IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Kristien and Reed explain their game!

Journey and Lucas carefully look over one another’s cards. Which will they trade?

As you may know, our class works together to earn Positive Points. These points are earned when as a class, we are peaceful, kind, following directions, or showing any other kind of exemplary behavior. About a week ago, we earned our goal of 100 Positive Points! As a class, we talked about and debated what our celebration would be. We eventually decided we would like to have an ice cream party. Then, Da’Sean brought up a neat idea, “What if we invited friends?” We felt that Da’Sean’s idea of sharing our celebration with friends was so great, we had to do it! On Friday, we decided to invite Mrs. Clark’s class for an ice cream and trading card party. We wrote and then delivered a letter to their class. Thankfully, they accepted our offer! Today, Mrs. Clark’s class came over at 2:15 and we began our trading event. The kids practiced our trading agreements of trading peacefully, being kind when they did not want to trade with someone, and respecting our agreement of “no re-trading”. We had such a good time visiting with one another and honoring one another’s artwork and hard work! After our trading event was over, we enjoyed ice cream together. To top it off, Mrs. Clark’s class had a special surprise to share with us- a class created limbo game! (Ask a friend from Mrs. Clark’s class about the inception of the game!) Reed and Kristien explained how the game worked and helped us carefully navigate the limbo game. Everybody had a chance to go through and then an impromptu dance party erupted- so much fun! We are so glad to celebrate good behavior and friendship in such positive ways!

Tags: art, creativity, friendship, trading cards

Friends enjoy the dollhouse.

Today, our friends were greeted this morning by yet another new material- a dollhouse. It was neat to see that most of the children spent at least some of their morning arrival or free choice time with the new material. They took turns playing with different characters, creating an assortment of scenarios for their dolls, and practiced negotiating with one another who would play next.

Regan and Cameron learn a new math game with a clock!

Aidan, Lucas, and Da’Sean play The Very Hungry Caterpillar on our “stage”.

 

Tags: friendship

Kaitlyn offers Aidan his preference on marker color choice for our new game. FRIENDSHIP!

Jenesis works on the new game.

As you may know, have been investigating measurement during Math Workshop. To continue practicing measurement with a ruler, Miss Schmidt invented a new game that the kids absolutely love. Here are some pictures of our friends working together on the new game.

Tags: arithmetic, friendship, problem solving

Miss Estridge celebrating the achievements of a lunch agreement follower!

Over the past few weeks, our class has been brainstorming ways for us to make a more peaceful lunch. One day right before winter break, we came to the conclusion we needed lunch agreements to guide us and our peers in a successful lunch time. As a class, we drafted five agreements and then asked our fellow classes for suggestions. Each friend in our class had a chance to present the agreements to the other classes and field questions and comments regarding them. We were met with overwhelming support from our peers and created draft posters with our five agreements on them.

1. Eat your food.

2. Talk in a whisper (soft voice)

3. Listen to all teachers

4. Stay in  your seat.

5. Be peaceful (kind and calm)

Each day at the end of lunch, the teachers on lunch duty have taken time to acknowledge friends from all the classes that are following these lunch agreements. They have been met with celebration from their friends and much applause. It has been a powerful experience to see the kids start to hold one another accountable for a more enjoyable lunch experience. I even had a friend (who shall remain anonymous 🙂 ) say, “Boy my family could use some lunch agreements!”

Friendly conversation!

Tags: friendship

Miss Robinson helps Ruth try a new technique for her trading card.

Regan experiments with the ruler.

This week during math, we have practiced measuring things in many different ways. We began measuring items around our room with our own hands and then compared results with our friends. We’ve had several conversations about why the results were sometimes different. After investigating the different techniques of measurement, items measured, and then eventually one another’s hands, our friends decided that results were not consistent because people’s hands are different sizes, thus, different results! After our discovery that non-standard measurement can be inconsistent, we worked with a manipulative called the inch worms (you might remember we measured our 24 foot airplane with these) and measured different items around the room with inches in this way. Today, Miss Schmidt and I introduced the ruler to our group. We began by letting the kids investigate and experiment with the ruler. What did they notice? What markings are on the ruler? Is it the same size as anything around you? Tajanaye noticed something very powerful- “It matches the inch worms. I can line then up like this!” Tajanaye then lined up 12 inch worms next to the 12 inch ruler. The kids all looked in amazement- the ruler is made up of inches, 12 inches to be in fact! Ruth then brought up the fact that the other side of the ruler had different markings than the inch side (which had the numbers 1-12 to indicate each inch) and Ruth observed that these numbers went up to 30. She suggested that they looked awfully close to half inches. She also noted that, “No matter which way you look at it, both sides are still equal to 12 inches!” What a fabulous observation.

Tags: arithmetic, friendship, problem solving, think