TEKS ELA Standard: 7.10.B.ii

Extreme Closeup in Slow Motion

inside your 704lb pumpkin

Stop-motion animation made entirely out of carved pumpkins

Deep-Sea Snailfish Discovery

invents a seed-launching backpack

building a delightful miniature scene

best pre-game warmup trickshots

delightful robot fighters

carves the most delicate patterns

Art Using Space as a Background

inside a volcano

Time Lapse of a Tiny Painting

Hot Dog Built With Construction Equipment

Time-Lapse Volcano Eruption

Deep Ocean Creatures Without Names

Mesmerizing Sand Patterns With Magnets

Earth’s Layers: Who Contributes The Most?

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

An Under-Appreciated Planet

Students write from the point of view of the most under-appreciated planet.

Chaos Can Be Positive or Negative

Sometimes we want order, but sometimes we need chaos!

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.

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!

Summer Activity Pack

A worksheet pack featuring writing prompts, a summer essay project, a science-based escape room activity, and image analysis prompts.

That Quote’s Not Quite Right: Albert Einstein

When I see a quote, I often think, “That’s not quite right!”

Getting Specific With St. Patrick’s Day Writing

Let’s take a starting phrase about St. Patrick’s Day and get specific. No, even more specific!

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 ⛷️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Holiday Emoji Story 🍪

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Holiday Emoji Story ☃️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Holiday Emoji Story 🎅

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Holiday Emoji Story 🚚

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Halloween Emoji Story 🎃

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Halloween Emoji Story 🕷️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🐌

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🚚

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🏟️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🕰️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 👁️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🚗

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🤖

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🐻

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🏰

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Emoji Stories 🛥️

Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?

Mother’s Day Cards

Let’s write the cleverest Mother’s Day cards you’ve ever seen!

Changing Baby Names

You won’t believe how fascinating it is to watch a map of the most popular baby names by US state.

Bobbing for Apples

What is bobbing for apples like… for an apple?

Super Specific Similes – Strong Uncle

Let’s make this simile about a strong uncle even more specific.

Super Specific Similes – Slimy Broccoli

Start with a basic simile. Now make it more specific. Now even more. Watch how much better writing gets with each round.

Super Specific Similes: Quick Baby

Let’s make this simile about a quick baby even more specific.

Super Specific Similes: Loud Class

Let’s make this simile about a loud class super specific!

Squiggles Introduction

What do you see in this squiggle?

What If… Long Life?

What would the consequences be if all people lived much, much longer?

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.

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

An old photograph. A holiday scene. Pick one object in the picture and write from its point of view.

Thanksgiving Photo Writing

Starting with an old-timey photo, students will write from a particular item’s point of view.

Discussing An Important Decision from History

How would people with two different perspectives discuss a decision from history?

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.

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.

Writing in Pilish

Pi can go beyond circles! What if you wrote using the digits of pi as your guide?

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.

New Uses for a Paperclip

So what are some new ways to use a paperclip?

Fancier Figurative Language: Move the Simile

What if we started a sentence with the simile?

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?

A Lunar Survival Mission

A favorite of mine! This task is delightfully complex and ambiguous, forcing students to make choices without enough information and with no right answer. How will they survive on the moon for three days?

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!

Doubling Up Writing: Anadiplosis

Repeating words can be what you want, if what you want is an interesting effect. (Psst, that’s an example of anadiplosis!)

Story Starter: A Day At School

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place at school.

Story Starter: Amusement Park

Students use 12 random phrases to write a story that takes place in at an amusement park.

Story Starter: A Magical School

Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in at a magical school.

Writing A Thanksgiving Letter

What if an inanimate object could express thanks for a special person in your life? What would it write?

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.

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.

Fancier Figurative Language: Advanced Repetition

Is your students’ use of repetition limited to, “The girl was very, very, very fast.”? Let’s borrow some ideas from Shakespeare!

The Personalities of Rocks

What would an igneous rock be like? Would it get along with a sedimentary rock? Could they handle the hot personality of a metamorphic rock?

Paradox: The Barber’s Paradox

The barber shaves everybody who doesn’t themselves. So… does the barber shave himself?

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!

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.

Showing A Character’s Trait

We tell students to ‘show, not tell’ — but that advice is useless until they experience the difference. This lesson makes it click.

Depth and Complexity: 🌻 Details

Get kids focusing on the small, but essential, details of a topic.

Create A Civilization Introduction

Your students build a civilization from scratch — rivers, flags, calendars, currency, government. Social studies, science, and writing woven into one year-long project.

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.

Educational Valentines

Let’s make valentines with an educational twist!

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.

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.

An App For A Historical Figure

What kind of an app could have helped Abe Lincoln accomplish his goals?

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!

Fancier Figurative Language: Start with a Cliche

We’ll start with the cliché “as cold as ice” and go somewhere much more interesting.