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Arizona ELA Standard: 1.RL.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Comparing Characters’ Bedrooms
Comparing Characters’ Bedrooms
What item’s in a character’s bedroom would reflect their deepest desires? And what if they toured a similar character’s room?
Gr 1-8
Halloween Emoji Story 🕷️
Halloween Emoji Story 🕷️
Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?
Gr 1-8
Emoji Stories 🚚
Emoji Stories 🚚
Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?
Gr 2-8
Emoji Stories 🏰
Emoji Stories 🏰
Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?
Gr 1-8
Looking Closely at Holiday Photos
Looking Closely at Holiday Photos
Let’s write from multiple perspectives using an old timey holiday photo!
Gr 1-8
Writing About Art: Chōshi in Shimosha
Writing About Art: Chōshi in Shimosha
Get your students writing some pretty darn impressive poetry based on Japan’s most famous artist.
Gr 1-8
Writing About Art: Twilight in the Wilderness
Writing About Art: Twilight in the Wilderness
Look closely at Twilight in the Wilderness. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.
Gr 1-8
Inferring With Art: A Man
Inferring With Art: A Man
What’s going on in this painting? Who is that guy? What’s his job? And where’s his other boot?
Gr 1-8
Inferring With Art: A Couple
Inferring With Art: A Couple
What’s going on in this room? There are shoes everywhere! Are those… oranges? Let’s make some inferences!
Gr 1-8
Inferring With Art: Two Women
Inferring With Art: Two Women
What are these two women up to? What’s that thing she’s holding? Let’s make some inferences!
Gr 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Story Starter: A Magical School
Story Starter: A Magical School
Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in at a magical school.
Gr 1-8
Story Starter: Somewhere In Space
Story Starter: Somewhere In Space
Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in space!
Gr 3-8
Characters Dressed as Other Characters for Halloween
Characters Dressed as Other Characters for Halloween
What if one character dressed up as another for Halloween? Would the Cat in the Hat pick Captain Jack Sparrow, because they’re both chaotic yet good-natured people? Would Elsa dress up as The Ice King since they are both lonely?
Gr 1-8
Virtue or Vice?
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.
Gr 1-6
Showing A Character’s Trait
Showing A Character’s Trait
We tell students to ‘show, not tell’ — but that advice is useless until they experience the difference. This lesson makes it click.
Gr 2-8
Depth and Complexity: 🌻 Details
Depth and Complexity: 🌻 Details
Get kids focusing on the small, but essential, details of a topic.
Gr 1-8
Elements of The Fantasy Genre
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.
Gr 1-8
Introduce Symbolism with Pixel Art
Introduce Symbolism with Pixel Art
Create a pixelated icon that represents the essence of a character!
Gr 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8
Add Layers To Direct Instruction
Add Layers To Direct Instruction
Take direction instruction beyond a monotonous practice of the same skill over and over.
Gr 1-8
Better Stories Part 1: The Big Idea
Better Stories Part 1: The Big Idea
We open our unit on narrative writing with a big idea: “structure increases creativity.” I show how this is true by bringing in examples from across all disciplines.
Gr 1-8