IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Lucas works hard on creating trading cards during studio and explore.

 Today during math, our friends had a challenge- find four objects to measure in the room. The twist? Measure them without rulers- use your hands! Miss Schmidt led a conversation revisiting non-standard measurement with the kids and talked about how you can measure with many different types of objects- including your own body! We practiced putting one hand in front of the other, close together, to get the most accurate measurement we could find. The kids were then given partners to work with and find objects to measure. They were then asked to compare results and think about why some answers may have been different.

Miss Schmidt and Tajanaye measure the table with their hands.

We also revisited something that the kids have worked on in the Big Studio with Mrs. Grotojan- trading cards! Trading cards are 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 blank cards that the children can decorate with various mediums to create works of art. We then have special trading days that the kids can share their work with friends and receive special pieces of art. The kids really enjoyed working on these cards during free choice times today.

Da'Sean and Kaitlyn work on trading cards.

Tags: art, friendship, problem solving

Aidan explains his thinking.

Our class created hundreds chart.

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

One of the things the kids like to do in the morning is read the morning message and count our positive points. It has become a ritual for many friends in our room once they have gotten unpacked and settled in. Today, Aidan did something really special. He counted our positive points, and counted 74. Then, without prompting, he walked right over to our hundreds chart, found the number74 and proceeded to count up to 100. He then announced to me, “Mrs. Argus, we only need 26 more positive points until 100!” I asked him how he discovered his conclusion. He then articulately talked me through his thinking process and how he came to use our hundreds chart. Aidan’s discovery was so special that he then shared it during the sharing portion of our morning meeting. The class brainstormed other ways we could use the hundreds chart to problem solve. What a neat discovery, Aidan!

 

Friends present, "How Bella Lost Her Moo!"

 

For the past couple weeks, some of our friends have been reading a story called How Bella Lost Her Moo. It has lots of different animal parts that are fun to read and the kids decided they each wanted to read a seprate part when we would read in a group. One day, a friend suggested, “We should do this as a play!” The rest of the friends loved the idea and we began to prepare to present it to our class. We made puppets out of paper bags and practiced reciting our lines clearly and with emotion. Today, our friends presented the play to the rest of the class. Everyone was so proud and impressed with our performers! We will have to do more reader’s theater in the future- we have some wonderful actors!

 

 

Tags: arithmetic, capable, collaboration, creativity, curious, image of the child, problem solving

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