Grade 8

KAS ELA Standard: RI.8.3

Analyze how an author uses comparisons, analogies or categories to make connections among and distinctions between ideas over the course of a text.

Power and Symbols

A skull and crossbones says “danger” faster than any sentence can. So why can’t a symbol say “I forgive you, but I’m still upset”?

Indirect Power – Lighthouse vs Magnetism

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

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

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

Pig Pen Cipher (Codes Part 2)

Let’s encode some secret messages with a cipher that was actually used during the American Civil War!

Trains – Mixed Up Paragraph

Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about trains back into the correct order?

Think Like A Historian

Here’s how effects be causes and causes can be effects!

Analyze Paragraphs: Wolverines

Three paragraphs about wolverines. They all cover the same topic — so what makes each one different? Now combine them into one super-paragraph.

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?

Think Like A Philosopher

What would Socrates have thought if he watched Frozen?

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!

Content Imperatives: Paradox

How can one idea pull in opposite directions, being both true and false or right and wrong at the same time? It’s time to explore Paradoxes!

Content Imperatives: Parallel

Get students thinking broadly by exploring similarities across multiple topics. Combine with Depth and Complexity for bonus points!

Depth and Complexity: 📈 Trends

Has something been changing recently? What might be causing that? What are the effects?

Depth and Complexity: 🚦 Rules

Is there a consequence for not doing something? You may have found a rule!

Depth and Complexity: 📚 Across Disciplines

No topic is an island! With the 📚 Across Disciplines prompt, students note connections within and across multiple fields.

Depth and Complexity: Patterns

Can your students spot anything that repeats? Or that has stopped repeating?

Educational Valentines

Let’s make valentines with an educational twist!

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.

Think Like An Economist

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