CCSS ELA Standard: 5.SL.1

What’s In My Brain: Ramp vs Bike

Students will deduce the topic of simple vs compound machines.

What’s In My Brain: Grass vs Mold

Students will be working with examples and non-examples to deduce the topic of Plants.

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 to Chaos: Dominoes or Dam?

Sometimes outside forces turn order into chaos. But sometimes chaos comes from within.

Chaos Can Be Positive or Negative

Sometimes we want order, but sometimes we need chaos!

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: Inventions vs Discovery

We’re looking at inventions vs discoveries.

What’s In My Brain: Paperclip vs Straw

We’re looking at magnetic vs. non-magnetic materials.

What’s In My Brain: Lion vs Bear

We’re looking at carnivores vs omnivores.

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.

Notice, Wonder: Brooklyn

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

What’s In My Brain: Guinea Pig vs Potbelly

Let’s look at misnomers – things with the wrong name!

What’s In My Brain: Spain vs Germany

We’re looking at monarchies vs democracies.

St. Patrick and Other Legends

How would real people feel about the legends that have been created about them?

Tournament of Mythological Creatures

Who will win the tournament of mythological creatures!?

Tournament of Not-So-Famous Inventors

Which inventor and invention will win the tournament?

What’s In My Brain: Pentagon vs Pentagon

We’re looking at regular vs irregular polygons.

What’s In My Brain: Austin vs Los Angeles

We’re looking at capital cities.

What’s In My Brain: Italy vs Normandy

We’re looking at countries vs states (and other smaller regions).

What’s In My Brain: Coral vs Water Lilies

Let’s look at saltwater vs freshwater organisms.

What’s In My Brain: Tree vs Tree

Let’s look at deciduous vs coniferous trees.

What’s In My Brain: Ball vs Book

Let’s look at Kinetic vs Potential Energy!

What’s In My Brain: Crocodile vs Tree Frog

Is it a reptile or an amphibian?

What’s In My Brain: Narwhal vs Penguin

We’re looking at the arctic vs the antarctic.

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.

Domesticated Animals Tournament

Which domesticated animal will win the tournament?

Types of Energy Tournament

Which type of energy will win the tournament!?

Natural Disasters Tournament

Who will win the tournament of Natural Disasters!?

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

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

Slow Motion Popcorn

What surprises can you spot when a kernel pops in super slow-mo?

Compare and Create New Year’s Traditions

Hey! Our New Year traditions have a lot in common.

Notice, Wonder: Sombrero

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

Create A Civ: Capital City

How are capital cities a combination of natural and human-designed features?

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!

Phrases to Join a Discussion

Want your classroom discussions to go a bit more smoothly? Train students to use a few simple phrases and it’ll make all the difference in the world.

Concept Attainment: Japan vs Jamaica

Is it an island or an archipelago?

Famous Structures

Students explore famous structures from around the world, put them into related categories, pick some winners, and then design their own.

Concept Attainment: Conductors

Some of these examples are conductors and some are insulators!

Concept Attainment: Walnut vs Clouds

Let’s look at living vs non-living things.

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.

Notice, Wonder: A House

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

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!?

Concept Attainment: Hornet vs Tiger

Can your class spot the vertebrates vs invertebrates?

Introducing Universal Theme of Change

So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Change? Well, here’s an introduction that will get your students’ brains sweating.

Introducing Universal Theme of Systems

So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Systems? 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: Ramses

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

Plant Adaptation Tournament

Who will win in a tournament of eight plants with Interesting adaptations!?

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!

Tournament: 8 Wonders of the Solar System

Which location is the most wondrous place in the solar system?

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!

The 8th Wonder of the World Tournament

Which of these eight wonders deserves to become the Eighth Wonder of the World!?

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!

Exploration Technology Tournament

Which of these pieces of exploration technology is most important? Most underrated? Most long-lasting?

Precipitation Tournament

Eight types of precipitation battle it out in this tournament.

Tournament of Ancient Inventions

Which of these inventions of the ancient world is most influential? Least useful today? Most taken-for-granted?

Animal Adaptation Tournament

Which animal has the most interesting, most valuable, or strangest adaptations?

Habitable Planets and Moons Tournament

Which object in the solar system is most habitable?

Parts of Speech Tournament

Which part of speech is most useful? Interesting? Strange?

Not Like The Others: Types of Volcanoes

Which of these types of volcanoes is not like the others?

Not Like The Others: Deserts

Which of these deserts is not like the others?

Create A Civilization: Currency

What type of currency will your civilization use? What symbols will be on it? Why are they significant?

Create A Civilization: Design A Flag

What makes for a good flag? What makes a bad flag?

Tournament of Presidents

So who was the strangest of these eight presidents?

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?

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!

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!

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!

Order Can Be Natural or Constructed

When is order natural and when is it designed by people?

Invisible Power Can Have Visible Effects

Can you think of times when power is unseen, but we can clearly see its effects?

What’s In My Brain: May vs May

The word “may” can be used for possibility or permission. It’s a modal auxiliary verb!

How Renewable Is That Resource?

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

What’s In My Brain: Trapezoids or Not?

Which are trapezoids and which are not?

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!

The Tournament of Biomes

Want to move beyond memorizing the characteristics of biomes? In this lesson, students work through a Tournament of Biomes, explaining which biome wins in each round (based on criteria you choose). In the end, they crown a 👑 Champion Biome!

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!

Notice, Wonder: Climber

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

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!

What’s In My Brain: Painting vs Painting

Students infer the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs.

What’s In My Brain: Cute Baby vs Fast Cheetah

Can students spot similes vs metaphors?

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!

Fraction Ordering Tournament

Which set of fractions would be the trickiest to order from least to greatest? Let’s have a tournament!

The Personalities of Rocks

What would an igneous rock be like? Would it get along with a sedimentary rock? Could they handle the hot personality of a metamorphic rock?

What’s In My Brain – Independent vs Dependent

Some of these clauses are dependent and some are independent.

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!

Simple or Compound Sentences – What’s In My Brain?

Can your students spot simple sentences vs compound sentences?

Run On or Not? – What’s In My Brain

Can your students spot the run-on sentences?

Complex or Compound – What’s In My Brain

Can your class spot the complex sentences vs compound sentences?

What’s In My Brain: Progressive vs Simple Tenses

Will your students notice progressive tense vs simple tense?

What’s In My Brain – The Park vs The Museum

We’re looking at the past progressive tense and the simple past tense.

Student Introductions with Complexity and Frames

Students will introduce themselves by showing how they’ve changed over time.

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!

The Resiliency Tournament

Your students will set up a tournament to determine which person or character best demonstrated resiliency.

More Specific than “Smart”

When students are told that they’re “smart”, what does this word actually mean to them? (Psst. It isn’t what we intended.)

Building Creative Analogies

We’ll take two seemingly unrelated pieces of content (say volcanoes and the human body) and then build analogies to connect the two ideas. In the end, students can create a skit, comic, or story relating the two concepts.

Propaganda and Logical Fallacies

Let’s see how propaganda techniques can make even something great seem bad.

Create A Civilization: Calendars

Why 12 months? Why 30ish days? Why 7 days in a week? Your civilization could organize a year in any way you want!

A Caffeine Investigation – Part 3

Students will analyze advertisements about caffeine and create a public service announcement to communicate their findings.

Create A Civilization: From Hunter Gatherers to Farmers

What happens when your civilization suddenly has a surplus of food? Think of the possibilities!

Create A Civilization: The River

The Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Seine, the Thames, and now… your river!

Persuasion and Packaging: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

How does a drink’s packaging affect us emotionally and logically?

Create A Civilization Introduction

Combine social studies, science, and language arts in this year-long creative project!

Creating A Classroom Motto

Starting with specific examples of fantastic classroom behavior, your class will end up with one sentence summing up their expectations. It’s a classroom motto!

Think Like An Economist

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