Genius Hour!

Written by Blake

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to have an hour a day to do whatever you wanted in school? Well, for Genius Hour (GH), we get to experience that. GH is 45 minutes to an hour of “free time.” We can work on any project that we want, as long as it is not illegal, inappropriate, or dangerous. Some examples of what some projects could be are taking apart a computer, cooking, and/or coding. There are so many possibilities!

During Genius Hour, students can get the chance to do something that they could not do before, either because people have stopped them, or they have not had the time. In GH, we are learning to use the Habits of Mind (cooperation, reflection, curiosity, creativity, self-awareness, adaptability, and persistence) to work out our ideas. Those traits are important because you need them throughout life.

Here is a video we watched when we first started Genius Hour:

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And here is a slideshow of pictures from our first GH session last Thursday:

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Here are some quotes from students about Genius Hour:

• I think we are doing this to do whatever we want and to set a goal for what we want to do. These goals are important because at the end we try to accomplish the goal that we set. - Alex H

• I think Genius Hour is really fun. I am doing cooking, so I am learning how to cook some foods that I have not made before. - Bailey

• We are doing Genius Hour because we can learn anything. Also in genius hour we all probably make lots of mistakes we can learn from. - Leo

• I think we are doing it so we can get creative and work on an exciting project. - Maddie D.

• I love Genius Hour. The only thing I probably dislike is that time goes fast and we only do it once a week. Anyways, I love it. We are doing Genius hour because it helps to let us know that we will fail sometimes. - Gabi

• We are doing Genius Hour to figure out how to research well and to learn how to work around mistakes. - Hugo

• I think we are doing Genius Hour to express our ideas. - Maxwell 

• I like genius hour because it gives us a chance to be independent for an hour and we work on our own project that we made up with a friend or by yourself. - Bethany

So, Genius Hour is a great time to be creative, and let your imagination run wild. Seize the opportunity of GH, and create something amazing. 

"Habits of Mind" Team Challenge

Written by Sam L.

Today we’ll be talking about our Habits of Mind Team Challenge. In our challenge, we had five challenges. The first challenge was to build a human pyramid with our group, the second was to write a group narrative on what would happen if Mr. Keith sat down in one of our classroom beach chairs (heh, heh, heh), the third challenge was to teach someone or master our class handshake, the fourth was to identify and sequence the plot events in a narrative, and the fifth was to watch and record notes of a “Habits of Mind" video.

Below is a slideshow of pictures from the challenge:

Here are what some students from both classes thought about the Habits of Mind challenge:

• “I really like it because we worked as a team and we got to make a human tower. It is important because we are classmates and we need to learn how to work with them." - Seamus 

• “I liked that we got to be active and work together. I think we did the challenge so we could figure out that when you use teamwork and cooperation and all the habits of mind you have fun and get things done. It is important to learn how to use habits of mind because when you get a job you will have to use them." - Palmer

• “The 'Habits of Mind' team challenge was very fun. To me, the best part of it was building the human pyramid. My group had to use cooperation, creativity, and reflection the most. Overall, the "Habits of Mind" team challenge was a very good idea because it did teach us the habits of mind. It is important to learn about habits of mind because you need them in life, no matter what." - Blake

• “I really liked it because we got to do fun activities. I think we did it so we could work together and learn at the same time." - Taya

I think this challenge was really important for all of us because it taught us the Habits of Mind and how to work as a team and cooperate, while at the same time still having fun. I think my favorite was when we built the human pyramid because it let us interact with some sixth-grade students.

The "Habits of Mind"