In the very first week of the school year, I gave my students a maker challenge to create their own shoes using only paper grocery bags and tape. First and second graders worked in small groups of two or three. This project was an all day affair, and one that my students continued to talk about for weeks to come. Over the course of the school year, they frequently asked me, “When are we going to make shoes again?” After our wrapping up our third quarter theme of botany, I was searching for a way to extend and utilize my students’ knowledge of structures and functions. I was also striving to choose a theme that my students would be invested in. And so, in an effort to follow student interest

As we wrap up an engaging year in the 5th-grade, it has been remarkable to look back and see how students have taken ownership of their education. From our discussions about autonomous learning during the Global School Play Day to the introduction of independent work blocks, our 5th-graders have grown significantly in their capacity to be self-directed learners. One area where this has been exemplified has been the Genius Hour projects. The inspiration behind Genius Hour was to explicitly designate time in the school day toward passion-driven, student-led learning. Over the course of this year, we have seen creative projects such as the creation of an Etsy shop, the management of an Instagra

For the 5th-graders' first semester exhibition, students examined the essential question, "What does it mean to be an explorer?" As part of their inquiry, they brainstormed the many areas, both physical and conceptual, that someone could explore. This included the frontier of space, becoming a subject the students became fascinated with throughout the year. As we transitioned into planning our fourth quarter exhibition, we wanted to tap into this interest without being overly focused on just learning facts about space. Often times, when a project is too driven by the content it can prevent deeper learning for taking root and instead, evolve into simple memorization and recitation of informat