Genius Hour Success!

There is no better feeling than seeing your students take what they have learned and independently go about their learning!  The Wednesday before our winter break was one of those great days.  My third and fourth graders were totally focused on their Genius Hour topic and they made so much progress in such a short amount of time. I was so happy for them as I watched them problem-solve, help one another, fail and carry on from that failure.  

As I walked around the library I saw 2 kids figuring out how to make an origami ninja star together, one student watching a video to learn the basics of knitting, 4 girls making their first cheer bow, kids figuring out how to use 2 Sphero robotic balls among 6 people, 4 boys not moving from their spot because they were so engrossed in planning their video games, girls tinkering to figure out how things work, 2 girls deciding to learn to crochet first because they read that it would make knitting easier, kids deciding they still needed to research a bit before getting started, 2 girls trying to figure out squishy circuits, and 1 new student finishing her Genius Hour project from the old school she had attended (Ridgeview) and sharing her learning with her new friends at her table.  

I LOVED what I was seeing.  EACH and EVERY student was engaged in their passion and moving forward according to what they needed to do, not what I was telling them to do.  We are making progress and it feels so good!