My fourth graders have been researching a person of choice (I helped them by pulling picture book biographies) and gathering facts via Google Docs. They will then use Popplet to create a visual map of their facts. Here is their planning sheet. I also take this opportunity to discuss citation and we start with this citation video. The students take a look at this bibliography sheet so they know what that should look like.
Here is the checklist that they must check before they share their completed Popplet with me.
Step #1
4th grader partnered up and read their chosen picture book biography on their person. In the video some were already researching websites gathering their facts on a shared Google Doc.
The hard part of RESEARCHING is over. All that is left is to copy and paste answers from here to their Popplet and let their creative juices start flowing.
Here is what the checklist looked like once completed by the students.
Our 6th graders are still working on building their Genius Hour projects. They will be sharing these after spring break. Many of them struggle with these projects because it is a very ORGANIC process and they are so used to being told what, when, where, and how. For these projects they can choose any topic that they want to explore, research it, and create something to teach us about it. I have many who are searching for EXPERTS to SKYPE with for part of their projects. I have created lessons on SKYPE FOR EDUCATION and they have posted their requests on their online course, Schoology, asking their classmates for connections. If you could be of help at all please contact me. There is nothing like bringing EXPERTS into the classroom. Here are a few
of our requests:
"That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don’t notice that the time passes. "-Albert Einstein in a letter to his son
Our Geniuses are starting to spark our interest....here are some of their projects.
Madison shares her passion to become a veterinarian so she can help improve the lives of animals.
Her passion showed through during her presentation. Some of her classmates responded that she made them feel guilty for not doing more to help animal shelters.
Tate makes a ROCKET and shares his process....the flight was unsuccessful but he is going back to the drawing board and making the needed corrections.
Latavia's Passion for Pediatric Oncology dogist
Abby E. passion for the way filters affect photography
Rachel F. shares her passion forSAVING THE FOREST through a PowToon
We had several students who are interested in pediatriconcology so we were lucky to have a Emergency Room Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Mrs. Lingren a parent of a 6th grader, visit with us to discuss her profession. This was a Q/A session led by Kaitlyn Jackson for her Genius Hour.
Casey shares his Maker Taker passion of building. He built a candy machine, a car, and a sling shot out of LEGOs. He hopes to one day have a career in Engineering or building.
Elliot shares his passion for trying to make it to the MLS one day.
Since my 5th graders became so fluent with Animoto during our Tech Infused Projects and they expressed an interest in their project reflection to continue using Animoto I decided to let them continue on the Video Making journey. They partnered up and choose a picture book, which they will create a book trailer. The steps looked like this:
1.) They choose their picture book and read it with their partner.
4.) They use their Animoto accounts to build their Book Trailers. Here are a few examples.
**The groups that finish early got the option of choosing another picture book or a chapter book to create a trailer on.
On Monday, February 6, 1978, New England experienced one of the biggest snowstorms in its history. It snowed for two days, and by the time is stopped, parts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were buried under forty inches of snow. Where I grew up in Rhode Island, it took over a week for snowplows to get to our street. The book, BLIZZARD, is based on my experience as a ten-year-old boy in that blizzard and how I got to the store, over a mile from my house, with tennis rackets tied to my feet.
February has been a very busy month...with me conducting tech inventory (which causes me to be out of my teaching position for a few days) and our spring book fair (which causes me to not be able to have regular classes for a week) and throw in a week long snow break it is easy to see why we have fallen a bit behind schedule. REST assure we are back in the swing of things! We have begun many projects that will take us up to spring break to complete. Here is a snippet of what has been happening in the Media Center during this past month. Enjoy!
Justice enjoying previewing the books and making his wish list.
Teacher Wishlist...parents can purchase items and donate to classrooms
Under the Sea READING Adventure
Lots of volunteers make this possible!
Daily Book Talks....Catch of the Day
Shreeya reads a Mo Willems book
These are the raffle winners. They entered their names in to win a preview book.
Mya won our "Guess How Many Goldfish are in the Bowl" contest. Her prize was the goldfish and any book from the fair.
This was our welcoming bulletin..
Isaac won our Cincinnati Zoo tickets for reading the most minutes for grades PK-2. He read 410 minutes in three days. There was another student, Sean, who read 500 but he gave the passes to Isaac because he already had Zoo passes. Such a good deed! CONGRATULATIONS!
Emma won our Newport Aquarium tickets for being top reader for grades 3-6. She read 1,205 minutes in three days. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Our First Graders read I Like Myself by Laura Beaumont and then they wrote about why they are special. They read these outloud while being filmed and then I created an Animotovideo with them. Enjoy. They are so cute. As a parent these would be a definite keepsake.
For two years the Media Specialists at Forest Hills have been working with our Educational Digital Specialist to create a program that will allow 6th graders to explore their passions. We decided, along with district approval, that the Media Center was the perfect place to implement this program since we don't give grades and have more flexibility in what we teach. We decided to put the concept of Genius/Passion Hour into place. We start planning for these projects in January and they will be the focus of our time until the end of the year. For about 4 weeks we really get 6th graders to think about what their passion is, as this- is the hardest part of the project for many of them.
I show them lots of inspirational videos to get them thinking about expanding their ideas....thinking about what they are truly capable of. We watch videos of other young students who have created or accomplished amazing things. Genius Hour should be an organic process.
The only expectations are:
1.) You must have a driving question (we talk about how to form inquiry questions)
2.) Your project must involve research
3.) You must share your project with the class (or even better the world)
Some students will choose to complete one big project while other may create others.
I tell them this is their playground...for the next 3 months they will get 50 minutes a week to explore their passions.
Here are some of the videos I show at the start of the unit to get them thinking.
We also read picture books that show us how others made a difference:
Miss. Rumphius
I Have A Plan
Students start by writing their DREAM on a sheet and getting their picture taken. I post these in the hall for others to see. It helps them stay on task while planning for the project! With that being said they can change their project topic once they start. The final project may or may not reflect their initial DREAM.
Now that we have a dreams on paper we will start creating our 2 driving (Inquiry) questions that will guide our path for our first Genius Hour Project. I must approve one of the questions. I showed this Famous Failures video and then kids had reflection time to come up with two questions, meet with me, and get one question approved. One thing I want my students to understand during these projects is that Failure is an option but you pick yourself up and move on to something better.
