Holiday Worksheets

Writing prompts, non-fiction analysis, and science topics related to Christmas and Hanukkah.

Power Can Be Fast, Slow, Loud, or Quiet

Power may seem loud and fast, but it can also be slow and quiet.

Power can be Visible or Invisible

What are examples of unseen Power? And can invisible power be more powerful than visible power?

Plexidemokinesis (Greek and Latin)

What on earth is a Plexidemokinesis? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

Geosynth (Greek and Latin)

What on earth is a Geosynth? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

Pyrostasis (Greek and Latin)

What on earth is a Pyrostasis? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.

Greekymon Studies – Round 3

What might a creature named “Aquacornus Rex” be like?

Greekymon Studies – Round 2

What might a creature named “Hypermnemonicus” be like?

How to Reset Your Brain When You’re Flooded

Allison Edwards explains how changing your senses can reset your brain.

What If… Long Life?

What would the consequences be if all people lived much, much longer?

Create A Civ: Capital City

Every great capital is part geography, part human design. Research real ones, then build your own from scratch.

Idioms About Money

Five sets of idioms related to money.

Word Pyramids

Start with a one letter word, add another letter, then add another. How tall can you make the pyramid?

Idioms About Fire

Five sets of idioms related to fire!

Idiom Tasks

Four fantastically terrific tasks for a weekly idiom study.

Idioms about Weather

Five sets of idioms related to the weather.

Idioms About Red

Five sets of idioms related to the color red.

Famous Structures

The Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House — group them, pick the best from each group, then design your own.

Back to School: Rewriting The Beatles’ “Help!”

Can your students come up with a one-syllable word to sum up their time away from school? And then rewrite The Beatles’ song Help!?

Introducing Universal Theme of Change

Everything changes. But how does it change? Students brainstorm dozens of examples and boil them down to one big idea.

Introducing Universal Theme of Systems

So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Systems? Well, here’s an introduction that will get your students’ brains sweating.

Introducing Universal Theme of Power

So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Power? Well, here’s an introduction that will get your students’ brains sweating.

Notice, Wonder: Bloom

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Microchess (Chess Variant)

What if we played chess on a board that’s only 4×5?

Sets of Idioms Related to Numbers

Two sets of idioms related to numbers.

Sets of Idioms Related to Body Parts

Five sets of five idioms, all related to body parts!

Sets of Idioms Related to Food

Five sets of five idioms, all related to food.

Parabolic Curve Art

Create mathematical art with curves that, well, aren’t curvy.

Writing About Art: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Look closely at Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.

Create A Civilization: Design A Flag

What makes for a good flag? What makes a bad flag?

Art Lesson: Two-Point Perspective

Let’s get students’ art really popping with two-point perspective!

Game: Snakes

In this grid-based strategy game, who will be the last to add to the snake?

Word Ladders Introduction

You won’t believe how this spelling and vocabulary puzzle will get kids’ brains sweating over the smallest of words.

Generalization: Change Leads to More Change

Can you think of a time in your life when “Change lead to more change?”

Order Can Be Natural or Constructed

When is order natural and when is it designed by people?

Generalization: Problems Lead to New Rules, Which Lead to New Problems

Problems create rules. Rules create new problems. Can you trace the cycle in history, stories, and your own life?

Generalization: Systems Are Made up of Other Systems

A clock is a system. So is a rainforest. So is your school. Once you see systems inside systems, you can’t unsee it.

SCAMPER: Scaffolding Creativity

Asking students to “think creatively” won’t get you far. They won’t know how to start, they’ll get stuck with simple ideas, or they’ll just go completely wild. SCAMPER is a tool for scaffolding the process of creativity.

Notice, Wonder: Akron

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Upgrade Research Questions With Depth and Complexity

Ever ask students to create research questions? Were their ideas a bit… blah? My own students had a very hard time writing questions they didn’t already know the answer to! This video is how I solved that problem: upgrade research questions with depth and complexity.

Sets of Idioms

Why do we say ‘break a leg’? Five themed sets of idioms your students will actually remember.

Chomp

Chomp away at your opponent in this grid-based strategy game.

Col – A Strategy Game

The first person to run out of regions loses in this strategy game.

Game: Notakto

What if you only played Tic-Tac-Toe with Xs and you could play on multiple boards?

Dots and Boxes

Who can make the most boxes from dots in this strategy game?

Sprouts

Learn how to play the abstract, paper-and-pencil game Sprouts.

The Resiliency Tournament

Your students will set up a tournament to determine which person or character best demonstrated resiliency.

More Specific than “Smart”

When students are told that they’re “smart”, what does this word actually mean to them? (Psst. It isn’t what we intended.)

Building Creative Analogies

We’ll take two seemingly unrelated pieces of content (say volcanoes and the human body) and then build analogies to connect the two ideas. In the end, students can create a skit, comic, or story relating the two concepts.

Developing Extension Questions: Zooming In

Every topic has details that get glossed over in a sentence. Zoom in on one and you’ve got an entire unit hiding inside a paragraph.

Create A Civilization: From Hunter Gatherers to Farmers

What happens when your civilization suddenly has a surplus of food? Think of the possibilities!

Content Imperatives: Origin

Take students back to the beginning by using the Content Imperative ⏺️ Origin.

Depth and Complexity: 👄 Language of the Discipline

Imagine a construction worker who doesn’t know the name of a screwdriver or a doctor who can’t remember what to call your neck. It’s pretty hard to communicate well without knowing the 👄 Language of the Discipline!

Educational Valentines

Let’s make valentines with an educational twist!

Drawing Natural Curves Like Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy turns leaves and stones into art. Your students will learn to draw his signature natural curves — then build on them.

How to Play Go

Ready to learn a 2,500-year-old Chinese board game? Let’s… Go!

Reduce Anxiety: Brain Plate (Tool 3)

When a student’s brain is full of worries, everything feels urgent. Brain Plate helps them sort what’s real from what’s noise — and actually do something about it.

Reduce Anxiety: Change The Channel (Tool 2)

Reduce anxiety by learning to “change the channel.”

Reduce Anxiety: Square Breathing (Tool 1)

Reduce anxiety by breathing in a square pattern.

Asynchrony: Developing At Different Rates (For Students)

For students! In some areas, a student may be shockingly advanced, while in others… surprisingly average. This is asynchrony in action.

Teaching Empathy With Faberge Eggs

The story of the Fabergé Eggs is heartbreaking. It’s also the perfect way to build empathy in your classroom.

Common English Words From Other Languages

Bored with typical spelling studies? Let’s dig into the origins of common English words from other languages!

Greek and Latin Dinosaur Names

Let’s create a new dinosaur using Greek and Latin stems!

Intellectual Intensity

Do you know someone who becomes a bit overexcited by ideas?

Think Like An Economist

How would an economist read Goldilocks? How would they see a rainforest? How would they study the American Revolution?

Engineering: Build A Bridge

Using real bridges as their starting point, students will construct bridges out of straws and paperclips.