What is Genius Hour?

Genius Hour is a project-based learning activity that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom. It promotes inquiry, problem solving, and innovation.

Project Guidelines

You will get to pursue a project of personal interest. It can be on whatever topic you are passionate about, but it must include the following project guidelines:

1. Projects are inquiry based; an essential question drives the project. Students need to communicate what they want to learn about and why. If a question can be answered with a quick “Google search,” then we will develop the question or topic to include greater depth.

2. Projects are research based. For example, if a student wants to learn how to design an App or how to speak Italian, research on the topic must be involved.

3. Projects are shared! Every student will present their final project within and/or outside our class. Students may share on a small scale, like with another class, or they may elect to go big and share the information they've learned in a global way.

Common Core Connections

• RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

• RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

• RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

• SL.5.2 Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

• SL.5.4 Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

To start, ask yourself these 3 questions...

1. What am I not ok with? (things I see locally, nationally, or worldwide)

2. What do I have? (what talents do I possess to help get my point across)

3. What can I do about it?