IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Friends work together to create a Terrarium.

This morning, Sascha brought in a little plastic jar which she had captured several worms from her back yard. She shared that she had put lots of grass and leaves inside for the worms, to keep them happy. This was a great lead to our conversation about habitats today. Sascha actually created a mini habitat in that plastic jar- something we call a Terrarium. This morning after Sascha shared, we explored six different types of habitats that plants and animals live in: desert, tundra, rain forest, grassland, pond, and forest. We talked about what each habitat has in common: they all sustain life. After talking about the necesities for plants and animals, we set out to create our own mini habitats. The kids worked in pairs and small groups to plant a variety of seeds and plant cuttings and create their own Terrarium. After we were finished, Journey said something interesting.

“Mrs Argus, we don’t have any worms in our habitats.” Journey

“Why is that important?” Mrs Argus

“We need them to keep our soil healthy, and to make new good soil.” Journey

“We need worms in our habitats!” Michael

Friends loved what Journey had to say and after her comment, we each placed several worms into our Terrarium from our compost bin. What incredible thinking.

Friends work together to create Terrariums!

Cameron and Tajanaye plant their seeds.

Carriea, David, and Angela work together to assemble their habitat.

A completed Terrarium with worms inside. Later on, they all crawled to the bottom. We wondered why!

Tags: capable, collaboration, curious, garden, inspiration, project

Here we are!

We had a fabulous time at Butler on Friday! When we got to Butler in the morning, we had the chance to meet some new Butler friends who are part of an educational leadership and policy class in the College of Education. They have taken an interest in our garden project and our schoolwide garden initiative and are assisting us in getting funds to begin planting. They were also kind enough to walk us down to the farm and assist us in exploring the space, help us test soil at the farm, and wonder with us about the beginnings of our school garden. We are beginning to wonder what our own garden will look like and where we will place our garden. A big thanks to all of our chaperones and Butler students who joined us on this trip. 🙂

Da'Sean, Carriea, and Kaitlyn enjoy our quick bus ride to Butler University!

Miss Schmidt and friends are excited to be at Butler.

The beautiful view of the canal we passed while walking down to the farm.

Angela spots some of the cold weather vegetables growing at the Butler Farm.

Messi, David and a new Butler friend walk the farm and look for signs of growth.

Our group at the Butler Farm!

Ruth finds bees at the farm. How can bees be helpful to a garden?

Monica and a new Butler friend take soil samples.

Hutton enjoys Holcomb gardens.

Tags: Butler, field trip, garden, inspiration

This morning, Mr. Smith came over to me and told me there were lots of spring surprises in the courtyard. I shared with tour friends what I had heard and asked them if they would like to see if any changes had occured to the space. As we made our way to the courtyard, I heard exclamations of, “WOW! It’s growing!” and “Mrs. Argus- daffodills!” and many other words of excitement. We talked about how these changes had occured and made predictions as to whether or not we would see other changes as the weeks progress.

Tags: curious, garden, inspiration, project

We discuss creating a cutting with one of our favorite plants!

Cameron and Maggie help plant our new cutting for preschool.

Monica shares her book from writer’s workshop.

Miss Schmidt reads A Seed is Planted to us and our preschool friends.

Kaitlyn presents our cutting to the preschool.

Last week, we read a story called A Seed is Planted. This is the story of one child who starts a chain of giving by creating a small clipping of a sapling. The children were engrossed with the idea of how just one seed turned into many. We read it again today and together, we created cuttings of several plants in our own room. Carriea then suggested something special.

We can take a plant and give it to other people and it might grow! Carriea

We can take it and break it in half like in the book and keep doing the same thing over and over again. Aidan

The one seed is going to grow a lot, and we made another one. Messi

Their buckets are going to explode! Angela

It feels good to fill buckets. Carriea

During writer’s workshop, Monica created a book called, All About Planting a Garden. Inside, the story read, “To plant a garden, you need to get seeds, water, and sunlight. And when the plant is done growing, you can give it to somebody. And the flower is bright like the sun.” After sharing, Michael exclaimed, “It’s just like A Seed is Planted!”  

Later this afternoon, we decided to put Carriea’s idea into action. We went down to the preschool room and shared our story and cutting with them. The kids remarked how good it felt to share our plant with the preschool. It was also a nice way to reflect on some of our newly learned knowledge of how to take care of the plant and answer some of the preschooler’s questions about plant growth in general.

Tags: friendship, garden, inspiration, preschool, project

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