IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

•  

  

  Angela mixes the avocados.

Creating together.

This morning as the kids came in, they were greeted with the aroma of fresh avacados. Friends were invited to watch the avacados be cut open, help  remove the green fruit, and mash it in preperation for guacamole. Each child had a chance to help mash and mix the green pulp into a smooth blend. After it was nice and creamy, we added some salsa (about half a jar) to the avacados and mixed some more. Then, we tried our creation! I was so proud, while not all of our friends loved the guacamole, all of them did try it with brave faces. Below are some of the descriptions from our friends.

Messi- “It tastes real spicy!”

Hutton- “Spicy!”

Ruth- “The guacamole is creamy.”

Zek- “Mine tastes like peanut butter.”

Da’Sean- “It tastes like popcorn.”

Aidan- “Its a little spicy, but I like it.”

David- “I didn’t like it cuz I tasted guacamole before and I didn’t like it.”

Lucas- “It tastes like an ice cube, it really did. I dipped it on the top and I got a big chunk like an ice cube.”

Regan- “It’s GOOOOOOOD!”

Monica- “It’s good and spicy! I ate all of mine!”

 A lot of interest was taken in the large avocado pits inside the fruit too. Friends asked, “Why are they so big?” “What are those things?” Jenesis held the pits up to her face and said, “Look, they look like eyes!” We decided we would try an experiment to see if we could get the avocado seeds to grow. At the end of the day, we placed each of the five avocado seeds inside a large plastic baggie with a wet paper towel. We decided to tape the baggies up against our windows in our classroom and outside in the hallway so they can get light and see if anything sprouts! We learned that the avocado seed could take up to 6 weeks to grow, so we will be practicing our patience.

Friends enjoy the end of our Mexico video and sample guacamole.

Kaitlyn and Lucas learn a new math game during math workshop today.

Tags: capable, collaboration, curious

Michael drives his car on 465.

One of our new materials in class is cars. We have a tub with various sizes and types of cars that the kids love making ramps for and building streets for. Today, I noticed several friends running their cars over maps we have set up in the classroom. Aidan was tracing a thick red line on our Indianapolis map on our wall. “Its driving!” Aidan and I talked about how the thick red line made a box around Indianapolis. I explained that its a very busy highway- the 465 Interstate! Michael came over and began tracing his car along 465 as well. I am really excited to see where this global, map, geography investigation takes our class.

Tags: capable, curious, inspiration

Cameron and Miss Schmidt look at a globe together. Cameron spots Antarctica!

David and Aidan use teamwork to solve a tricky world map puzzle.

“Its the Indianapolis Airport!”- Messi

“Look, Zek, its an airport!”

 

 

Tags: curious, inspiration, thinking

The class in front of an Indiana nature mural.

Friends watch the airplanes take off and land from the balcony.

Tags: curious, field trip, Indianapolis Airport, inspiration, project

In addition to our Block A friends from Butler who come every Wednesday, we have another Butler class who visits us on a regular basis. They are part of an arts integration class through the college of education and are learning how to integrate the arts into our project work and regular curriculum. Every week, a small group of these students pull a group of our classmates and work with them on something related to flight. Last week, some of our friends learned an awesome song about a Bi-Plane. Today, our friends experimented with creating airplane wings and talking about the concept of lift when the wing was held in front of a fan- incredible!

Tags: capable, curious, design, paper airplane, project, think