The Wonder Project

All too often, students are not given a choice in the way they learn new information at school. The wonder project will place the student at the center of the learning experience. Students will complete a monthly wonder project that will be based on a combination of their personal interests and a big idea in the 5th grade curriculum. Students will select any topic that relates (even loosely) to one of the eight big ideas in the 5th grade science and social studies curriculum. After selecting their topic, they will use a variety of sources to gather information about their assigned topic. Reference and research skills will be taught during this section of the wonder project. Students will be taught how to be good consumers of information of in the digital age. For the second part of the project, students will have to create a report based on the information they have collected. They will have the option of writing a report or creating an informational video that will eventually be published to the Internet on our class blog or wiki. Report and script writing (including storyboarding) skills will be taught during this section of the wonder project. The final portion of the wonder project will give students an opportunity to share their newfound knowledge with the class using a multimedia method of their choice. Speaking and presentation skills will be taught during this section of the wonder project.

This wonder and curiosity will be repeated eight times during the school year. I teach a total of 75 students each day, which will mean 600 different student-created projects related to the curriculum.