The Genius of 2-3

Hello 2-3 Families and Friends! I hope this Labor Day weekend has treated you well. I wanted to give you a few more details about the bulletin board your children will be creating and the GENIUS HOUR project that we are going to be participating in because of that bulletin board! It all started when I took on a challenge from Ivy Hill's Tech Facilitator, Mark Fijor, to let my students create their own bulletin board in the classroom. We were both in attendance at the Building Learning Communities Conference this summer in Boston where this idea was discussed. I was a bit skeptical at first because I didn't know what everyone would think of seeing a large, bare bulletin board in my classroom, but I was also really interested in seeing what my students could create. The kids were thrilled to have the opportunity to design something in our classroom. This is what our bulletin board looked like when the kids first came to school.....

We had brainstorming sessions during the first few days of school where I explained to the class that this was THEIR board and they could do whatever they wanted to with it. Since the board is so large, I told them that they could keep it as one board or make it into two. I told them they would choose the color for the background, borders, and what would go on each board. They voted on all of the choices the class submitted and here is what they decided on......

....We will have two boards -- One will be titled, "Class Fun!" This board will be blue with a book themed border. It will showcase what the kids are learning about in class and include artifacts and photos of what is taking place in 2-3. The second board is where our GENIUS HOUR will come into play and I was so thrilled the kids came up with the idea on their own. It is much better than my original idea. The second board will be titled, "Adventures with Patches and Friends" This board will be red with a rainbow colored border. Patches is our class pet guinea pig (stuffed). We also have a stuffed hermit crab, Hermie, and a dancing/singing monkey, Funky Monkey. Together, these three friends are going to travel the world. The students created a list of places our friends should travel to and we took a class vote to decide on the first two places where our friends will go. Drumroll please.....MEXICO and HAWAII! Here are our boards with their backgrounds and borders, we will be putting the titles up this week.

When you walk into our classroom, there is a saying on the wall that states, "YOU are a GENIUS and the world DEMANDS your contribution. YOU can start sharing HERE...this is YOUR classroom!"  This quote was created off of what I learned during a speaking seminar with Angela Maiers, the creator of the Choose2Matter campaign.   Each student in our classroom has something wonderful to contribute to this world and it is my job to show them how they can share it with others. GENIUS HOUR let's students explore topics of their interest that may not necessarily be a part of our curriculum. It is done a lot at the Middle School and High School level, but I wanted to figure out a way to introduce it to my 2nd graders. Their travel board will allow them to research and learn about new places around the world and close to home. Giving my students the creative freedom to design their own bulletin board allowed me to incorporate GENIUS HOUR into our classroom using the ideas that THEY came up with. Twice a month on Fridays, we will have GENIUS HOUR in our classroom. During this time, the students will work in groups using books and technology to research the places where our class pets will travel. We will use our digital cameras, video camera, and green screen to engage the students and enhance their GENIUS HOUR experience. The travel board will be decorated with facts and photos from their GENIUS HOUR collaboration with their classmates. I will be documenting this process all year so you will be able to see what your children are creating in class. I will also be looking for parent volunteers to be a part of our GENIUS HOUR so if you signed up for volunteering in our room, you will be hearing from me about this...yeah! I am really excited about this project and are looking forward to sharing the GENIUS of 2-3 with you all! You have amazing children who need to share their talents with the world! Stay tuned....

 - Danielle