“This was the best money I have ever spent on a teaching tool.” ~ a teacher in Wisconsin
Your class will become a wonderland of imaginary creates with Greek and Latin names.
Blow up a paragraph into individual sentences. Now reassemble it. The clues hiding in each sentence will surprise you.
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.
We tell students to ‘show, not tell’ — but that advice is useless until they experience the difference. This lesson makes it click.
‘Add more variety!’ teachers say. But how? This lesson gives students actual techniques instead of vague advice.
How many words can you find within LATKES?
COLD to COOL. BAND to SING. Change one letter at a time — can you find the path?
Can your class spot the complex sentences vs compound sentences?
Rather than just demand that students “write clearly,” we’ll explore the hazards of poorly written sentences… and maybe create one of our own!
What if we started a sentence with the simile?
A passage from White Fang to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Wouldn’t some holidays be better on a certain day of the week? Should Thanksgiving have a set date?
A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be using antonyms to describe the same topic!
How many different ways can we use the word “fruit”? Let’s find out in this Parts of Speech Party!
Five idioms related to feet.
Add a letter at each step to form a new word. Can you connect the starting point and ending point?
A passage from “The Fall of the House of Usher” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about The Moon back into the correct order?
How many words can you find within SOLDIER? 20? 35? 50? Even more!?
Let’s see how propaganda techniques can make even something great seem bad.
Can your students spot simple sentences vs compound sentences?
Five emoji. One story. Where will your imagination take you?
Let’s make this simile about a strong uncle even more specific.
Five sets of idioms related to the weather.
We’ll start with the cliché “as cold as ice” and go somewhere much more interesting.
A passage from “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
What on earth is a Aquamorphotron? Break apart the Greek and Latin roots, figure out what it should mean, then invent what it describes.
How many words can you find within “leopard”?
What if… Edgar Allen Poe wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?
Let’s make this simile about a loud class super specific!
We’re looking at the past progressive tense and the simple past tense.
Five idioms related to hands and fingers.
Three paragraphs about tomatoes. They all cover the same topic — so what makes each one different? Now combine them into one super-paragraph.
A specific technique to help students add some spice to their writing. We’ll be writing sentences with three dependent clauses.
Read three pieces of writing from three different robots based on a beautiful painting and decide who wins!
Ever ask students to create research questions? Were their ideas a bit… blah? My own students had a very hard time writing questions they didn’t already know the answer to! This video is how I solved that problem: upgrade research questions with depth and complexity.
Let’s write a holiday song about order and chaos!
Can you use the context clues to get these sentences about rain clouds back into the correct order?
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.
The word “may” can be used for possibility or permission. It’s a modal auxiliary verb!
A passage from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to use as a mentor text, discussion starter, or writing prompt.
