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TEKS ELA Standard: 1.11.A
plan a first draft by generating ideas for writing such as by drawing and brainstorming
Chaos Can Be Positive or Negative
Sometimes we want order, but sometimes we need chaos!
Introducing Order and Chaos
Introduce Order by exploring “written” vs “unwritten” rules.
Maze Generator
Create and print mazes for your students – with bonus side quests!
Power Can Be Fast, Slow, Loud, or Quiet
Power may seem loud and fast, but it can also be slow and quiet.
Two Animals Switch Biomes
What if a capybara and a kangaroo rat switched homes? Would their adaptations be helpful at all?
Holiday Shuffle – Day vs Date
Wouldn’t some holidays be better on a certain day of the week? Should Thanksgiving have a set date?
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.
St. Patrick and Other Legends
How would real people feel about the legends that have been created about them?
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 ⛷️
Students will create a story about ⛷️🌨️🌲🐻🤝
Holiday Emoji Story 🍪
Students will create a story about 🍪🥛🔍🐾🦌
Holiday Emoji Story ☃️
Students will create a story about ☃️👑🏔️🔭✨
Holiday Emoji Story 🎅
Students will create a story about 🎅🛷🌀🚀🌍
Holiday Emoji Story 🚚
Students will create a story about 🚚🎁🤔🐶🫣
Halloween Emoji Story 🎃
Students will create a story about 🎃🕯️📖💥👻.
Halloween Emoji Story 🌕
Students will create a story about 🌕🌲👣😱💨.
Halloween Emoji Story 🕷️
Students will create a story about 🕷️🕸️📩🔑🚪.
Emoji Stories 🦁
Students will create a story about 🦁👑🐗🎶🌄
Emoji Stories 🐌
Students will create a story about 🐌📬✈️🏛️ 📜
Emoji Stories 🚚
Students will create a story about 🚚🤖📻🛸🌌
Emoji Stories 🏟️
Students will create a story about 🏟️🏹🍞🐦🔥
Emoji Stories 🕰️
Students will create a story about 🕰️🎩🐀💎🕺
Emoji Stories 👁️
Students will create a story about 👁️🔮🌩️🚷🌲
Emoji Stories 🚗
Students will write a story about 🚗🗺️🌋🐉🌉
Emoji Stories 🤖
Students will create a story about 🤖💃🎵🕺🐔.
Emoji Stories 🐻
Students will create a story about 🐻🎩🎙️🐰🤣.
Emoji Stories 🏰
Students will create a story about 🏰📚🔍🔐🚪.
Emoji Stories 🛥️
Students will write a story about 🛥️🏊🌊🐙🤝 .
Mother’s Day Cards
Let’s write the cleverest Mother’s Day cards you’ve ever seen!
Compare and Create New Year’s Traditions
Hey! Our New Year traditions have a lot in common.
Bobbing for Apples
What is bobbing for apples like… for an apple?
A Halloween Costume Gone Wrong
Let’s go roller skating in a Halloween costume! What could possibly go wrong?
Super Specific Similes: Quick Baby
Let’s make this simile about a quick baby even more specific.
Squiggles Collection 3
Students start with the same squiggle and then draw on it, turning it into whatever they think it might be.
Squiggles Introduction
What do you see in this squiggle?
Squiggles Collection 1
Students start with the same squiggle and then draw on it, turning it into whatever they think it might be.
Squiggles Collection 2
Students start with the same squiggle and then draw on it, turning it into whatever they think it might be.
What If… Unreliable Water?
What would the consequences be if a town’s tap water became… unreliable?
What If… Long Life?
What would the consequences be if all people lived much, much longer?
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 “Mary Had A Little Lamb”
What if we rewrote a piece of writing without using certain letters?
Categorize and Re-Categorize Countries
Put these countries into groups. Then do it again. Then… do it one more time. How does re-re-grouping the same places reveal new patterns and give new insights?
Looking Closely at Holiday Photos
Let’s write from multiple perspectives using an old timey holiday photo!
Holiday Writing: Packing Crates
Students will look closely at this old image and write a short, structured poem.
Thanksgiving Photo Writing
Starting with an old-timey photo, students will write from a particular item’s point of view.
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.
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!?
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.
Writing About Art: Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons
Students will create a pretty darn interesting poem about Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons.
Writing About Art: Impression, Sunrise
Students will create a surprisingly good poem based on Monet’s Impression, Sunrise.
Drawing Knots, Level 3
How to draw the final version of the 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: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog
Students will look closely at a piece of art and then write a structured poem about it.
New Uses for a Paperclip
So what are some new ways to use a paperclip?
Think Like A Historian
Here’s how effects be causes and causes can be effects!
Writing About Art: The Scream
Your students will turn the iconic painting The Scream into a vivid, sensory poem.
Cram
Try this a simple (but surprisingly strategic) grid-filling game!
Self Portraits: Text Art
What if a students’ self-portrait was made of words that describe the student!?
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!
Writing A Thanksgiving Letter
What if an inanimate object could express thanks for a special person in your life? What would it write?
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?
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.
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.
Improving Presentations 3: The Storyboard and Slides
It’s time to turn that outline into a storyboard and then some actual slides.
Improving Presentations 2: Planning The Outline
After watching some great presenters, let’s outline your presentation!
Using Creativity Tools To Develop A Learning Exploration: Step Four
In this video, Kathryn Haydon explains how she designed creative products to finish her students’ learning explorations.
Using Creativity Tools To Develop A Learning Exploration: Step One
Kathryn Haydon begins a series on how to design an independent learning exploration.
Create A Civilization Introduction
Combine social studies, science, and language arts in this year-long creative project!
Elements of The Fantasy Genre
Dig into the common elements of the fantasy genre.
Create A Creature
Create a new creature based on the adaptations of existing creatures from the same biome.
Greekymon
Rather than just memorizing word parts, students will use those word parts to create four possible products.
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!
Engineering: Build A Bridge
Using real bridges as their starting point, students will construct bridges out of straws and paperclips.