IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

This morning, Ms. Simpson gave me four Hedge Apples she found on her way to school. What’s a Hedge Apple, you ask? That’s what we were trying to figure out all day! The odd looking, wrinkly fruits are green and fresh smelling, and come from certain trees located in the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood. We presented them to the kids this morning and asked them, “What is a Hedge Apple?” After a little bit of research and talking to some other adults who knew of the strange fruit, we learned that some people believe Hedge Apples have special powers- particularly keeping away spiders and insects. Friends were then inspired to create their own magic Hedge Apple stories throughout their free time and during Story Workshop. We hope to learn more about these intriguing things Monday!

Tags: curious, garden, inspiration, story telling, story workshop

Yesterday, one of our Block A students, Miss Weese, led an experience on the senses. She and a small group of students harvested basil and peppers from our garden and then created a dip to enjoy! The whole class got to taste the dip and talked about how it connected to their five senses.

It tasted like Basil!  Regan

It tasted sweet! Addie

I think it smelled like cheese. Dylan

Its a different kind of smell- cheese and watery. Amiah

I hear the dipping. Addie

I heard the sounds of people crunching. And I heard a scrape when I dipped the pepper! Tajanaye

I think it feels good to make your own food. That way you can grow big and strong. J’Den

I also wanted to share something we have been spending a lot of time on during Reader’s Workshop- reading strategies. The past two weeks, we have been working on Ready Rooster (getting ready for the first sound in the word) and Stretchy Snake (stretching the word for all the sounds you hear). This week, we have been working with Chunky Monkey (finding word parts that are friendly to you and chunking them as you read). Mr. Henderson created this amazing and funny video on blabberize.com with a monkey talking with his voice. We have been projecting it on the big screen and having the kids do chunking activities with the Chunky Monkey. The kids LOVE it!

Tags: garden, project, reading

Today, we went outside with a question in mind, What grows? Friends were encouraged to find things that grow and record them on their paper. Friends were very creative in their responses, including ones about people, hair, bodies, chickens, and more. We are excited to see where this conversation leads us…

Also, tomorrow your child is coming home with a permission slip for our field trip. We will be going to the Anderson Apple Orchard on Friday, October 5th to learn about harvesting food and food sources! Please make sure to turn in the permission slip as soon as possible. The kids are so excited!

Tags: curious, garden

On Friday we made pesto. It was delicious! That morning, we learned how to properly harvest basil from our garden. We referred to our video from the day prior about how to make pesto and made sure we had all of the ingredients. All of our friends helped either adding, measuring, or counting ingredients to make sure the pesto was just right! Mr. Henderson and I were so pleased to see all of the kids try the pesto and most really enjoy it. Mr. Henderson led a great conversation after we enjoyed our pesto about how food brings people together.

Do you think that food brings us together? Mr. Henderson

Yeah, cuz like, if you try different things you might like it. But If i asked Mrs. Argus whats her favorite cereal, she may say something. And if I asked Amiah what hers is, its different. They can still be friends. J’Den

I ask my momma can I get some food, and then the food makes you healthy and strong. Makenzi

Like we all have different opinions, like different things. Lucas

Like when you have a night, like Mimi, on Christmas Night, she brings us together because she makes a special dinner for us. And we all come there and she is sharing the food, and that brings us all together. Addie

Tags: capable, cooking, creativity, garden

Today, we put our plan into action- we cleaned up the garden! We put our gardening gloves on and talked about the difference between weeds and plants and went to it. Old plants were put into the compost bin to rot and become fresh organic matter and soil that will help our garden grow next year. Friends loved getting their hands dirty and doing some hard work! Mr. Henderson and I are finding that our class has a special interest in our outdoor space- just like last year! This is interesting because gardening was one of our large class project. We are wondering if the children will become more and more interested and this profound affection for the garden will develop into something more…

At recess today, the kids continued discussion about living things in the garden and dug up worms! Many, many friends, including ones that are not in our class, were enthralled with the idea of finding worms and placing them in the “worm hotel”. Some friends from last year even shared that they knew that worms could be beneficial to our garden.

Tags: capable, garden, inspiration, responsible