Spark Creativity

Introduce your students to hexagonal thinking and one-pagers while building classroom community with this engaging back-to-school activity. Perfect for the first week of school or the start of a new semester, this creative assignment encourages students to reflect on their identities and find meaningful connections with their peers. In this activity, students design hexagon-shaped one-pagers about themselves. Then, using the principles of hexagonal thinking, they physically connect their o

One-pagers are a creative tool you can use for almost everything. All the one-pagers in this bundle have templates and specific instructions, so every student can be successful. No more staring at a blank page and wondering what the heck to put on it. One-pager templates make all the difference! ​ Check out the video to see these one-pagers in action. These activities will have your students thinking critically and creatively all year long, and looking forward to it. Did I mention it's pr

One-pagers combine drawings with text to make ideas come alive in students’ minds and memories. They're a perfect option for a quick and creative one-pager template and assessment with whole-class novels, literature circles, or choice reading. Don't worry—there's a rubric so you can grade your one-pagers quickly and get home early for dinner. But what about your art-haters? The ones who scoff at anything involving colored pencils? I've had plenty of those too. That's why I've designed specific

Start your school year with intention using this One Word Project—a creative, meaningful way for students to reflect, set goals, and express themselves. This resource is ideal for back to school activities, open house, or any beginning of the year moment when you're building classroom culture and learning about your students. Students choose a single word to guide their personal growth throughout the year—words like resilient, kind, brave, or curious. They reflect on what the word means

Start your school year strong with these easy-to-use Name Tent One-Pagers — the perfect first day activity for building classroom community and learning student names! Learning students’ names has always been tricky for me. I used to get so nervous during the first two weeks, afraid I would make simple mistakes and risk disengaging the very students I wanted to connect with. That's why I started using printed name tents — and it changed everything! I even took it a step further: snapping a qui

Want to get your students listening to podcasts, scripting podcasts, and then recording and publishing their own? Feeling nervous about the tech? Let me help with this complete student podcast project with rubrics and a complete guide for Project-Based Learning. In this full unit, you'll find everything you need to get your students listening to podcasts and then creating their own. It's a podcast curriculum designed by a podcaster (with over 800,000 downloads). Podcasting is as an ideal 21s

This Six Word Memoir project is a quick, creative, and meaningful way to get students thinking and writing about their own lives. These memoir creative writing activities are perfect for building classroom community, encouraging self-reflection, and supporting personal narrative writing. Whether you use this resource as an icebreaker at the start of the school year, a mini-lesson during a memoir writing unit, or a creative writing extension, students will enjoy the challenge of capturing thei

Try this colorful character analysis project to explore characterization at any point in a novel—or save it as a creative summative assessment. Designed to work with any book, this engaging novel study activity invites students to dig deep into character traits, relationships, development, and motivation. With ten different Open Mind templates to choose from, students will represent a character visually and textually—combining quotes, original thinking, and symbolic imagery to showcase their

Six word memoirs are a unique and impactful genre for students to explore. You can say a lot in one line, if you give that one line a lot of thought. This six word memoir pack gives you a chance to introduce and experiment with the genre as well as extend it into your novel study and research units. After all, if a person can write a six word memoir about their own life, they can also write one about the life of a character in a novel or a person they’ve researched. Inside this packet, you’ll

Kick off the first day of school with this fun and creative One-Pager Icebreaker! Perfect for introducing students to the one-pager method, this activity allows them to express themselves while helping you and their classmates learn more about them. Ideal for first day activities or as part of an identity unit, this "All About Me" one-pager activity comes with simple, step-by-step instructions and three different templates to guide students in creating personalized, visually engaging pages.

Build a stronger classroom community with these 180 attendance questions designed to spark fun, meaningful interactions during your daily routine. These quick, low-prep ice breakers are the perfect way to engage students, promote classroom discussions, and foster a welcoming environment—all while taking attendance. Each community-building question is beautifully designed in Google Slides with vibrant visuals to grab attention and encourage even your quietest students to join in. Whether you

First Chapter Friday is a popular program that helps your students get excited about independent reading books. Each Friday, you choose a book and read the first chapter, then make that book available for students to check out. If you're new to the concept, you can discover everything you need to know in this helpful blog post, The Ultimate Guide to First Chapter Friday. Your First Chapter Friday Materials: 16 Book Recommendations to get you Started: 6 ideas for your middle school program and

Help students think beyond the careers they already know with this career exploration project and set of creative career activities. Designed to inspire curiosity about future possibilities, this two-week unit guides students through hands-on, reflective, and research-based tasks that encourage them to consider a wide range of career paths and personal goals. Each activity is designed to build real-world awareness, critical thinking, and presentation skills. Whether students are completing a

Looking for creative, compelling options for your Long Way Down unit? So glad you stopped by! . Here, you'll find a range of discussion, writing, and activity options for engaging students with Long Way Down, from hexagonal thinking to flash verse, open mind one-pagers to colorful post-it discussions. Check out the full rundown of what's inside: Introducing Jason Reynolds: In this activity, students will watch a short documentary about Reynolds and his work with young people, jotting down thei

Try this nonfiction one-pager activity as a creative final assessment for any nonfiction text. Take a break from grading papers and let your students stretch their capabilities in an engaging new way. One-pagers are a great way to inspire critical thinking and provide a new way to process reading for your students. But sometimes students who aren't comfortable with art get stuck and feel overwhelmed by the blank page. That's why for this one-pager activity there's a clear list of elements for

Tired of literature circles that drag, stall, or rely too much on teacher intervention? This Literature Circles Activity Set for Any Book is designed specifically for high school English classes to make student-led book discussions structured, engaging, and low-prep—without the need for traditional roles. Instead of rigid job sheets or silent groups, your students will collaborate on six unique, creative activities that promote choice, accountability, and deep thinking—no matter which novel th

Looking for an engaging way to practice writing arguments? Love one-pagers? Try this Argument One-Pager Activity — a creative and structured way for students to organize their thinking! This fun twist on a traditional argument paper makes a perfect finale for any literature unit, or you can use it as a pre-writing graphic organizer to help students get clear on their theses, quotations, main points, and big ideas before drafting. The best part? This writing arguments graphic organizer gives ev

This fun literary food truck project is an engaging final assessment for literature circles/book clubs, choice reading, and even class novels. Get ready for a mouth-watering and colorful day of critical thinking when the literary food truck festival arrives in your classroom. Check out the literary food truck photo tour right here! If you and your students are a bit tired of writing (and grading) essays, and you could use a chance to think deeply in a brand new (STEAM-y) way, this project is f

Start your year strong with this engaging set of back to school activities designed for the first week of school in middle or high school ELA. This creative and community-building unit helps you get to know your students while building foundational literacy skills from day one. Each activity is designed to promote student voice, foster classroom connection, and set a positive tone for your learning environment. Whether you're teaching in person or digitally, the included PDF and editable Googl

Looking for a creative, student-centered way to bring podcasting into your classroom—without a huge time commitment? The Tiny Podcast Project is the perfect introduction to student podcasting. It’s short, flexible, and packed with opportunities for students to practice essential ELA skills while engaging with a real-world medium. Podcast projects naturally build core skills like writing, editing, speaking, recording, researching, interviewing, and designing. With podcasts becoming a major for