HASD Expo Spotlight: A Day of Innovation at Greenville Elementary
Did you ever wonder what elementary school children are really interested in learning about and what information they are capable of finding on their own in order to do it? Well, 3rd and 4th grade teachers Jen Smith and David Harris did, which is why they started doing Innovation Day at Greenville Elementary School (GES).
For the next few weeks in class, students will be designing their own project based on the Common Core State Standards and a topic or idea they are passionate about. They will figure out which standards their project connects to and center their activities for the day on those standards. Then, on March 22nd they will spend the entire school day working on this project. Students spend the entire day working on their projects, putting together posters, building models, painting, using multimedia and finding information. They will present their completed project to their fellow classmates and teachers that day in the afternoon.
“Students are highly motivated all day long because they are learning about what they want to learn about. We also encourage the students to bring in Kindles, iPads, iPods, and other technologies to enhance the process and make their learning their own,” says Mr. David Harris, GES 4th grade teacher. Going through this process also helps the 3rd and 4th graders to work on developing skills they will need in the future, such as time management, organizational skills, research abilities, problem-solving skills, as well as presentation skills.
Some of the topics that students presented during the 2011-12 school year were the history of dance, creating a new animal species, how human skeletons and horse skeletons differ, plant life, hockey, and many more. Watch this video created by Mrs. Jen Smith to get more information on what students do during Innovation Day and what they really enjoy about it!
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