Sharing Our Planet: Hour of Power

After attending the OESIS Conference (the Online & Blended Education Symposium for Independent Schools) with five colleagues a month ago, inspiration hit.  A baby was born. That baby's name was "Sharing Our Planet," an environmental issues showcase for the students in our grade level.

You can see this cute little baby, now a growing toddler in the making here with the S'more webpage I created to inspire my students to take action on a global environmental issue.

Additionally, you can get a sneak preview of the Tellagami video I created for the S'more webpage:

Tellegami Share Our Planet from Vicki Dabrowka on Vimeo.

It is based in the Google Idea of 80-20 or "Genius Hour," a growing trend in education for kids to use "their hour of power" (=1 hour a week) toward something they are passionate about. Rather than give them an open realm, we centered it around environmental issues.  Eight weeks seemed like a natural time period to "drive this car."  Integrating technology, research, writing skills and creativity, this collaborative multi-media projects will have its debut sometime mid-December.

To help guide students, I took screen shots of the S'more and created this hand book to help lead them through the process and the project (see below).  Given the multi-steps associated, I knew the guidance would come in handy.

We are currently only about one-third of the way through the process right now in our classroom. The kids are knee-deep in researching their inquiry questions.  I'm eager to see how the projects will grow and develop. The kids were ecstatic and ready to dive right in the moment they heard "project" and "choice!" Overfishing, marine debris, deforestation, and loss of habitats are just a few of the topics my young friends are eagerly researching. They are trying to decide if they will be filming documentaries, teaching the skills to another class, making power points or public service announcements.  These are just a few of the ideas--yet the sky is the limit!

My class actually booed when the end-of-the-day-announcements happened the other day and and it was time to go home! Signal of student excitement & teacher success indeed!

I will keep you posted as the creativity continues with our Share Our Planet Showcase.  I'm sure the excitement will only continue to grow as the showcase approaches!!!  (For students & teachers alike!)

Share Our Planet "Hour of Power" Project from Vicki Dabrowka

Image & Slide share created from the webpage I created specifically for thiis topic: https://www.smore.com/p1yuq-share-our-planet-5th-gr-showcase; All photos are cited in the s'more as to where I found them. Video created using the Tellagami app.