Passion Projects  

Dear Parents and Students,

I am excited to share with you that our class will be participating in

Passion Projects, an opportunity for your child to take their own direction in
their learning by focusing on a topic that is of a high interest to them.
Passion Projects, encourage individuals to ask questions, pursue personal
interests, research, and create something to showcase their new knowledge.

Passion Projects are based on a business practice developed by Google,

where they encourage their employees to work on their own passion project
as long as it could potentially help the company. Passion Projects will be an
early finisher in class as well as an at home extension project. Most of this
project will be done outside of class. There are deadlines throughout the
school year to help with pacing and completing their projects.

At the end of each term each student will get to present a showcase piece of
their project to the class. This is a celebration of their passion and shared
interests.

Just as we develop different levels of understanding in school, we develop

different levels of understanding outside of school on different topics. The
more knowledge and learning we obtain about a topic the more of an expert
we become. This is the same application for our passion projects. In each
term each student is able to obtain different levels on their passion projects.

Here are the requirements to obtain for the different levels​:

Novice​: complete 5 hours about topic. Read 2 books and or websites on your
topic. Reading the books and/or websites counts towards your hours.

Beginner​: complete 10 hours about topic. Read 2 books and or websites on

your topic. Reading the books and/or websites counts towards your hours.

Proficient​: complete 15 hours about topic. Read 2 books and or websites on

your topic. Reading the books and/or websites counts towards your hours.

Expert​: complete 20 hours about topic. Read 2 books and or websites on

your topic. Reading the books and/or websites counts towards your hours.
On the following pages you will find the individual requirements page
document hours and research. Since the topics are student generated, a
topic can be used more than once per term. However, there needs to be a
product for each topic again. You will find lists of products that could be used
toward any level or you may come up with your own ideas. For each project
you will need to complete research and a final product to demonstrate your
knowledge that you have gained. You will be presenting your project to the
class at the end of each term. Most of your work will be done outside of class.

All projects require you to obtain teacher approval before you begin. The
previous project must be completed before you start on the next project. If
you want to keep the same topic for the next term you will need to still obtain
teacher approval.

Creating a Showcase for their project at the end of each term can be done in
many ways such as: an essay, a powerpoint, a drawing or painting, an
artifact of the project, a collage and so on.

Here is an example of what you could do with your project, you may decide
you want to learn more about how dogs get adopted. You will research and
learn about how dogs get adopted then part of your hours decide to help at
an animal shelter. Then put a final project together showing what you have
learned. This can be done in the format of an essay, powerpoint
presentation, a book created by you, a painting done by you and so on.

If you choose to stick with the same topic for your next project you may add
in your previous hours to combine with your new hour total. For example, if I
was doing the proficiency level and completed my 15 hours then to get the
expert level I would only need to do 5 more hours. As previously stated, you
will need teacher approval to continue with the same topic.

Students are required to share every time whether you have completed your
project for the term or continuing your project for another term. At the end
of each term each student’s name will be posted on our Passion Project
board with a picture of their project.

All projects are required and must be completed by the end of each term.
Please plan ahead for this deadline.

As the year progresses you may have questions, It is the responsibility of

the student to clarify details with their teacher. Approval for projects must
be made in advance. Parents must initial work and hours earned on the
forms. Forms must be filled out by the student in their own handwriting.
    
Important  Dates 
End of first term  October 22 
 
End of second term  January 14 
 
End of third term  March 25 
 
End of fourth term (due date will be shortened  May 28 
a little due to the end of school) 
 
 Ideas for Passion Projects 
● How does a guitar work?
● Why are pandas becoming in danger of extinction?
● How does a plane fly?
● How do you create a website?
● How do you crochet?
● How has technology affected the human body?
● Why do we have seasons?
● Why do we get gray hair when we get old?
● Why are people worried about global warming?
● How do I create a claymation movie?
● What makes a cheetah run so fast?
● How do you put together a dog walking service
● How do you can fruit?
● Organize a collection and share with the class (baseball cards, rocks,
stamps, etc.)
● Why did the Titanic sink?
● How do you create origami animals?
● What are great ways to learn math tricks?
● Learn new craft ideas and bind a book of examples of each one
● Research types of pretzels and make a video of you demonstrating the
types of pretzels
● What is coding and how does coding work?
● Learn to knit and make a gift for someone
● Research which bubble gum has the longest lasting flavor, present
your findings
● How are plays are made and make one of your own.
Novice
Requirements:
1. Read two books and/or websites close to your reading level.
2. Complete 5 hours on a student chosen topic and create a final
product to demonstrate knowledge of topic.
3. Must be filled out by the student in his or her handwriting except
parent signature.

Books/Website Article Read Author/Website Parent Signature

1.

2.

Topic Hours Date Parent

Completed Signature

Example: Learned about different types of 45 min 9/23

animal shelters.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.
Beginner
Requirements:
1. Read two books and/or websites close to your reading level.
2. Complete 5 hours on a student chosen topic and create a final
product to demonstrate knowledge of topic.
3. Must be filled out by the student in his or her handwriting except
parent signature.

Books/Website Article Read Author/Website Parent Signature

1.

2.

Topic Hours Date Parent

Completed Signature

Example: Learned about different types of 45 min 9/23

animal shelters.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.
Proficient
Requirements:
1. Read two books and/or websites close to your reading level.
2. Complete 5 hours on a student chosen topic and create a final
product to demonstrate knowledge of topic.
3. Must be filled out by the student in his or her handwriting except
parent signature.

Books/Website Article Read Author/Website Parent Signature

1.

2.

Topic Hours Date Parent

Completed Signature

Example: Learned about different types of 45 min 9/23

animal shelters.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.
Expert
Requirements:
1. Read two books and/or websites close to your reading level.
2. Complete 5 hours on a student chosen topic and create a final
product to demonstrate knowledge of topic.
3. Must be filled out by the student in his or her handwriting except
parent signature.

Books/Website Article Read Author/Website Parent Signature

1.

2.

Topic Hours Date Parent

Completed Signature

Example: Learned about different types of 45 min 9/23

animal shelters.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.
Topic Hours Date Parent
Completed Signature

14.

15.

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 Product Ideas
Visual Oral Written Kinesthetic

❏ Display ❏ Panel ❏ Journal ❏ Hand puppet

Discussion show
❏ Chart ❏ Newspaper
❏ Debate ❏ Musical
❏ Table ❏ Diary Instrument
❏ Teach a
❏ Graph Lesson ❏ Letter ❏ Prototype

❏ Illustration ❏ Speech ❏ Report ❏ Gadget

❏ Photo ❏ Interview ❏ Magazine ❏ Card game

Sequence
❏ Song or Rap ❏ Pamphlet ❏ Experiment
❏ PowerPoint
❏ Radio Show ❏ Guide ❏ Invention
❏ Video
❏ Role Play ❏ Lyrics ❏ Quilt
❏ Collage
❏ Jingle ❏ Demonstration
❏ Picture or
Storybook ❏ Choral ❏ Ceramics
Reading
❏ Map ❏ Diorama
❏ Campaign
❏ Timeline Speech ❏ Mobile

❏ Flowchart ❏ Monologue

❏ Diagram

❏ Drawing

❏ Painting

❏ Dance

❏ Play

❏ Advertisement

❏ Sculpture

❏ Puzzle
 Passion Project Proposal Form 
Must be filled out by the student in his or her own handwriting.

Date submitted to teacher​ _______________________________________________

1. I would like to research (please be specific)

2. I am interested in this topic because . . .

3. I plan on using at least three of the following sources of information for my research (for
example: I will visit with Grandpa and ask him to fill out a questionnaire to find out more about
World War II or I will go to the library and read a couple of books on rabbits, etc. )

4. I plan to divide my 5, 10, 15, 20 hours in the following ways (for example: I will go to a museum for 2
hours, I will read a books for 2 hours, etc.)

5. Here is my schedule of how I plan to complete this project (for example: 3 hours a week for 5
weeks - with a starting date of September 1st.

6. I have chosen the following way to present my research to the class in the following way. . .
7. I realize that I will need my parents help in the following ways (transportation, telephone calls, $,
etc.)

I will thank my parents and find ways that I can repay them for helping me.

8.

Student Signature​ ___________________________________

Parents Signature​ ___________________________________

9.

_________ ​approved​ __________ ​denied

Teacher Signature​ _______________________________________________

Date​ ________________________________________

Questions: