TEKS ELA Standard: 3.11.B.i

Any Shape With Just One Cut

ice bike with circular saws for wheels

a capella movie studio intros

Impossibly High House of Cards

Domino Chain Takes 10,000 Steps

Stop-motion animation made entirely out of carved pumpkins

24-Hour Time Lapse

Impossible Balanced Rock Structures

Lego Certified Professional

tiny, no-staples, photocopy-able book

Omni-Directional Sidewinder Forklift

a square-wheeled tricycle

Apple Harvesting Machine

Backdraft in Slow Motion

Omnidirectional Bike With Ball Wheels

human slinkies

building a delightful miniature scene

60,000 magnetic spheres

best pre-game warmup trickshots

Lego Firewood Factory

delightful robot fighters

Newton’s Cradle

marble racing on tracks

explains how you can use “light trapping” to catch all kinds

Animal Adaptations tournament

Martial Arts in Space

a 3D staircase

one piece of rolled-up paper

working Lego car

Pineapple Disintegration

Wood Bending Machine

Marble-Powered Music Machine

Hair Dryer Kinetic Art

Mesmerizing Sand Patterns With Magnets

Marble Course All Around the Backyard

Making a Chain Link From a Red-Hot Rod

William Tell Overture on Glass Bottles

Earth’s Layers: Who Contributes The Most?

Earth’s layers will disagree about which one contributes the most to the planet’s success.

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.

Order, Chaos, and the Holiday Season

Let’s write a holiday song about order and chaos!

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?

Categorize and Re-Categorize Animals

Put these animals into groups. Then do it again. Then… do it one more time. How does re-re-grouping the same creatures reveal new patterns and give new insights?

Famous Structures

The Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House — group them, pick the best from each group, then design your own.

Ultimate (or Inception) Tic Tac Toe

What if each square on a Tic-Tac-Toe board had another Tic-Tac-Toe board inside of it?

Cram

Try this a simple (but surprisingly strategic) grid-filling game!

Writing Technique: Triple Anadiplosis!

Have students mastered the art of anadiplosis: ending one sentence with the beginning of the next? Now it’s time to take it to the next level!

Order Can Be Natural or Constructed

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

Student Introductions with Complexity and Frames

How have you changed over time? Students introduce themselves through the lens of change — and learn a Depth and Complexity tool in the process.

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!

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!

Ways to Start a Sentence – Level 2

We’ll show students how to add more variety to their writing by starting sentences with a reason, a prepositional phrase, and a simile.

Teach Non-Fiction Writing Structure With Fractals

Did you ever notice that the structure of an essay is very similar to the structure of a paragraph? Hmm…

Better Stories Part 5: Plot Structure

Ever read a student’s story that was just event after event after event and then a very sudden ending? They lack an understanding of a plot’s structure. With the help of Finding Nemo, I break down how to set up a well-structured plot.