Lewis and Clark Learns

GENIUS HOUR Fourth and fifth grade students started a rotation of Genius Hour learning when we came back to school in January.  We started by focusing on our passions and new learning we wanted to accomplish.  We have researched our topic, created a list of steps to get to our end result, and were sure to cite our sources along the way.  We are busy now working on our projects that we will share with others sometime in March or April. CARDBOARD ARCADE GAMES Our third graders researched inventors and are now building games they invented.  We have worked through the design process and are now in the building and testing phase.  We will be getting feedback from our classmates next week in order to improve our games.   We are working so hard.  The entire school, all 610 students will play our games!   READ Yep, in a library with a MakerSpace, we read...a lot.  We read Missouri award books (a ton of award boo...

Years ago, I showed the video, Caine's Arcade to introduce my students to learning through the Genius Hour philosophy.  The inspiration from that video encouraged my students to make cardboard games as well. We have been designing and making games every year since.  Each year we learn from past mistakes and improve the process and the final products.  Plus we now have a dynamic MakerSpace! My third graders have finished working through the design process and we are ready to share our games with the entire school.  E-V-E-R-Y student will have time throughout the week to play the games.  This week is obviously a favorite of my students.  Our third graders are so proud to share their games as they put their hearts into making the very best game possible. Most important are the skills that the kids practice along the entire process.  So many... planning and designing compromise when working in a group submitting ideas with kindness and respect wo...

Here is a quick look at the cardboard arcade games my kiddos have been building.  We took a break from making and spent some time sharing and getting feedback to make our games the best they could possibly be.  For the next couple of weeks we will work toward finishing our games so that they can be played by the ENTIRE school!