Genius Hour - 2nd class

Today we had our 2nd Genius Hour. My students were waiting all day for the hour to come. Any time they tried to talk to me about their projects today, I told them we would discuss it during Genius Hour (even though we had been discussing them all week!) It made the hour more special. When it was finally time, I got the ipads and laptops needed and posted a sign outside our door!

One of my biggest concerns was that I was going to have 24 students standing at my desk, asking me to help them find information for their research and that we would get nothing done. While some did need help looking up information, many came to class prepared with research that I had asked them to start doing at home. 

I had already given them their purple folders and notebooks and today they started taking notes in their notebooks.

Some of the projects my kids are working on include: Creating a baking cookbook, designing a pet store, learning about different roller coasters, police dogs, break dance moves, endangered animals in the Rainforest, writing an autobiography, learning about the five senses, pop art, the history of fashion,,,, just to name a few. I even have 2 kids who wanted to make their own video games so they are learning how to code through Koadable.com! 

At the end of the class, (and every Genius Hour class) my students were given a reflection sheet to fill out tonight at home. These are the questions they have to answer:

What did you do in today's Genius Hour?

What did you learn today?

Did you have trouble with anything today?

What questions do you have after today? How can you find those answers?

What do you need to do/get before our next Genius Hour?

I made it clear that the students have to know in advance what they will be working on each Genius Hour. That is the only way I will be able to manage and help 24 grade 3 students working on different projects! 

I can't wait for the next Genius Hour!