IPS/Butler University Laboratory School

All this week, we have been exploring sound patterns. Thursday and today, friends were invited to figure out how they could incorporate instruments into their sound patterns. Coincidentally, this also opened up the idea of teaching other friends our song patterns which started the idea of bands and orchestras. It has been a pleasure to watch the kids communicate with one another and become excited about teaching and learning one anothers’ songs. Today, I asked the kids to think about what music was. Without discussion, the kids were invited to create illustrations and drawings of music. Next week, we will talk together about the concept of music and revisit these pictures. It was exciting to see much of our learning about sound incorporated into friends’ pictures, such as sound waves, vibration, and pitch.

Tags: curious, music, project, sound, thinking

How does sound travel? We learned sound travels via vibrations. Vibrations in the air are called sound waves. Today we experimented with sound by creating cup phones and talking to our neighbors! Here is a snapshot of our conversation after our experience.

We made cups and we talked in them and another person put their cup to their ear. Cariah

We made some echos in the cup. Hold it tight! Greyson

It works because of the vibrations on the strong. Lucas

Why do we need the cups? Could we just use the string? Mrs. Goldsmith

The cups are actually for you to put your eat and mouth on so you can make the echo sound come in. And when youre like on the other side its kinda similar. We don’t know how it does it. Its like magic. Dylan

Was it more important to be the listener or the talker today? Mrs. Argus

Listener, because you have to actually like, be quiet to hear… Dylan

Yeah, like you listen! Beatrice

If somebody’s talking, you don’t talk through it. Dylan

Listening is more important because you can learn more about the person that is talking. J’Den

An amazing conversation. 🙂

Tags: collaboration, curious, problem solving, project, thinking

Today, Mr. Henderson read the class a story many of them know- Cinderella. Except today, this story had a twist-  it was Bigfoot Cinderella!  Basically, this was the same story but starring a Bigfoot Cinderella who wore wooden clogs instead of glass slippers. The kids loved the new twist. After the story, the kids were shown three shoes that they needed to help Mrs. Argus pick to go on a run. The first choice were a pair of first grade sneakers. We decided these shoes were way too small! The second pair we tried for Mrs. Argus were huge- size 10 men’s! We decided these were way too big! The third pair, low and behold, were absolutely perfect and fit Mrs. Argus just right- just like Bigfoot Cinderella’s missing clog! We talked about how shoes that fit just right are just like just right books- perfect for us! Some friends may have different just right books, just as their shoes fit us differently. We will continue to refer to this analogy throughout the year to encourage the children to decide whether or not a book is at their appropriate reading level. Later this week, we will start to talk about more of the traits that help us recognize whether or not a book is just right!

Mr. Henderson tries Mrs. Argus’ just right shoe- is it a fit?

Sascha tries out Mr. Henderson’s just right shoe!

Tags: reading, thinking

What an exciting first day we had! The day was filled with singing, dancing, making friends, and learning new routines. Today during math workshop, the children were invited to explore one of our math manipulatives, unifix cubes. We sat in a circle and had an open discussion about their possible uses, not necessarily mentioning anything about “math”. Friends showed ways to create and build with them, including making letters and buildings. Then, our friend Beatrice shared something. “You can do math with these. Like patterns!” Friends then began making different types of AB and ABC patterns. Another friend, Addie, had another interesting idea. She explained how she could measure things with a long stick of unifix cubes.  We had a lively discussion about measurement and began measuring things around our circle. Another friend, Lucas, suggested, “Hey, we should put all our sticks together and build something!” and J’Den enthusiastically replied, “Lets do it together!” The kids then took charge on their own, negotiating what piece would go where and eventually decided as a class to build a long line as far as the unifix cubes could go. It was so exciting to see different friends lead and others practice listening to one another. It was a memorable and valuable lesson in working together. Dylan worked as project manager and directed friends to certain ends of the line. Tajanaye, Kalaya and Sascha were gatherers. Amaiah cheered people on. Everyone had a role. When the class piece was finally finished, we sat down and talked about what math had just taken place. Friends mentioned patterning, counting, measurement, and general building. We also talked about how we had worked together and labeled it as teamwork! What an incredible experience for only the first day of school.

Addie shares what she discovered. “You can measure things, like this.”