Playlist: Bookmarks
What’s In My Brain: Pentagon vs Pentagon
We’re looking at regular vs irregular polygons.
Domesticated Animals Tournament
Which domesticated animal will win the tournament?
Not Like The Others: US National Parks
Four US national parks. One doesn’t belong. But which one? That depends on your argument.
Thanksgiving Photo Writing
Starting with an old-timey photo, students will write from a particular item’s point of view.
Tournament of Ancient Inventions
Which of these inventions of the ancient world is most influential? Least useful today? Most taken-for-granted?
Not Like The Others: Types of Volcanoes
Which of these types of volcanoes is not like the others?
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!
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!
Game: Number Scrabble
What if we played Tic-Tac-Toe with numbers and instead of three-in-a-row, we add up to 15? Well… then we’d have Number Scrabble!
Self Portraits: Text Art
What if a students’ self-portrait was made of words that describe the student!?
Game: Snakes
In this grid-based strategy game, who will be the last to add to the snake?
Math Game: Heaps
Try this a simple (but surprisingly strategic) subtraction game!
Not Like The Others: States of Matter
How is each of the states of matter not like the others?
Writing A Thanksgiving Letter
What if an inanimate object could express thanks for a special person in your life? What would it write?
Remixing A Holiday Poem
Let’s take a classic Christmas poem and remix it to work with another holiday!
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?
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.
Disneyland Parking Structure Math Project
Your students will use estimation strategies to figure out how many parking spots are there in the parking structure at Disneyland? And you bet I reveal the real answer!
Notice, Wonder: Climber
A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!
Bulls and Cows
How quickly can you break the numeric code?
Grouping Quadrilaterals In A Hierarchy
Can we classify quadrilaterals like we classify living things?
Math Curiosity: Primes and Squares
Can any perfect square be written as the sum of two primes?
Depth and Complexity: 🏛️ Big Idea
Let’s get students thinking big and focusing on more abstract ideas.
Analyze Character Change with Depth and Complexity
Your students will use Depth and Complexity to note how a character’s main trait changes across a story.
Create A Creature
Create a new creature based on the adaptations of existing creatures from the same biome.
The Game of 100
Who can get to 100 first in this simple, but delightful, math game?
Introduction to Watercolor
For TeachersA mosaic technique that makes watercolor approachable. Students walk away with something they’re proud of.
Better Stories Part 4: Character Archetypes
Are students’ characters a bit flat? Archetypes give them a strong foundation on which to build their own characters as well as a tool to analyze existing stories.