Being mindful of my own time and other commitments, I didn't want to overextend myself. I came up with a system where I proposed 3 different clubs up front and students were able to sign up for the one they were the most interested in. Clubs run every 2 weeks and each club has 4 meetings with a maximum of 25 students. I started with one club in December and am about to start the second one this Tuesday.
I also am hosting clubs that take little to no planning or that could be run with outside resources. Our first club was the Creators Club, where I gave students a problem to solve through building prototypes. Sometimes there was one problem, sometimes they could choose two. Our first week, we went over basic rules and then the older students did an amazing job at helping out the littles through the weeks. I loved how independent they were exploring and building and testing. I especially liked the shouts of excitement when a prototype worked!
This week, we start our Oceans Club. Thanks to Ocean Wise's discovery kits, I have some great ressources to spark curiosity and wonders. We will also be able to chat with a specialist and ask them our questions. We will finish our club thinking about the UN Goals for Sustainable development #14, Life Below Water, and create our own prototypes of items we can create to save the oceans following the Little Inventors projet that can be found here.
Our last club with be an Environnement Club, where students will continue to pull out invasive species from our school yard and learn more about the soil and water on our grounds. We'll also be taking out our outdoor learning backpacks to explore the birds and our Foldascopes to explore whatever we want! Love having equipment to take learning outside!
I like these shorter models and the ability to work with students that I don't teach. Of the 103 eligible students in the school, 67 are participating! I think that's a great number and I'm so happy to be part of a school community that values science, design thinking, and independent projects!
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