IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Friends working towards a common goal of creating the set for their production.

Sascha and Angela work to retell a portion of the story. Angela is Goldilocks, Sascha chose to be the porridge/narrator! Who knew such a character existed?

During Writer’s Workshop this week, we have been retelling the story of Goldilocks using puppets in small groups. Yesterday, the kids created their puppets and started making scenery for their productions. Today, our friends were encouraged to begin working together to retell their story and work as a team. They have been dramatizing their stories with great dedication. Miss Schmidt and I were absolutley blown away by the kids’  display of negotiation, sharing, compromise, collaboration, and including of others. We realized that while they are practicing rich reading and writing skills by retelling in this way, our friends are probably getting just as much out of practicing working together, genuinely collaborating, and working towards a common goal.  A sheer joy to be a part of today.

Da'Sean, Carriea, and Sascha come up with a new way to build. How did they do it? Putting their brains together!

Aidan and Christian make furniture for their house.

Tags: collaboration, friendship, problem solving, writing

Monica and Da'Sean try out a tunnel launcher.

Lucas and Christian create a bridge on the marble launcher.

Friday was an exciting day for us. As soon as the kids came in, they were begging to play with the blocks as a morning choice activity and continue working on their marble launcher. They began experimenting with different positioning of blocks and mini ramps to try to get the marbles to go faster down the chute. We had a class conversation about why many marbles didn’t quite make it down the whole chute. Zek suggested maybe we needed more force, like how cars and trucks had engines, we needed something like that for our marbles. Ruth suggested that maybe the cracks between each block on the chute were slowing down the marbles. Lucas suggested we had created too many obstacles in the chute and they were slowing the marbles. Later on in the day, during studio and explore, we tried putting some of these suggestions into place. First, we eliminated some of the obstables. Then, the kids found a new tunnel launcher for the beginning of the chute, which they positioned at a more severe angle to create more force. Last, Ruth led a group of friends to try taping down the cracks between the blocks to create a smoother chute. We found that our three improvements increased the speed and a friend even brough up that we should be timing our marbles. Perhaps we will do this next week!

We have also been enjoying our daily yoga sessions with Mrs. Williams so much. The kids have already learned so much and I am noticing, it helps create a calm atmosphere for math workshop.

Hutton's cobra pose.

Journey trying downward dog.

Tags: collaboration, experiment, problem solving, scientific method, yoga

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

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 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