Light Bulb Moment With a Slinky

As I was sitting at the breakfast table this morning, I said to my husband, "I'm just not sure if I'm getting through to my fourth graders about mass, weight, and the rate at which things fall. How can I help them to explore and really get it?" I then, as any teacher would, proceeded to start dropping everything I could find around the kitchen. This included a ball of paper, painters tape (we are currently painting the trim of our house), and a few other objects...

The big question I was asking at breakfast was, "How can I help them come to this conclusion on their own, rather than just telling them? How will we make it stick?!"

Fast forward a few hours, and our fourth grade class is working with a Slinky drop and researching more for our future DaVinci Parachute project. This is where the story gets good (at least in my teacher eyes). One of the students came up to me with a glow in her face and said, "Hey! We just figured out that the mass of a falling object doesn't matter as long as they are shaped the same way."

Light bulb moment! Cue Mrs. Fitz doing a little cheer in the classroom! They figured it out! The best part: because she was able to discover it on her own, learning this fact was exciting!

 These are the moments I cherish with my students! Having the ability to explore in our classroom is a huge blessing, and it is something I am thankful for each and every day.

Below are a few pictures from the same class. They were trying to make a glider using a piece of paper, 3 paper clips, and 1 fold. The goal was to see how weight changed the direction in which the object fell.

Genius Hour

You may have noticed a new tab at the top of our blog labeled Genius Hour. But, what is Genius Hour?

The idea for Genius Hour was inspired by Google's 20% time for their employees. Basically, the company found that by allowing their staff to explore their own passions one day a week, productivity actually increased. Many of the apps we take for granted were born during this 20% time!

Which brought teachers to start thinking, "What would happen if we let our students explore their passions?"

I think great things could happen, so I've decided to pilot Genius Hour in the upper grades of the elementary. Telling students that they really can learn about whatever they want can be a shock to their system. Therefore, we are currently working on submitting driving questions.

There are three rules to Genius Hour:

1. The project must be approved by me before research may begin. 
2. The project must be researched; meaning that if you can find the answer immediately on Google, you really aren't doing "research". 
3. You must share your findings. You can share this however you would like (website, book, iMovie...) but it will need to be shared. 

If you would like to learn more about Genius Hour, check out the link and video below.

Smore.com: Genius Hour