Half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education.
Learn more
Support her classroom with a gift that fosters learning.
Monthly
One-time
Support Ms. Buck's classroom with a gift that fosters learning.
Monthly
One-time
Make a donation Ms. Buck can use on her next classroom project.
Genius Hour is my students' favorite part of the week. It inspires them to work hard and gets them truly excited about learning. It is an independent learning time that brings much of the joy and wonder back into our classroom. With our reduced classroom time last year due to COVID-19, so much of this year's learning is a push to "catch up" students academically and to make sure they have solidly learned "the essentials". I believe that my students need time to remember that learning is fun and to regain their natural curiosity about the world. During Genius Hour my students are able to choose projects that interest and inspire them. As Title I students, many of them do not have the resources or support to experience this kind of learning at home. I currently have one student trying to engineer a castle, with a working drawbridge, despite our not having gears or pulleys available for him to use. Other students are working to build Rube Goldberg machines. They are pretty successful with using our class set of dominoes, but when they try to add additional movements in the chain, like causing a ball to roll or drop, it becomes much more difficult, as they just have materials like yogurt cups and toilet paper rolls. The products I have selected will greatly enhance my students' ability to create successful engineering and science projects during our Genius Hour time.
About my class
Genius Hour is my students' favorite part of the week. It inspires them to work hard and gets them truly excited about learning. It is an independent learning time that brings much of the joy and wonder back into our classroom. With our reduced classroom time last year due to COVID-19, so much of this year's learning is a push to "catch up" students academically and to make sure they have solidly learned "the essentials". I believe that my students need time to remember that learning is fun and to regain their natural curiosity about the world. During Genius Hour my students are able to choose projects that interest and inspire them. As Title I students, many of them do not have the resources or support to experience this kind of learning at home. I currently have one student trying to engineer a castle, with a working drawbridge, despite our not having gears or pulleys available for him to use. Other students are working to build Rube Goldberg machines. They are pretty successful with using our class set of dominoes, but when they try to add additional movements in the chain, like causing a ball to roll or drop, it becomes much more difficult, as they just have materials like yogurt cups and toilet paper rolls. The products I have selected will greatly enhance my students' ability to create successful engineering and science projects during our Genius Hour time.