Grade 1
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Composition
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Language
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Reading: Foundational Skills
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Reading: Informational
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Reading: Literature
KAS ELA Standard: RI.1.7
Use the visuals and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
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!
Main Idea and Details
Young students can use this big idea organizer to identify the main idea and support it with details.
Indirect Power – Lighthouse vs Magnetism
Students explore the idea of indirect power – which can be both visible (a lighthouse) or invisible (magnetism).
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.
Notice, Wonder: Brooklyn
A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!
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!
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!
Looking Closely at Holiday Photos
Let’s write from multiple perspectives using an old timey holiday photo!
Thanksgiving Photo Writing
Starting with an old-timey photo, students will write from a particular item’s point of view.
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!
Notice, Wonder: SLS Test
A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!
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.
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!
Drawing Knots, Level 2
How to draw a more complex version of this twisty Henri Matisse knot!
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!
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: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog
Look closely at Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. What do you notice? Now turn those details into a poem you didn’t know you could write.
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.
Writing About Art: The Scream
Your students will turn the iconic painting The Scream into a vivid, sensory poem.
Notice, Wonder: Green Circles
A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!
Notice, Wonder: An Orange Thing
A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!
Thinking With Art: Head Down
One artist, two paintings. Notice details, compare, synthesize, then find a parallel in another creator’s work.
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?
Inferring With Art: A Couple
What’s going on in this room? There are shoes everywhere! Are those… oranges? Let’s make some inferences!
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: One-Point Perspective
Let’s give our students an art history lesson while teaching them how to enhance their drawings using one-point perspective.
Notice, Wonder: Kuiseb
A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
Improving Presentations 1: Watching The Greats
Get better at giving presentations by studying the greats!
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.
Introduce Symbolism with Pixel Art
Create a pixelated icon that represents the essence of a character!
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: Change The Channel (Tool 2)
Reduce anxiety by learning to “change the channel.”
Reduce Anxiety: Square Breathing (Tool 1)
Reduce anxiety by breathing in a square pattern.
Teaching Empathy With Faberge Eggs
The story of the Fabergé Eggs is heartbreaking. It’s also the perfect way to build empathy in your classroom.
Add Layers To Direct Instruction
Take direction instruction beyond a monotonous practice of the same skill over and over.
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.