150 amazing images to help students write and think more creatively

I have compiled these amazing images over a number of years and use them quite frequently with my own students and thought I would upload them to www.edgalaxy.com for all to share.  These images are great to use with students for creative writing as they contain humorous and action packed scenes from around the globe.  I hope you enjoy them and would love you email me any great pictures you have to add to it.

An entire unit of work on "Where the wild things are" by Maurice Sendak

Where the Wild things Are

I would doubt that there is a decent school library in the world that does not have a copy of Maurice Sendak's 'Where the Wild things are' and with last years film release this book is finding a fresh audience amongst both teachers and students and is a great story to engage your students with.

A colleague of mine Mark Muldoon recently put together a brilliant unit of work for his grade 5/6 students that ties a number of elements of the book, film, soundtrack and artwork into a complete literacy unit.

The story is highly applicable to kids of all ages as it deals with emotions, family issues and how our behaviour and feelings affect the world we perceive around us.

Obviously for copyright reasons I cannot post digital copies of the book or film so the first thing you will have to do is source these.   I have supplied you with a number of resources below with a descriptor of what each element is.

Teacher Guide:  This is the official teacher guide from Warner Bros Pictures:  IT contains a range of activities and tasks for both teachers and students.  A great starting point.

Permission slip to see the film:  Use this if your students need parental permission to see the film at school.

What are the themes of Sendak's books? This activity explores the concepts and themes that run throughout all of Sendak's books for students to compare and contrast.

Book review;  This is a great example of a quality book review of where the Wild things are and should be shown and modelled to students before starting their own.

Making Family connections:  This is a great task for students to do in linking the events that occur in the book and film with those of their own lives.

Cloze Activity: of Book review

letter of Apology:  Make a list of the “mischief” Max did at the beginning of the book. Then write an apology letter from Max to his mother.

Transcript of the Film:  You might like to use parts of this in your reading sessions

Write your own Blurb:  Use the example to assist you.

When I feel sad I will..  get your students to write about their emotions

Leave your memories of "Where the wild things are"  Blog - great interactive activity

Craft Activities:  These are some great creative activities generally based upon the artwork from the book.   Activity 1, Activity 2, Activity 3, Activity 4, Activity 5

Create your wild self:  students can use this create a wild monster of their own that they might like to translate into a story.  A number of opportunities here.

 I hope you enjoy these and if you have any other ideas I'd love to hear them



Student Led Passion Projects - Brilliant personalised learning task

Passion Projects are a brilliant opportunity to let your students develop their own personalised learning styles, offer them the chance to take ownership of their learning and work within a timeline to meet deadlines all the while spending a term doing something they have a real passion about.

I would have to say that when I run my Passion Projects annually my students continually amaze me in terms of what they can achieve when they are motivated about learning.  Regardless of whether they are high achievers or struggle academically I have seen students totally transform their attitude to learning once they realise what they can achieve through this project.

What is a passion project you may ask?

Here is the complete outline for you to hand out to your students explaining the expectations of this project but in a nutshell here is how it works.

• Students select a task or skill in which they want to learn something new. (some examples my students have done in the past are dressmaking, making a video game, learning an instrument, cooking a 3 course meal for their family or building a cubby house.)

• Students research and complete the task within the time frame outlined.

• Students keep an online diary of their learning journey outlining their successes and failures.

• Students then teach a family member or friend their task or skill to show them what they have learnt.

• Students put together a presentation outlining their learning journey including videos, photos and feedback from family members or friends.  They are peer assessed in accordance with theassessment rubric.

Please note it is unimportant whether a student succeeds or fails in completing their task they are attempting.  What is important is that they record and learn from those successes and failures and can share that knowledge with others.  This is outlined in full in the assessment rubric which is handed to students and explained to them at the beginning of the project.

Passion Projects are aimed at students from grades 3 – 9 but can definitely be modified to suit any year level.

Be sure to invite parents to attend the final presentation as it is a huge moment for some students.  I have included a covering letter for this also that I have used in the past.

From a teachers perspective this is a brilliant task.  You simply give your students all of the information provided and contribute your own input along the time line (about 3 times in total) to ensure students are staying on task and offer guidance where necessary.  All of the assessment is understood before students begin and I have recently let peers assess them using the assessment rubric.  It runs for a term and is very easy in terms of your input but offers massive rewards when you see the finished product.

Resources:

Passion Project Overview (Ensure Students, Parents and staff have a copy of this.)

Passion Project Assessment Rubric (Ensure Students, Parents and staff have a copy of this.)

Letter to Parents inviting them to attend Presentation Evening.

I wish you well.

You may need to alter these resources to suit your own needs obviously and if you have any queries please don’t hesitate to comment below and I’ll address them.

30 Reading Group Activities for your students

What is it: I  have complied about half of my independent literacy tasks aimed at primary / elementary students .  The activities are included as a PDF with instructions and are very easy to follow all related to reading and literacy.  The activities are:  Make a puppet; Same story different Words; Picture Mobile; Mobile Building; Word Puzzles, Wanted Poster; So you want to be a Poet; Letter to the Editor; false Advertising; letter to a Friend; Radio Play; Going to the Theatre; Personality Plus; Don't Judge a book by it's cover; Illustrations; collages; Time lines, Larger than Life; Fables; Crosswords; I've lost my Page; I agree; They did what;

How can I use these in my classroom: You can use these as either group or individual tasks for your students to work through over a period of time.  they are applicable to any text so you can ask students to relate them to a book being read as a whole group or as an individual text.  See how you go.

Download the PDF here. I have a load more of these available also that I will add.

Online Visual Dictionary for teachers and students

The Visual Dictionary is designed to help you find the right word at a glance. Filled with stunning illustrations labeled with accurate terminology in up to six languages, it is the ideal language-learning and vocabulary dictionary for use at school, at home or at work.

Detail

When you know what something looks like but not what it’s called, or when you know the word but can’t picture the object, The Visual Dictionary has the answer. In a quick look, you can match the word to the image.

The Visual Dictionary is more than a reliable resource of meticulously labeled images—it innovates by combining dictionary-scale definitions with exceptional illustrations, making it the most complete dictionary.

Detail

The Visual Dictionary is an indispensable visual reference that goes beyond object identification to answer questions about function, significance and purpose. Ideal for teachers, parents, writers, translators and students of all skill levels, it helps the user understand a phenomenon and quickly grasp the meaning of a term, the characteristics of an object or simply learn something new.

Access it here