Engaging Deeper Thinking

Podcasts are a wonderful way to bring storytelling into your classroom. Research has shown that "better listeners are better readers." This is a blurb from The Cult of Pedagogy website- "Listening to stories helps students hear grammar and syntax and understand how stories work. Incidental exposure to vocabulary through listening and reading together helps students learn the meaning of unknown words. Research shows listening while reading improves text reading rates and leads to higher compreh

This pdf is filled with 7 informational articles about the history of how some of our most prominent Christmas traditions came to be (the Christmas tree, Christmas lights, the poinsettia-to name a few). Each article has multiple choice questions about that article. Students can choose a Christmas tradition to read about and then complete the questions. Next students will create blackout poetry on the article they chose. One example shows the article about gingerbread blacked out to make a beauti

The Anne Frank Secret Annex is a museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands where Anne and her family hid during WWII. This virtual tour does a great job of really showing what it is like to go through the space where they actually lived. Lots of small details and links to give people a clear picture of the people who lived there and what it was like for them. This document is something for students to fill out while they go through the virtual tour. This could go with along with any unit on WW2, re

Podcasts are a great way to get students excited about storytelling. The podcast Grim, Grimmer, Grimmest has creepy but still overall kid friendly stories that the students get super excited about. This is a set of 5 notes pages to fill out while they listen to five episodes from the first season. The first season of episodes can be accessed for free. These notes pages build ELA skills like summarizing big ideas in different ways but are a low risk way for students to practice these skills. Anot

Listening to podcasts in the classroom have many benefits. From being highly engaging, to working on listening skills, to an exposure to different types of storytelling, students LOVE podcasts in the classroom. This could be used as a standalone episode for a speaking and listening grade, for fun, or as part of a bigger unit on mythology. This would be a great addition or extension to a unit on Mesopotamia. Many students know more about Greek or Roman mythology but know little about one of the e

Listening to podcasts in the classroom have many benefits. From being highly engaging, to working on listening skills, to an exposure to different types of storytelling, students LOVE podcasts in the classroom. This could be used as a standalone episode for a speaking and listening grade, for fun, or as part of a bigger unit on Ancient Greece or Greek Mythology.

Listening to podcasts in the classroom have many benefits. From being highly engaging, to working on listening skills, to an exposure to different types of storytelling, students LOVE podcasts in the classroom. This could be used as a standalone episode for a speaking and listening grade, for fun, or as part of a bigger unit on Ancient Greece, Greek Mythology, or with reading Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. This is about Theseus and how he defeats the minotaur. It has students analyzing w

Listening to podcasts in the classroom have many benefits. From being highly engaging, to working on listening schools, to an exposure to different types of storytelling, students LOVE podcasts in the classroom. This could be used as a standalone episode for a speaking and listening grade, for fun, or as part of a bigger unit on Ancient Greece or Greek Mythology.

Listening to podcasts in the classroom has many benefits. From being highly engaging, to working on listening skills, to an exposure to different types of storytelling, students LOVE podcasts in the classroom. This could be used as a standalone episode for a speaking and listening grade, for fun, or as part of a bigger unit on Ancient Greece, Greek Mythology, or with reading Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. This is about the creation story of humans in Greek mythology. It brings in the Tit

Podcasts are a great addition to any classroom of any age. Brains On is a wonderful podcast that usually covers scientific concepts, but the topics can cover pretty much anything. This is an interesting episode about tardigrade or water bears. Kids will love listening about the microscopic world around us. This recording sheet could be used as whole group or the students could listen independently if they have their own technology devices. It could be used as a substitute for read aloud one day

What better way to get your students to analyze poetry than in a way that has them reading closely, inferring, and thinking creatively. This lesson includes two poems where the title has been removed. Students will be tasked with reading the poem figuring out who or what the narrator is and giving it an appropriate title based on the message of the poem. The narrator of the poem is hinted at and can be inferred in the poem, but is never actually revealed in the poem so students must read and rer

Podcasts are a great addition to any classroom of any age. Brains On is a wonderful podcast that usually covers scientific concepts, but the topics can cover pretty much anything. This is an interesting episode about dreams and what the brain is up to while we dream. Kids will love learning about how the brain works as well as naturally wonder what their dreams are all about. This recording sheet could be used as whole group or the students could listen independently if they have their own techn

Forever Ago is a podcast that digs into the history of popular everyday things. This episode is about the Rubik's Cube and digs into the idea of how trends and fads become popular and come and go. This is a fun topic that gets students thinking about how trends and fads affect them in their lives. This is a notes page to fill out while listening to the episode. The first page is basic notes and the second page is some reflection questions. You could listen to the podcast whole group and they co

Bring ancient Greece into your classroom with this interactive museum project. This document takes some of the biggest topics about ancient Greece and breaks it into different exhibit ideas. Students will apply for exhibits (dioramas, wax museum, giant tourist brochure, bulletin board, salt dough map, and cardboard model) that they are most interested in working on. The exhibits list and application page are included. There is also an informational article about each topic (Sparta, Athens, democ

If you are reading Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen, this packet would make a great addition to the unit. This contains an anticipatory set about beliefs of war before reading and then to be done again after reading. It has comprehension questions about the book broken into three sections. Students will be asked to write the page and paragraph for where they found the answers to the questions. There is also a vocabulary section.

Podcasts are a great way to introduce important topics. This podcast is about the unsung heroes of history. It can be used as a week long unit where each day students listen to another person from history who has had amazing contributions to the world we live in. There are 5 different note sheets for 5 different figures that students can fill out while they listen. There is also a research project idea to use as a culminating assignment. It could also be used to simply hear great stories about

If you've never heard of Robert Smalls, you will want to listen to this inspiring story. Robert Smalls, an enslaved African American, completed a daring escape from slavery during the Civil War when he commandeered a Confederate ship and sailed it to freedom, delivering it to the Union forces. This podcast episode tells his story through an interview with the great great grandson of Robert Smalls. Students will answer some questions while they listen. Then there is a 6 word memoir assignment for

Listening to podcasts in the classroom have many benefits. From being highly engaging, to working on listening skills, to an exposure to different types of storytelling, students LOVE podcasts in the classroom. This could be used as a standalone episode for a speaking and listening grade, for fun, or as part of a bigger unit on mythology. Or you could make listening to podcasts a regular part of your day.

Listening to podcasts in the classroom have many benefits. From being highly engaging, to working on listening skills, to an exposure to different types of storytelling, students LOVE podcasts in the classroom. This could be used as a standalone episode for a speaking and listening grade, for fun, or as part of a bigger unit on Ancient Greece or Greek Mythology. This is in fact about Hercules, but the Greek way to say it is Heracles.

In this document are two discussion questions that will really get students thinking about The Lightning Thief. These two questions are enough for at least a 30 minute class discussion. These questions will get the students passionately digging into the book to provide text evidence for their opinions. It is sure to engage students before and during the discussion.​ This is a great culminating activity for reading The Lightning Thief and will get even your reluctant students participating.