Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Innovation Day!

On Tuesday, December 20th, your child will be participating in SAU16's first Innovation Day.  On this day, your child will get to study a topic of their choosing; spending the entire day immersed in self-guided learning!  They will decide on what resources they will need for their research and create a plan for the organization of their day.  In addition, they will design and plan a project to share with classmates that demonstrates what they have learned during this day.

During Innovation Day, teachers will facilitate, coach, question and guide students.  Students will not be graded on their work.  The focus on this day is the learning.  

This morning, we met with Mr. Gagnon's fourth grade class to introduce the project and brainstorm.  Students will be coming home today with a list of possible ideas.  Their homework is to add to the list, think, talk to their families and narrow down their choices for one or two topics for tomorrow.  At home, you can help by asking your child questions that will narrow down their ideas and topics into a question; one that will require deep thinking, researching and contemplation.  

Tomorrow, we will meet again to discuss the topic choices, help students formulate questions and make a plan for Innovation Day.  Included in this plan will be a list of materials to bring from home, materials needed from school, an hour by hour plan for the day, and an idea for a final product.  

Mr. Gagnon and I are very excited to be piloting this project, along with other teachers at SMS and other area schools, on Tuesday, December 20th.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions. 

Please check out these sites for more information on Innovation Day:

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