Engaging Deeper Thinking

The Freedom Trail is a walking trail in Boston that links the many historical sites important to American history. This Google Slidedeck doesn't cover everything on the tour, but highlights those important to what students learn in American history. Some places included are the Paul Revere house, the Boston Massacre Site, Bunker Hill Memorial, and the USS Constitution. It also includes a link to another walking tour in Boston called the Black Heritage Trail. This is a carefully selected curation

This activity is a great end of book project. It can be very effective as a group project, but can also be a great individual project. As a group students will need to justify and explain how they want their hexagons/ideas connected and agree at the ultimate arrangement. There isn't one right answer and the conversations will be rich and lots of critical thinking will be taking place.

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

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

Annotating while a student reads is an incredibly important skill. This assignment makes annotating fun with booksnaps. Students will look for signposts like words of the wiser, again and again, aha moments, memory moments, and tough questions. They will take a picture of the text and then create a fun and thoughtful reaction and analysis of the important quote they chose. This does not have to be used with The Lightning Thief. Booksnaps is an idea that works for any fictional book. It could be

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.

This is a great beginning of the year activity to get to know your class. It gets the students really thinking about books that have been meaningful to them throughout their lives. Listening to students share the books that have impacted them will create classroom community and also allow you to get to know them as readers. You'd be surprised how inspirational of an activity this ends up being when students present their Textual Lineage to the class. This Google Slidedeck has example slides tha

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

There is a traveling exhibit called The Science Behind Pixar that has made its way across the United States to different Science Centers. They have created an amazing virtual exhibit that gives a wonderful online version of this exhibit. This Google Slidedeck helps students to stay organized and focused while they travel through the exhibit and holds them accountable while they explore. It is a great STEM activity and shows real world career connections for students who are interested in animati

Forever Ago is a podcast that digs into the history of popular everyday things. This episode is about the intriguing history of macaroni and cheese. Students will be surprise to learn how far back macaroni and cheese goes and to learn about how Thomas Jefferson introduced it to America and how it helped Americans during the Great Depression. There is a notes page as well as a fun, highly engaging blog post assignment. Students will take notes during the podcast and then use those notes to creat

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

There is an amazing variety of podcasts and uses of podcasts to bring into the classroom. This one is more focused on the Social Emotional aspect of school. These are short 3-5 minute episodes called A Little Happier. Included with the links to this collection of 6 intriguing episodes is journaling/reflection questions that students can complete individually and then share as a class whole group or during a community circle discussion.

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.

The Iron Chef is all about the secret ingredient. Instead of creating recipes, students will create a presentation about the topic. In this case, the topic is invasive species. Students will be assigned groups and choose an invasive species to research. Then they will create a presentation about their topic. The last slide is the secret ingredient that will add all the unique flavor to the presentation! These mini research projects are a great way to jigsaw a topic and make the students experts

Lascaux Caves has amazing 360 degree views of the complex cave system discovered in France in 1940. These caves have drawings from what is believed to be around 15,000 years ago and they were found in great condition. This virtual field trip takes students into the caves and allows them to wonder and reflect about the humans who left their mark here all those years ago. It is a combination of sites and questions from the official Lascaux site as well as links for other videos and articles to giv

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.