Genius Hour-this is something I started with my group last year [see May 2015 post], and more and more I see why it is the BEST thing I have implemented in my classroom. Students are able to decide what THEY want to learn about. Every Monday morning, my students get an hour of uninterrupted time to expand, learn, explore, experiment, and truly lose themselves in whatever passion/idea they choose. Some of my students chose to work in partners, some chose to work alone. The only limitations I gave were group size [no more than 3 people], and that content and ideas had to be school appropriate. The kids CANNOT wait until Monday! In fact, for a fundraiser event we were doing where the kids had to create incentives to raise money....one of the "top prizes" they CHOSE was EXTRA Genius Hour time. How cool is that?!!! Some of the topics/ideas in my class currently are: raising money for YOUTHDIGITAL program to create own app-these boys have been doing raffles for extra PE passes, etc. and have so far raised almost $70 to go towards the $150 program [when it is on "sale"]. Another group has explored JAVA script coding. Two of my students are exploring/creating their own 3D animation characters. Three of my most imaginative students are writing, filming and editing their own movie via Do Ink/Green Screen app. Three girls are purchasing/decorating/selling iPhone cases to raise money to donate to local charity. A few students are dabbing in art and painting their own canvases, etc. And finally, I have a group of three girls that wanted to raise money for the Omaha's Open Door Mission. They decided to create/design/decorate/sell large, wooden letters. *See pictures below. An awesome father of one of the girls cut them out of wood for them and the girls have spent that past 3 months decorating them. Just last evening, at our school's "Bingo and Books Night", they sold several of these letters and even took orders to custom make them for their customers. They did an AWESOME job organizing this, preparing signs, creating an order sheet, handling the money, etc. I showed them where materials were, but they did EVERYTHING on their own from there. I couldn't be more proud of these girls. So, if you would like to order a letter, I'm sure we could get you the custom design you have always wanted for your home or office! [shameless plug].
Here they are at their table last night. They raised over $100!!!
My three 6th grade girls and a younger sibling-so proud of these girls!
Other pictures of Genius Hour in action:
A new app we are trying in my class is CLASSKICK. I began using NearPod...and while I LOVE that app as well, I struggled in Math with it. NearPod allows you to present to students and control what is on their iPad screens. So you decide when to go to a new page or when to show them something new. It is GREAT for whole group discussions, introducing new concepts, staying together as a group. However, in Math whenever I used it, I could see frustrations from some of my "higher" Math students. They were irritated with how slow I had to go to make sure I wasn't rushing those students that needed extra time. After looking through some feeds on my Twitter PLN, I discovered Class Kick. This is an app that allows students to work at their own pace! While they work, from my iPad I can literally watch them work in real time. As they write on their screen, I see it on my screen. I can also write something on their screen and it instantly pops up on theirs. So if I see, for instance with Math, if they skipped a step in their work, I can write a note to them to have them check it over. It's awesome! There is also a feature that allows students to "raise their hand", virtually of course. They can choose "check my work" or "I need assistance". I have not explored another awesome feature of this app yet [but intend to], and that is the "ALLOW STUDENTS TO HELP OTHERS". So now instead of them all waiting for me if their "hand is raised", other students can take the leadership role and help others out. I can't wait to see how the students do with this! What better way to show understanding than to help and teach others? If you have not checked this app out-you definitely should. It is ENTIRELY iPad based-all creation and implementation is done in one place!
Green Screens-if you have not purchased the DoInk Green Screen app....what are you waiting for? My students and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this app. We have used it in Math, Reading, Writing, Science, and now Social Studies. Just recently we were discussing advertisements in Language Arts class and Egypt in Social Studies. So, we merged the two together-students were asked to pick something Egypt-related and write up an advertisement for the product. Then, they found pictures and we filmed in front of our green screen [green plastic table cover that was 50 cents at a garage sale-deal of the summer!]. This app is easy to use and the kids really enjoy seeing what everyone comes up with. As mentioned above, my students have also used it to film their own movie in Genius Hour. If you would like to see our Egypt commercials/ads, please click HERE.
Mystery Hangouts-now this is something I have done since the moment I got the iPads! These are some of the greatest activities we do all year! We connect with people from literally all over the world! Every student has a "job" and we ask YES or NO questions with the other class. The first class to guess the state or country first wins! Students have incorporate team work, geography, logical reasoning, questioning, creativity, and so many more skills. Best part is the students LOVE and have enjoyed every single hangout we have had. They aren't always smooth, technology sometimes lags, but at the end of it-the students are BUZZING with the things we learn about and always enjoy the competitiveness of "winning". I have a map in our classroom and we place a push pin in the location of each classroom we have a hangout with. I have posted some pictures below!
Global Challenge-Thanks to Ann Feldmann for pushing me to learn more about these Global Challenges that take place. My class participated in the "Marshmallow Challenge" where students are given 18 minutes, 30 pieces of dry spaghetti, one large marshmallow, one meter of masking tape, and one meter of string with their goal to build the tallest standing tower. The marshmallow had to be on top of the tower in one whole piece. Spaghetti could be broken up and did not have to be used in its entirety. Students were put into groups of 4. They were definitely up for the challenge! The teams worked very well together and started coming up with different strategies. It was so exciting as a teacher to watch these groups come together and the many different ideas that were shared! They were so set on the structure and the tape, that all of the groups waited until the final 2 minutes to place their marshmallow on top. None of the groups got their marshmallow to stay except one...and theirs was only 9 inches in height. But the discussion that followed the challenge was awesome. We talked about things that went well, things that didn't, struggles they had, and what they would do differently if they were given a second chance. We had an amazing time and can't wait to compete in another Global Challenge. Picture below:
What awesome things have you tried this year in your classroom? Would you like to connect with us? We have our own Kidblog accounts at kidblog.org/MissSaliesClass or you can reach me on Twitter @esalie13. Please comment below with any ideas or words of wisdom-we are lifelong learners that want to experience as much as we can when we can!!
