BROOKINGS – Dakota Prairie Elementary staff have noticed something strange about their students this last school year: they’re looking forward to coming to school on Friday, and not just because it’s the last day of school that week.
This school year, the school began setting aside 45 minutes of Friday mornings to allow all students to do whatever activities they’d like. They call this time Genius Hour.
The idea is an adaptation of something that companies such as Google and FedEx have for their employees. It works about the same, with employees given time each week to work on passion projects of their own choosing.
“The idea was then brought into school,” Dakota Prairie Elementary Principal Kirstin Girard said. “It was the whole idea of giving learners some time during the week that would be just working on their passions. The older levels, it’s a little more focused into a project whereas at our younger levels, it’s much more exploratory.”
Different activities are offered by teachers, staff and volunteers, but students can do nearly anything they with their time. One popular way for students to spend their time is helping the head custodian, for example.
“Every Friday, they’re down here wanting to work,” Girard said with a laugh. “Can you beat that?”
And that enthusiasm for exploring off-beat areas not typically covered during class time is exactly the point.
“We’ve got kids who’ve wanted to come have tours of the office by Ronda (May). We’ve got kids that want to help all over with our head custodian, our librarian, all those people. Kids go down to Early Childhood to help with our preschoolers,” Girard said.
Others offer students more standard activities, such as crafts. In Sue Carlson’s kindergarten class, crafts allow students a chance to explore their creative side.
During their Genius Hour a couple weeks ago, one table had children taking scissors to egg cartons, slowly transforming them into caterpillars. Another group made rainbows with markers on paper towels; they then sprayed them with water spray bottles. Some children busied themselves with seashells, looking at them through magnifying glasses.
“Instead of me moving things forward for them, they get to direct themselves. It’s a lot of independent work time. As teachers, we’re often making lessons geared to our standards, so this gives us some options to explore things off the map. I like that about it and I like the creativity,” Carlson said.
Other teachers are able to offer more complex tasks for students. While second-grade teacher Kati Rounds did more sports-oriented activities when the weather was nice, now her students can dabble in technology.
She uses the circuit kits that the school has to offer a variety of electrical and coding learning experiences. One lets students connect to everyday objects, turning bananas into a working piano. A couple robotic kits require coding in order to perform different tasks.
“It’s amazing to see what they’ll create on their own,” Rounds said. “I haven’t taught them any of these things. I’ve basically shown them how they work, and they create all kinds of different things.”
The enthusiasm she sees in the 20-30 students who typically participate is fulfilling, too.
“They definitely look forward to Fridays and not just because it’s a Friday but because we always have Genius Hour in the morning,” Rounds said. “There was one Friday where we had a late start, so we did not have Genius Hour, and they were so disappointed. It was sad, but great to see that they really wanted to come to school on time that day, which is not something you always see.”
Some teachers do plan activities well ahead of Friday, too. Art teacher Emily Charlson typically announces the activity she has planned during Monday morning announcements and posts her sign-up sheet on Tuesday.
“They’re already asking me on Monday or even Friday afternoon ‘What are we doing next Friday?’” Charlson said. “I think giving them that time … definitely leaves a positive impact.”
The number of students who participate varies, in part because of the number she can accept depends on such factors as the availability of materials, tools and how many adults can be there to help.
The open-ended nature of Genius Hour allows her to see another side to her students, too.
“I might put out all the drawing supplies and they can draw what they chose all the time, whereas sometimes in more of our lessons, our focus is more narrow on something else,” she said. “You learn a lot more about a student when they’re drawing or creating something out of their own imaginations” without guidance from her.
Genius Hour has also made students more confident. Girard recalled one very shy girl who now helps teach yoga.
“Teachers have seen their kids come alive,” Girard said. “Their kids are good at something, and even if school’s a struggle, they’re good at what they’re doing during this time. And that helps our kids’ confidence.”
It’s those kinds of changes that Girard and the teachers agree make Genius Hour a welcome addition to Dakota Prairie Elementary.
Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.
Register photos: Above, Shelly Pitts assists Jack Braschler and Christopher Green, both kindergartners at Dakota Prairie, as they turn egg cartons into caterpillars and baby chicks. This is just one of the possible things they could do during Genius Hour in Sue Carlson’s kindergarten classroom last Friday.
Below, Dakota Prairie art teacher Emily Charlson’s classroom is a popular place during Genius Hour, with anywhere between 12-30 kids typically signing up for the different projects she thinks up. Projects vary from week to week, but last Friday had the students working on salt dough sculptures. Pictured, Sophia Schmidt worked on sculpting a penguin out the prepared salt dough.
