IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

This week, we began talking about bones! This morning, friends were invited to create watercolor pictures that illustrated the insides of dinosaur’s bodies. We also had a discussion about theories on why bones are important to people and dinosaurs. Friends were invited to look at some chicken bones and a raccoon skull on the light table. We also created representations of dinosaurs with pipe cleaners, and added the different bones we knew about to our model. We hope to discover more about bones and their functions this week!

Tags: design, dinosaurs, project

Regan and Miss Legg play a game together. We love our Butler friends so much!

Tajanaye on the “runway.”

Monica having a great time!

Hutton walks with confidence!

As you may know, this week, our class was introduced to the world of dress up. The kids have had so much fun using their imagination to create characters and scenarios for the stories they have created! Yesterday, Messi expressed interest in hosting a fashion show. I shared that it was New York Fashion Week and there had been many runway shows throughout the past few weeks to celebrate. Messi and his friends organized a troupe to dress up in fancy outfits and hit the runway. It was really neat to see Messi take a leadership role and tell friends how to line up, when to go down the runway, and demonstrate a pose they needed to strike at the end of the line. We even had a band playing music for our friends. One of the best parts was when the entire group went down the “runway” together laughing and singing. So much joy 🙂

Tags: creative, creativity, design, friendship

Predicting and testing.

Ruth and Christian begin an investigation.

This afternoon during studio and explore, I noticed three friends, Jenesis, Ruth, and Christian, building very enthusiastically over in the block area. After observing for a while, it was evident what they were working very hard to create- a marble launcher! They noticed their marbles didn’t have enough speed to get to the end of their almost 8 foot launcher. After trying different things out independently, Ruth said, “I think it needs more force!” The kids agreed, and together, they lifted the beginning piece higher. Christian said, “It’s higher, and the marble is more powerful.” Jenesis agreed. Their enthusiasm for their project spread through the classroom. By the end of the afternoon, there were almost 10 kids working together to shoot multiple marbles across the launcher. All were working together, communicating with their words, after careful observation and trial and error.

The building continues.

The group is enthused! A second marble launcher begins…

Tags: collaboration, creativity, curious, design, friendship, motivation, problem solving

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

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Tags: Clowes Hall, collaboration, design, drawing, experiment, field trip, Indianapolis Airport, paper airplane, problem solving, recycling, scientific method