Notice, Wonder: Fountain

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

Notice, Wonder: Dazzle

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

Order and Chaos Hide Inside Each Other

Chaos can contain order. Order can contain chaos! Is chaos ever truly random?

Main Idea and Details

Young students can use this big idea organizer to identify the main idea and support it with details.

Power in Autumn

Autumn was once powerful because of the harvest. What gives Fall its power now?

Who has more power: the Queen Bee or the Hive?

Sometimes power is concentrated in one place. Other times it is spread out.

Power Big Idea Worksheets

Your students will investigate statements like: Power leads to change, Power comes in many forms, Power can be used or abused.

Identifying A Story’s Theme

Teach your young students to identify the moral or the theme of a story.

What’s In My Brain: Austin vs Los Angeles

We’re looking at capital cities.

What Happens In Your Brain When You’re Worried or Afraid

Allison Edwards explains how blood flow in your brain affects your decision-making

Notice, Wonder: Sombrero

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

Notice, Wonder: Silver Torch

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

Notice, Wonder: Barringer

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

What’s In My Brain!? Gold vs Wood

Some of these examples are conductors and some are insulators!

Notice, Wonder: Critter

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

Introducing Universal Theme of Conflict

So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Conflict? 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: SLS Test

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

Notice, Wonder: Butterball

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

Notice, Wonder: Bloom

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

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.

Concept Attainment: Art

Can your students tell the difference between cubism and abstract art?

Paradox: Rebuilding A Ship

What if we completely rebuild something slowly? What if we completely rebuild it all at once? Is it still the same thing?

Thinking With Art: Head Down

One artist, two paintings. Notice details, compare, synthesize, then find a parallel in another creator’s work.

Writing Sample: A Christmas Carol (Cold)

A passage from White Fang to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.

Notice Wonder: Blood Falls

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

Think Like A Philosopher

What would Socrates have thought if he watched Frozen?

Virtue or Vice?

Aristotle noted that positive traits and negative traits are often the same thing, but just in different amounts. The right amount is a virtue, but too much or too little and it’s a vice.

Notice, Wonder: Forest

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

Notice, Wonder: Climber

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

Notice, Wonder: The Cliff

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

Notice, Wonder: Plateau

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

Notice, Wonder: A Ship

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

Investigating Christmas Trees

Start with facts about Christmas trees. Group them. Label them. Can you boil it all down to one big idea?

Depth and Complexity: 🏛️ Big Idea

Let’s get students thinking big and focusing on more abstract ideas.

Depth and Complexity: 🌻 Details

Get kids focusing on the small, but essential, details of a topic.

Elements of The Fantasy Genre

Every fantasy story has patterns hiding underneath the magic. Once your students see the elements, they’ll spot them everywhere — and use them in their own writing.

Motivation and Moral Development

Can someone do the right thing, but for the wrong reason?

Think Like An Economist

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