(1) I introduced a sample idea to my students about how some of my former students used this time to research how farming became a common practice. I explained how they researched the topic, expanded it as new interests came about, and presented their findings.
(2) I had my students create this organizer on a piece of paper:
Here is the list of our projects this round:
- What do the various Native American symbols mean?
- How has football changed since it started?
- Can I build the Eiffel tower out of supplies in the classroom?
- Who decided that there should be 12 months in a year, and why???
- How do female bullfrogs choose males and how does the breeding cycle work?
- How did Isaac Newton study and make his inventions?
- Who invented the internet and for what reason?
- How did the Ice Age start and what happened to the people and the animals?
- When were the first books made, what were they about, and at last which culture made them first?
- How do hurricanes gain power and how do they get so destructive?
- What are the classifications of planets (gassy, rocky, dwarf, etc.) and how does it work?
- Can I make a website about famous artists, and re-draw their most famous pieces?
- How does gravity work and how come open space has no gravity?
- How are Solar Systems formed and what is the purpose of them? What other ones exist?
- How were cars invented, improved, and made to go so fast?
- How did different cultures get their gods? For example, Greeks, Aztecs, Native Americans, Egyptians.
- With help from writing techniques, could a fifth grader learn more about writing to make a book?
Some pictures of our Passion Time in its early days (Lots of self-selected reading, writing, and research: