective ideas for our friendship circle handshake? Many pairs shared what they had worked on this week. We saw many different kinds of handshakes, including some with hand clapping, hugs, noises, and counting. Next week, we will talk about deciding on a friendship circle handshake we can do each time we meet. We are so excited to see where this time leads us!

David and Da'Sean share a cool greeting with us.

Tags: creativity, friendship, project

Tajanaye tries out the drums.

 Today during studio and explore, several children were drawn to a medium sized, wooden basket that recently appeared in our classroom. Inside, our friends found special instruments from Mexico and Central America that Mrs. Argus has collected on trips. The kids loved trying out the maracas, pan pipe, and drums, just to name a few! Messi and Monica organized a group of about six friends and started leading a band. They would say in unison, “5, 6, 7, 8” and then the rest of the friends would start playing. What a neat way to work together to create something. This teamwork was discussed during our closing meeting. After playing in unison for a while, Messi and Angela noticed that while the band was playing beautiful music, there were no dancers to enjoy it! Angela called to the rest of the class, “WE NEED MORE DANCERS!” and a slew of friends ran over to the band and started dancing, imitating the way we have seen people from Mexico dance in videos. We had a fiesta in our very own classroom!

 

Friends dance to our Mexican band,

A jam session!

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: creative, creativity

Aidan explains his thinking.

Our class created hundreds chart.

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

One of the things the kids like to do in the morning is read the morning message and count our positive points. It has become a ritual for many friends in our room once they have gotten unpacked and settled in. Today, Aidan did something really special. He counted our positive points, and counted 74. Then, without prompting, he walked right over to our hundreds chart, found the number74 and proceeded to count up to 100. He then announced to me, “Mrs. Argus, we only need 26 more positive points until 100!” I asked him how he discovered his conclusion. He then articulately talked me through his thinking process and how he came to use our hundreds chart. Aidan’s discovery was so special that he then shared it during the sharing portion of our morning meeting. The class brainstormed other ways we could use the hundreds chart to problem solve. What a neat discovery, Aidan!

 

Friends present, "How Bella Lost Her Moo!"

 

For the past couple weeks, some of our friends have been reading a story called How Bella Lost Her Moo. It has lots of different animal parts that are fun to read and the kids decided they each wanted to read a seprate part when we would read in a group. One day, a friend suggested, “We should do this as a play!” The rest of the friends loved the idea and we began to prepare to present it to our class. We made puppets out of paper bags and practiced reciting our lines clearly and with emotion. Today, our friends presented the play to the rest of the class. Everyone was so proud and impressed with our performers! We will have to do more reader’s theater in the future- we have some wonderful actors!

 

 

Tags: arithmetic, capable, collaboration, creativity, curious, image of the child, problem solving

Monica and Sascha design their Spacemen.

We just began a new unit for Writer’s Workshop: Writer’s Write for an Audience. In talking about an audience reading back our books, our class started a discussion on using space in between our words when we write. We looked at two examples of Mrs. Argus’ writing. The first was “all mashed together” (as Messi said) and it looked “sloppy” (said Aidan). We looked at the second example of writing, which the class concluded was “much better” because there was space between words, or as we call it, finger space, and you “didn’t have to read it all fast” (Hutton) . I told the kids they would have an additional tool to help them leave finger space instead of just a finger- THE SPACEMAN! The spaceman is a little man (or woman) drawn onto a craft stick. This person encourages you to leave space by being inserted between words in your writing. The spaceman can be used again and again in any book and is a friendly reminder to write for your audience!

Sascha uses her spaceman to write.

Monica and Ruth try partner reading for the first time today during Reader's Workshop.

Tags: creativity, writing