Well I’ve decided to jump into Genius Hour. I keep reading about all these wonderful experiences kiddos are having as they pursue their passion. I have such an inquisitive group of second graders that I just have to give this a whirl. So… whirl we are. I kicked off Genius Hour with this fun video from Kid President.
I just love that kid! This was a great video for getting the kids excited and motivated to share their “wonderings.”
I gave each student a square of construction paper with their name at the top. I decided to write their name all fancy at the top. By “fancy” I mean with Sharpie. I told them this was their very own Wondering Wall. Which of course elicited many oohs and aaahs even though they had no idea what a Wondering Wall is. I love their excitement. I told them to just hang on because I was about to share something with them that would knock their socks off- colored sticky notes. I know- minds were blown. I gave every student 1 sticky and told them to write 1 “Wondering” on it. They had to start the sentence with “I wonder..”. Once everyone had their first Wondering we shared them. They came up with some great ones. I handed out another sticky (different) color and told them to record another Wondering. They could use a Wondering that someone else shared if they were inspired. We shared these out and repeated the process for a total of 6 stickies and we got some excellent Wonderings. The stickies were attached to their Wondering Wall (square of construction paper with fancy name). I then had them get into pairs and decide on 1 Wondering to investigate together.
They LOVED this. Loved! Once everyone had their question we read this great book.
That’s as far as we have gotten on this endeavor. I can’t wait to see where this goes. Stay tuned.
