Order and Chaos Hide Inside Each Other
Chaos can contain order. Order can contain chaos! Is chaos ever truly random?
Power and Traditions
We compare the power of traditions shared by millions with smaller traditions shared by perhaps just one family.
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?
Founding The Colonies
13 colonies activities including a word search and task cards packed with facts. Plus, students will create their own colony with a name, story, and map!
Hero or Not A Hero?
Students will determine what makes a hero a hero.
What’s In My Brain: Ball vs Book
Let’s look at Kinetic vs Potential Energy!
A Character’s Playlist
What playlist of songs best goes with a character’s change over time?
Discussing An Important Decision from History
How would people with two different perspectives discuss a decision from history?
Famous Structures
The Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House — group them, pick the best from each group, then design your own.
Concept Attainment: Hornet vs Tiger
Can your class spot the vertebrates vs invertebrates?
Plant Adaptation Tournament
Who will win in a tournament of eight plants with Interesting adaptations!?
Animal Adaptation Tournament
Which animal has the most interesting, most valuable, or strangest adaptations?
What’s In My Brain: Owl vs Eagle
Some of these animals are nocturnal and some are diurnal.
Self Portraits: Pointillism
Turn your students into a bunch of Monets with q-tips and some tempera paint.
Writing Sample: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Falling)
A passage from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Writing Sample: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Shrinking)
A passage from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Writing Sample: The Velveteen Rabbit (The Toys)
A passage from The Velveteen Rabbit to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Writing Sample: White Fang (The Wild)
A passage from White Fang to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Writing Sample: The Jungle Book (Bagheera)
A passage from The Jungle Book to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
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: 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.
Create A Civilization: A Change In Government
It’s a great moment for your civilization! Power is moving from the hands of a few to a more democratic government.
Writing Sample: The Wind in the Willows
A passage from The Wind in the Willows to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Writing Sample: Moby Dick
A passage from Moby Dick to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Writing Sample: Peter Pan
A passage from “Peter Pan” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Writing Sample: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
A passage from “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Writing Sample: The Fall of the House of Usher
A passage from “The Fall of the House of Usher” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Writing Sample: Anne of Green Gables
An intriguing passage from Anne of Green Gables to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Game: Notakto
What if you only played Tic-Tac-Toe with Xs and you could play on multiple boards?
The Resiliency Tournament
Your students will set up a tournament to determine which person or character best demonstrated resiliency.
Academic Love Letters
What if Kylo Ren wrote a love letter to Abe Lincoln or the Sahara Desert wrote one to the Moon?
Content Imperatives: Paradox
How can one idea pull in opposite directions, being both true and false or right and wrong at the same time? It’s time to explore Paradoxes!
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!
Depth and Complexity: 📚 Across Disciplines
No topic is an island! With the 📚 Across Disciplines prompt, students note connections within and across multiple fields.
Creating A Realistic Flower and Pollinator
Your students will create a new flower, designed to attract a specific pollinator.
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.
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.
Intellectual Intensity
Do you know someone who becomes a bit overexcited by ideas?
Engineering: Build A Bridge
Using real bridges as their starting point, students will construct bridges out of straws and paperclips.