Laker Innovators

Our kindergarten students are natural researchers. Their curiosity abounds and they probably ask "why" more than any other grade level (as their teachers can surely attest). The project we are highlighting in this post is a student-driven research project from the students in Mrs. Turner's Kindergarten class. This project was a collaboration with our librarian, Mrs. Besselsen. The students first suggested a variety of topics they were interested in researching. Mrs. Turner helped them narrow down the topics into six groups and helped the students form specific questions they had about each topic. Mrs. Besselsen helped them research both digital and hard copy resources to work to answer their questions about their chosen topics. In the final step, the students each wrote and illustrated a page on their research topic. Mrs. Besselsen recorded the students reading their research summary sentences and put the videos together in an iMovie. The class hosted a presentation of ...

The concept of "Genius Hour" has been taking off in schools with a movement back towards creating, making, creativity, student-centered learning and student-choice. At the heart of the genius hour concept is that students are exploring their passions and curiosities during a specific period of time carved out each week. Students learn to be more self-directed learners and develop a love for life-long learning. The students choose their topic, their points of research and plan how they will create artifacts to demonstrate their learning to share with a larger audience. The teacher facilitates the process through questioning, guiding and providing structures to help students stay on task. Many of our Glen Lake Elementary teachers have embraced the genius hour concept and have been incorporated it into their classrooms over last two years. Engagement runs high as students are researching, learning, creating and presenting. Their pride in their work is evident as they present t...