IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

Is our garden growing?

Cameron and Lucas measure the basil.

Some of our friends and our new outdoor compost bin.

Mrs. Argus and one of our beloved friends!

Regan is picking up some very chicken-like behavior… and we like it!

David and Cameron read together and ask questions about their bug.

Tags: chickens, garden, project, responsible

Today, we began bug research during Reader’s Workshop. In doing this, we are hoping to learn more about who benefits our garden and who may not. We have been talking about how readers have questions as they read, and tomorrow, we will be compiling more specific questions about each bug. I was so impressed with the kids’ cooperative skills as they worked together and discussed new information with one another.

Messi and Tajanaye begin research on butterflies.

Da’Sean and Monica talk about how ladybugs are a type of beetle.

Regan and Lucas read together about the snail. Did you know snails live both underwater and on land?

Maggie and Cameron investigate millipedes and centipedes.

At the end of our first research day, friends were invited to share what they learned about their bug. Carriea and Kaitlyn shared about Pill Bugs (roly polys).

Tags: capable, garden, project

Regan notices our pea pods have formed in our garden!

Releasing our butterflies!

Go, butterflies go!

Journey creates butterfly puppets during story workshop.

Sascha and Journey begin to form their story. “I know Sascha’s butterfly is going to be the little one, and that is part of the problem! We have to work out the rest!” Journey

Hutton is inspired by Sascha and Journey’s puppets and creates an ant and a queen bee during Story Workshop.

Tags: creativity, garden, project

This afternoon, we got to share our chicken knowledge with a second grade class. They seemed very interested and impressed with what we had to share. I was so proud of our friends.

Friends measure our garden plants.

Michael measures the Rosemary. Its eight inches!

We also broke into small groups and measured specific plants in our school garden. Each week, we will graph their growth. We hope to compare certain plant types to one another and discuss why they are growing the way they are.

Today, some friends hosted a Block Roll competition. Ask your child what this was all about!

Friends run and organize the Block Roll competition.

Lately, our class has been very into organizing class events during studio and explore. The other week, friends organized multiple plays for others to attend and watch. I remember during the beginning of the year, friends would sing songs for others. Today, friends organized what they called a Block Roll competition. It was really neat to see the kids organize and orchestrate this class competition on their own. We had so much fun!

Tags: chickens, collaboration, creativity, garden, project

Zek mails his thank you letter.

Kaitlyn tries out the mailbox.

Da’Sean gives Cameron some help mailing his letter.

This week, we have been learning about different types of reasons people send and receive mail. Yesterday, we wrote first drafts of some thank you notes to friends who helped us with our garden. Today, we made final copies on real stationary, put stamps on them, and walked them to the mailbox down the street. Our friends loved sending real mail. We hope it got picked up today by the mailman!

We have also started a dialogue with Mrs. Clark’s class about trees. Last week, we sent Mrs. Clark’s class a letter asking if they would help us plant some trees in our garden. They sent us a letter back saying yes! They gave us four choices: apple, nut, maple, and cherry. This week, we are researching the four types of trees and looking for the two that will fit best in our garden. We are paying close attention to the specific habitats they need and how soon they can benefit our garden. (We learned sugar maple trees could take a very long time until we could actually harvest maple syrup).

Messi helps make a list of "not so beneficial" bugs.

The beneficial bug list.

Jenesis creates some bee puppets and they do “the bee dance” to tell the other bees where the pollen is.

Ruth creates a grasshopper puppet.

We have also been talking about bugs and ways that they may affect our garden. We started a list of beneficial bugs and another list of not so beneficial bugs. We are hoping to do more research and educate our fellow classmates and families about which bugs are ok for the garden and which ones we need to watch out for.

Tags: garden, project, writing