Free Choice Friday: When everyone is as nerdy as the teacher

One of my favorite parts of teaching is that I get to be really nerdy when it comes to learning. My job is  helping these monkeys get over-the-moon excited about the Gettysburg address, or the job of a cell's mitochondria, or how many synonyms for 'happy' we can come up with. Teaching involves a lot of drama--and I have come to learn that if I get super geeked about a topic, this crew will follow suit (for the most part).

Several weeks ago, on a particularly exhausting week, I was completely spent by Friday afternoon. I had many things to get ready for the next week, and I had nothing left to give. So I sat the kids down about an hour before dismissal, and introduced Free Choice Friday. Teacher translation? An hour of peace (ish). We brainstormed different ideas to make our "free" time productive. Free Choice Friday would not, could not, become Free-for-all Friday.

We have been doing it for a couple of weeks now, and the kids have loved it. It has turned into a beautifully creative and centered part of our week. Here are some things I have seen in the last few weeks:

-Studying Picasso portraits and trying our own.
-Planning a skit to act out the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.
-Painting water color pictures of saints and Scripture scenes.
- Making a diorama of the cross section of skin (kind of gross....but super cool).

-A poster to compare different types of muscle cells.
- Writing a game-show to quiz students/contestants on viruses and their effect on cells.
-A mural of a scene from ancient Japan.
-Using fall leaves to create clever art.

I realized today that these kiddos make the coolest Free Choice Friday choices ever. They are so smart and creative. They love to learn, and even want to use their free choice time for brilliant work. And they are, just maybe, becoming as nerdy as their teacher. Success!