Grade 1
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Language
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Reading: Foundational Skills
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Reading: Informational
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Reading: Literature
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Speaking & Listening
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Writing
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Writing Foundational Skills
Arizona ELA Standard: 1.W.5
With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
Power and Traditions
We compare the power of traditions shared by millions with smaller traditions shared by perhaps just one family.
Halloween Worksheets
Crosswords, image analysis, and writing prompts for Halloween!
Writing Haiku in Primary
Your youngest students will learn to write Japanese Haiku poetry.
That Quote’s Not Quite Right: Albert Einstein
When I see a quote, I often think, “That’s not quite right!”
Characters’ Faults Can Also Be Strengths
Strength and weakness are often two sides of the same coin. Students will explore how a character’s flaw can be a benefit.
Halloween Problems and Solutions
When we try to solve a problem, sometimes we end up creating new problems. Which lead to new solutions. Which lead to new problems.
Improving Shakespeare’s Repetition
Let’s help William Shakespeare with his use of repetition.
St. Patrick and Other Legends
How would real people feel about the legends that have been created about them?
Getting Specific With St. Patrick’s Day Writing
Let’s take a starting phrase about St. Patrick’s Day and get specific. No, even more specific!
New Uses For A Cardboard Tube
So, what can a cardboard tube be used for other than holding wrapping paper?
Order, Chaos, and the Holiday Season
Let’s write a holiday song about order and chaos!
Holiday Emoji Story ☃️
Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?
Halloween Emoji Story 🎃
Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?
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.
Emoji Stories 🚚
Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?
Mother’s Day Cards
Let’s write the cleverest Mother’s Day cards you’ve ever seen!
Super Specific Similes – Strong Uncle
Let’s make this simile about a strong uncle even more specific.
A Halloween Costume Gone Wrong
Let’s go roller skating in a Halloween costume! What could possibly go wrong?
Super Specific Similes – Slimy Broccoli
Start with a basic simile. Now make it more specific. Now even more. Watch how much better writing gets with each round.
Super Specific Similes: Quick Baby
Let’s make this simile about a quick baby even more specific.
Super Specific Similes: Loud Class
Let’s make this simile about a loud class super specific!
Super Specific Similes: Stinky Seaweed
Start with a basic simile. Now make it more specific. Now even more. Watch how much better writing gets with each round.
What If… No Sleep?
What would the consequences be if no one had to sleep anymore?
New Uses For A Chair
So, what can a chair be used for other than, you know, sitting in?
New Uses For A Pencil
So, what can a pencil be used for other than writing and drawing?
New Uses For An Aluminum Can
So, what CAN a CAN be used for other than storing liquids?
Random Emoji Prompt Generator
Click up an interesting, visual writing prompt suitable for any grade or purpose.
Lipogram: Rewrite “Twinkle, Twinkle”
What if we rewrote a piece of writing without using certain letters?
Looking Closely at Holiday Photos
Let’s write from multiple perspectives using an old timey holiday photo!
Holiday Writing: Packing Crates
An old photograph. A holiday scene. Pick one object in the picture and write from its point of view.
Thanksgiving Photo Writing
Starting with an old-timey photo, students will write from a particular item’s point of view.
Stories with the Same Problems and Solutions
Have you ever noticed that some stories have awfully similar problems? What if we looked for the most unusual way of solving a repeating problem?
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!?
Writing About Art: Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons
Look closely at Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.
Writing About Art: Impression, Sunrise
Look closely at Impression, Sunrise. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.
Drawing Knots, Level 3
How to draw the final version of the twisty Henri Matisse knot!
Drawing Knots, Level 2
How to draw a more complex version of this twisty Henri Matisse knot!
Writing in Pilish
Pi can go beyond circles! What if you wrote using the digits of pi as your guide?
Writing About Art: Chōshi in Shimosha
Get your students writing some pretty darn impressive poetry based on Japan’s most famous artist.
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.
New Uses for a Paperclip
So what are some new ways to use a paperclip?
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?
Writing About Art: The Scream
Your students will turn the iconic painting The Scream into a vivid, sensory poem.
Self Portraits: Text Art
What if a students’ self-portrait was made of words that describe the student!?
An Escher-Style Tessellation Project
Create a piece of repeating art in the style of MC Escher!
Self Portraits Part One: Line Drawings
Anyone, yes anyone, can create a (somewhat) realistic self-portrait using these steps. Anyone!
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?
Writing Technique: Triple Anadiplosis!
Have students mastered the art of anadiplosis: ending one sentence with the beginning of the next? Now it’s time to take it to the next level!
Doubling Up Writing: Anadiplosis
Repeating words can be what you want, if what you want is an interesting effect. (Psst, that’s an example of anadiplosis!)
Writing Technique: Opposite Adjectives
A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be using antonyms to describe the same topic!
Story Starter: A Day At School
Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place at school.
Story Starter: Out To Eat
Students pick from 12 random phrases to create a story about an incident in a restaurant.
Story Starter: A Magical School
Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in at a magical school.
Story Starter: Somewhere In Space
Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in space!
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 A Thanksgiving Letter
What if an inanimate object could express thanks for a special person in your life? What would it write?
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.
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: 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.
Student Introductions with Complexity and Frames
How have you changed over time? Students introduce themselves through the lens of change — and learn a Depth and Complexity tool in the process.
Student Introductions With Depth and Frames
Want to introduce the tools of Depth and Complexity and learn more about your students and introduce the Frame graphic organizer? Have I got the activity for you!
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.
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.
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.
Improving Presentations 3: The Storyboard and Slides
It’s time to turn that outline into a storyboard and then some actual slides.
Academic Love Letters
What if Kylo Ren wrote a love letter to Abe Lincoln or the Sahara Desert wrote one to the Moon?
Create A Civilization Introduction
Your students build a civilization from scratch — rivers, flags, calendars, currency, government. Social studies, science, and writing woven into one year-long project.
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.
Educational Valentines
Let’s make valentines with an educational twist!
“Its Big Day” – A Children’s Story About Its and It’s
Let’s spice up a typically dull lesson about the difference between “its” and “it’s” by asking students to write a children’s story about the adventures of a critter named It.
Create A Creature
Create a new creature based on the adaptations of existing creatures from the same biome.
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: Square Breathing (Tool 1)
Reduce anxiety by breathing in a square pattern.
Fancier Figurative Language: Start with a Cliche
We’ll start with the cliché “as cold as ice” and go somewhere much more interesting.
Teaching Criticism
Ask students to go beyond “I don’t like it” and form critical opinions based on a set of criteria. Students can produce written arguments or turn their opinion into oral presentations.
Writing Clear Directions
Can you write directions so clear that a group of kids can put a toy together with no illustrations?
Add Layers To Direct Instruction
Take direction instruction beyond a monotonous practice of the same skill over and over.