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TEKS ELA Standard: 2.7.E
interact with sources in meaningful ways such as illustrating or writing
Recursive Island
Vulcan Point Island is an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island
Dinosaur Optical Illusion
Why does this dinosaur keep looking at me…
Holiday Worksheets
Writing prompts, non-fiction analysis, and science topics related to Christmas and Hanukkah.
Order and Chaos Hide Inside Each Other
Chaos can contain order. Order can contain chaos! Is chaos ever truly random?
Power in Autumn
Autumn was once powerful because of the harvest. What gives Fall its power now?
Halloween Worksheets
Crosswords, image analysis, and writing prompts for Halloween!
Indirect Power – Lighthouse vs Magnetism
Students explore the idea of indirect power – which can be both visible (a lighthouse) or invisible (magnetism).
Power – Blue Whale vs Krill
Sure, a Blue Whale is huge. But does a tiny krill have more 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!
St. Patrick’s Day Worksheets
St. Patrick Day’s themed word searches, crossword puzzle, reverse crossword, transition writing practice, and a math puzzle.
Two Animals Switch Biomes
What if a capybara and a kangaroo rat switched homes? Would their adaptations be helpful at all?
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.
Lego Paper Shredder
Can you shred paper using just Lego?
Martial Arts in Space
Shaolin kung fu students as seen from a satellite.
A System Similar to a Cell
Which parts of a cell serve a similar job to the parts of a cruise ship, human body, computer, or other system?
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.
Van Gogh on Water
Oil paint floats on water and becomes a familiar scene.
Van Gogh Self-Portrait Tournament
Who will win the tournament of Van Gogh self-portraits!?
How to Reset Your Brain When You’re Flooded
Allison Edwards explains how changing your senses can reset your brain.
Slow Motion Popcorn
What surprises can you spot when a kernel pops in super slow-mo?
Cooking In Space
Watch astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti cook a meal in zero gravity on the International Space Station.
Frozen Bubble
What happens when you blow a bubble in below-freezing temperatures?
Lego Shadow Spinner
Watch this block of Lego cast three completely different shadows of three distinctly different objects! How’d he do it?
A Character’s Playlist
What playlist of songs best goes with a character’s change over time?
Squiggles Collection 3
Everyone starts with the same squiggle. No two drawings end up the same. What do you see?
Squiggles Introduction
What do you see in this squiggle?
Squiggles Collection 2
Everyone starts with the same squiggle. No two drawings end up the same. What do you see?
Create A Civ: Capital City
Every great capital is part geography, part human design. Research real ones, then build your own from scratch.
Idiom Tasks
Four fantastically terrific tasks for a weekly idiom study.
Not Like The Others: Types of Diseases
Four diseases. One doesn’t belong. But which one? That depends on your argument.
Not Like The Others: Penguins
Four penguins. One doesn’t belong. But which one? That depends on your argument.
Drawing An Impossible Triangle
Here’s how you can draw The Penrose Triangle, an example of an impossible shape.
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 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.
Create A Civilization: Currency
What type of currency will your civilization use? What symbols will be on it? Why are they significant?
Think Like A Historian
Here’s how effects be causes and causes can be effects!
Looping Grid Art
Pick a few numbers, draw some corresponding lines on grid paper, and you’ll end up with some interesting, looping math-y art!
Writing About Art: The Scream
Your students will turn the iconic painting The Scream into a vivid, sensory poem.
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!
Self Portraits: Text Art
What if a students’ self-portrait was made of words that describe the student!?
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.
Art Lesson: Two-Point Perspective
Let’s get students’ art really popping with two-point perspective!
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!
Self Portraits: Pointillism
Turn your students into a bunch of Monets with q-tips and some tempera paint.
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.
Holiday vs Holiday (from a Mascot’s Perspective)
Want something to do during the holiday season that is both fun and involves thinking? Get students writing about what a snowman would think about Halloween or what a ghost would think about Thanksgiving.
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?
Virtue or Vice?
Aristotle noted that positive traits and negative traits are often the same thing, but just in different amounts. The right amount is a virtue, but too much or too little and it’s a vice.
How Renewable Is That Resource?
Which resource is more renewable? And which is easier to find?
Not Like The Others: Planets
Which of these planets is not like others? Well, it sure looks simple at first. But each option could be the one that doesn’t fit in.
Notice, Wonder: Akron
A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!
Writing Sample: The Wind in the Willows
A passage from The Wind in the Willows to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Sets of Idioms
Why do we say ‘break a leg’? Five themed sets of idioms your students will actually remember.
Col – A Strategy Game
The first person to run out of regions loses in this strategy game.
Game: Notakto
What if you only played Tic-Tac-Toe with Xs and you could play on multiple boards?
Dots and Boxes
Who can make the most boxes from dots in this strategy game?
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!
Improving Presentations 1: Watching The Greats
Get better at giving presentations by studying the greats!
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: The River
The Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Seine, the Thames, and now… your river!
Using Creativity Tools To Develop A Learning Exploration: Step Three
How do you turn “go research something” into a structured, creative learning exploration? Kathryn Haydon walks through it step by step.
Depth and Complexity: 👓 Multiple Perspectives
Every topic looks different depending on who’s looking. This prompt teaches students to see through someone else’s eyes.
Creating A Realistic Flower and Pollinator
Your students will create a new flower, designed to attract a specific pollinator.
Historic Social Media
How would people from history have interacted online? Students will develop a conversation online between people involved in the same event from history.
Drawing Natural Curves Like Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy turns leaves and stones into art. Your students will learn to draw his signature natural curves — then build on them.
How to Play Go
Ready to learn a 2,500-year-old Chinese board game? Let’s… Go!
Introduce Symbolism with Pixel Art
Create a pixelated icon that represents the essence of a character!
Create A Creature
Create a new creature based on the adaptations of existing creatures from the same biome.
An App For A Historical Figure
What kind of an app could have helped Abe Lincoln accomplish his goals?
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.
Building Brush Bots and Art Bots
What if we turned a tooth brush into a robot… that could do art?
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.
Intellectual Intensity
Do you know someone who becomes a bit overexcited by ideas?
Engineering: Build A Bridge
Using real bridges as their starting point, students will construct bridges out of straws and paperclips.