Dear Parents, This Tuesday, we began “Genius Hour,” in our AIM classroom. Due to the erratic AIM schedule during testing and end-of- the-year activities, this will be their main assignment from me. The search-engine giant, Google, allows its engineers to spend 20% of their time to work on any pet project that they want. The idea is very simple. Allow people to work on something that interests them, and productivity will go up. Google’s policy has worked so well that it has been said that 50% of Google’s projects have been created during this creative time period. Ever heard of Gmail or Google News? These projects are creations by passionate developers that blossomed from their 20-time projects. Another origin of genius hour projects came from the book Drive by best-selling author, Daniel Pink. In a blog post he writes about how the Google-time projects are also used in other corporations. Goals of this project: To give students authentic, real world opportunities to refine the skills they are learning in third grade. To promote, support, and model creative, innovative thinking and inventiveness To allow students an opportunity to discover/investigate one of their passions and reflect on/share their learning with others To provide students and teachers an opportunity to develop skill sets that are valuable in any learning situation (research, experimentation, collaboration, creativity, problem solving and critical thinking) To provide an opportunity for students to share their Genius Projects with others and use the speaking and listening skills we have been working on this year.

Genius Hour Days Students will have 45 minutes each week in AIM to work on their projects. Students will be held accountable for making sure that they have met the academic requirements for the week before moving on to Genius Hour. Students will be required to keep a log and update it weekly to track their progress on their project. They will have access to technology and books from the classroom and school library. They are allowed to work on components of their project at home if they choose. **If AIM is cancelled due to testing or end-of-the-year activities, students will be responsible for logging 45 minutes on their Genius Hour Learning Log for that week on their own time. Required Components The Proposal The Learning Log (minimum of 1 entry per class work day) The Product (Did you successfully move from idea phase to production phase, and do you have something to show at the end of the year.) Productivity (Are you spending your Genius hour time by actively and passionately working on your project? If not, we need to quickly adjust the project so you are working on something that is intrinsically motivating. This is less objective, but if I see students not being productive, I will intervene.) Final Presentation (this can be a digital presentation, a model, a lesson, a student made video, posters, etc….) Final Presentations: When we are ready for final presentations of our projects a note will come home with your child’s presentation date and time. You will be welcome to come and watch your child share what they learned during their Genius Hour time! I look forward to working with your children as they explore their interests and work on creative and innovative projects! Thanks! Joy Silk