Alabama ELA Standard: 6.CL.8

Order and Chaos: Recipe or Instinct?

Two cooks make the same dinner. One follows the recipe to the exact gram. The other just throws things in by feel. Whose food turns out better — the ordered cook or the chaotic cook?

Order and Chaos: The Perfect Heartbeat

A heartbeat sounds steady, but a perfectly regular one is a warning sign — healthy hearts speed up and slow down a little. Is a healthy heart ordered or chaotic?

Order and Chaos: The Shuffle

Shuffling follows exact steps to make cards random. Are you creating chaos, or doing something very orderly?

Order and Chaos: No Traffic Lights

One town runs its intersections with signals. Another has no lights at all — drivers just work it out. Which town’s traffic is more orderly?

Order and Chaos: The Snowflake

A snowflake always has six sides, yet no two have ever matched. Is a snowflake order, or chaos?

Systems: Grandpa’s Axe

Grandpa’s axe broke, so he put on a new head. Years later the handle cracked, so he replaced that too. Now no original piece is left. Is it still the same axe, or a new one?

Systems: The Thermostat

A thermostat fights to keep a room the same — open a window and it just cranks the heat to undo you. In a system that pushes back like that, can you ever really change just one thing?

Systems: Watch vs. Forest

A watch stops dead if one tiny gear breaks. A forest can lose a whole species and barely notice. Which is the better-built system — the one where every part matters, or the one where no part is essential?

Systems: The Traffic Jam

Picture a jam where no one crashed and no one even stopped on purpose — everyone crawls for an hour, then it clears for no reason. Did anyone actually cause this traffic jam?

Systems: Pull One Thread

A sweater is really one long thread looped a thousand times. Pull the right loose end and the whole thing unravels in seconds. So is a system like that strong or fragile?

Change: The Caterpillar’s Bargain

To become a butterfly, a caterpillar doesn’t just sprout wings — inside the cocoon it dissolves into liquid first, almost nothing left, then rebuilds. Would you trade everything you are now to become something far greater?

Change: The Sealed Jar

You love a flower so much you seal it in a jar to keep it exactly as it is, forever. A month later it’s brown and crumbling. Did sealing it stop the change, or just hide it?

Change: The Tree’s Scar

A nail got hammered into a young tree. The tree didn’t push it out — it grew around it, sealing the nail inside a knot of new wood. Was that change the tree healing, or the tree getting damaged?

Change: One Domino

You nudge one domino. It tips the next, which tips two more, which tip four, until a thousand have fallen. Did you cause one change, or a thousand?

Change: Canyon vs. Earthquake

It took a river six million years to carve the Grand Canyon. An earthquake can drop a cliff into the sea in ten seconds. Which one changed the land more — the slow river or the fast quake?

What’s In My Brain: Primary Sources

Two columns. One is an example, one isn’t. Can you figure out the hidden rule before the big reveal?

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!

Notice, Wonder: Burton Island

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

Notice, Wonder: Tenzing

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?

Power and Traditions

We compare the power of traditions shared by millions with smaller traditions shared by perhaps just one family.

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?

Who really runs the hive: the queen, or the thousands of bees around her?

Indirect Power – Lighthouse vs Magnetism

Students explore the idea of indirect power – which can be both visible (a lighthouse) or invisible (magnetism).

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.

Notice, Wonder: Brooklyn

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

New Uses For A Cardboard Tube

So, what can a cardboard tube be used for other than holding wrapping paper?

Student Introductions With Depth, Complexity, and Frames: Level Two

Once students know the prompts of Depth and Complexity, let’s take them much higher up Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Natural Disasters Tournament

Earthquake vs. hurricane. Tsunami vs. wildfire. Students set the criteria, argue their case, and crown a champion. Warning: it gets heated.

Van Gogh Self-Portrait Tournament

Who will win the tournament of Van Gogh self-portraits!?

How to Reset Your Brain When You’re Flooded

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

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!

New Uses For A Chair

So, what can a chair be used for other than, you know, sitting in?

New Uses For An Aluminum Can

So, what CAN a CAN be used for other than storing liquids?

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!

Notice, Wonder: Rosetta

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

Discussing An Important Decision from History

How would people with two different perspectives discuss a decision from history?

Notice, Wonder: Critter

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

Notice, Wonder: A House

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

Chess Variant: Monster Chess

What if you had really weak chess pieces, but you could always move twice?

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: Ramses

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

Notice, Wonder: Craters

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

Notice, Wonder: Bloom

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

Notice, Wonder: Skylight

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

Charge of the Light Brigade – Chess Variant

What if one side played with THREE QUEENS and the other had SEVEN KNIGHTS!? What if?

Horde Chess Variant

What if one player had, say, 32 pawns?

Notice, Wonder: Krzywy Las

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

Notice, Wonder: Scales

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

Notice, Wonder: Vortices

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

Notice, Wonder: Swirls

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

Notice, Wonder: Witch’s Fingers

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

Four Player Chess

Tired of boring ol’ chess? Then you need to try FOUR PLAYER chess!

Ultimate (or Inception) Tic Tac Toe

What if each square on a Tic-Tac-Toe board had another Tic-Tac-Toe board inside of it?

Notice, Wonder: Green Circles

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

A Lunar Survival Mission

A favorite of mine! This task is delightfully complex and ambiguous, forcing students to make choices without enough information and with no right answer. How will they survive on the moon for three days?

Notice, Wonder: An Orange Thing

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

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?

Inferring With Art: Two Women

What are these two women up to? What’s that thing she’s holding? Let’s make some inferences!

Art Lesson: Two-Point Perspective

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

Self Portraits: Pointillism

Turn your students into a bunch of Monets with q-tips and some tempera paint.

The Pros and Cons of Producers and Consumers

Sure, students might know the difference between a producer and a consumer… but have they considered how they feel about each other? What, in a producer’s opinion, are the pros and cons of a consumer?

Notice, Wonder: Kuiseb

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

Game: Snakes

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

Math Game: Heaps

Try this a simple (but surprisingly strategic) subtraction game!

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: 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.

Notice, Wonder: A Long Line

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

Notice, Wonder: Blood Falls

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

Change Leads to More Change

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

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?

How Renewable Is That Resource?

Which resource is more renewable? And which is easier to find?

Notice, Wonder: Forest

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

Notice, Wonder: Akron

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

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.

Notice, Wonder: Electronics

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

Notice, Wonder: Turbine

Your students will be surprised by the size of this turbine… and by what’s hanging from it!

Notice, Wonder: Z-Machine

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

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: 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.

Notice, Wonder: Climber

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

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.

Notice, Wonder: A River

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: Michael

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

Notice, Wonder: Etna

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

Bulls and Cows

How quickly can you break the numeric code?

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.

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!

Paradox: Crocodile Dilemma

A crocodile makes a deal. But the deal creates a paradox. Can your students untangle a 2,000-year-old logic puzzle?