Fifth graders treated to Genius Hour

At Thermopolis Middle School, fifth grade students are getting the opportunity to really put their minds to work in designing and creating some interesting items, through the Genius Hour every week.

Teacher Cassie Hetzel explained the hour, once per week, is dedicated to the students being able to research, create and invent. The program started at the beginning of the year, and is held in the fifth grade classrooms every Friday beginning at 11:45 a.m.

Among the ideas explored in the program are homemade toy soldiers, paper planes designed to fly farther, indestructible balloons, origami designs, retractable cleats, fluffy slime and headbands with built in ear warmers.

Hetzel said the students definitely love the time they get to create and it's an incentive for them. They've also transferred the skills they use, such as creative problem solving, into regular classroom work. While at the start of the year some of them found it hard to start a project, once they did they just took off. Each project starts with a planning process, and when students have completed their ideas they provide a report on their findings.

Colter Price, who worked on the retractable cleats, said the project went well. Though the idea was submitted to a company, he later found out the idea was already patented so it was back to the drawing board. He said the Genius Hour is really fun, and he's started on his next project which involves a metal ball and accompanying gloves with magnets that can be turned on and off for ease for catching and throwing.

Zane Stam worked on some homemade soldiers created from wax. He used toy soldiers in play dough to make the mold, then poured in the wax. While some of the figures cracked, Stam said there were a couple that worked out and were usable. He plans to next work on a super high bouncing ball.

Maddi Andreen has been working on a presentation about foster care for the past couple weeks. She noted some of the presentation is about her, as her family does foster care. For the next project, she plans to work with her friends to create a fun photo booth and design props to use with it.

Brailee DeVries is working on headband ear warmers, and said her progress has been "pretty good." Her first plan, which was to Velcro pompoms to the headband, didn't work, so she switched to hot glue which held them in place better. She's not yet ready for a new project, as she's still working on the concept of making the pompoms fuller and the headband warmer.

Hetzel noted the Genius Hour is specific to the fifth grade, and each grade at the middle school has its own unique activity.