Rural Exceptional Student Talent Opportunities, Resources, & Experiences
HAL HACKS
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(gr. 3-12)
Bell ringers or things to use with kids with free time. Good for grades 3 through high school – deep questions with many answers to get them thinking.
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER
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Ridiculous questions are just that - ridiculous . . . BUT they make you think differently!
These kinds of questions make you think about what you need to know, then what you need to find out!
Ready? GO!
How much pasta could you cook using the water from an Olympic-sized pool?
How much chocolate pudding could fit in an Olympic-sized pool?
How many two-liter bottles of soda pop would you need to fill an Olympic-sized pool?
How long would it take an adult Boxer dog to drink all the water from this same pool?
QUESTIONS TO COLOR
QUESTIONS TO COLOR
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PROBLEM TO SOLVE!
You need to color a map of the United States - BUT - you must use as few colors as possible - AND - neighboring states cannot be the same color.
How few colors can you use? 2, 15, 38?
If two states share a side, they cannot be the same color because that would be confusing . . . BUT, if they only share a point, that is ok because we can tell they are different.
Start small: draw 3 squares that touch in some way. How many colors for that solution? Add 3 more squares. Now how many colors?
Now Go! Create a map of your own and determine how many colors you need! Is there just 1 answer?
UNLIKELY ANALOGIES
UNLIKELY ANALOGIES
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Analogy - a comparison between two unlike things.
How are two seemingly unrelated things similar? How do you know? Can you explain your answers? Then you can create an unlikely analogy!
Pick the Content - Pick 2 pieces of content - the less related the better! For example: How are emotions like a volcano?
Brainstorm Terms - Brainstorm all the terms (language of the discipline) that are related to the content. (Just brainstorm words here. Don’t make connections yet!) What are the essential words related to emotions? Volcanoes? Make a long list of these words!
Connect 1 Word - Pick one word from the emotions list and find a word from the volcano list that is a connection. For example: boiling. How can the emotion boiling relate to a word from your volcano list?
Keep Connecting - Keep making connections. You can pick words from either list. You don’t always have to start with the first list you made!
Write About It - Now that you have all of these crazy connections, write a story, make a comic book, write a script, write a poem - JUST WRITE ABOUT IT!
Story - . . . and just like that the day the volcano met the angry girl nothing would ever be the same. They looked at each other, knowing that deep inside things were bubbling, boiling, ready to erupt to the surface. But would their unlikely friendship lead them astray.....?
Your Turn: Create an Unlikely Analogy!
ODD ONE
ODD ONE
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Sometimes you might see a question that asks, "which one does not belong?."
For example, a kid has 4 balloons, 3 are red and 1 is green, 3 are circles and 1 is a flower. These are easy to answer because there is one that is obviously different.
So let’s think differently about this kind of question. Don’t look for the obvious answer; instead, look deeper or differently, find unknown similarities, and then decide. You may have to do a little research!
Which one does not belong and why? You must have at least 3 reasons for your answer.
The United States
Canada
The United Kingdom
Australia
Which one does not belong and why? Come up with 3 reasons for your answer.
Lake
Pond
River
Sea
Which one does not belong and why? Come up with 3 reasons for your answer.
Dream
Read
Sleep
Sleepwalk
Which one does not belong and why? Come up with 3 reasons for your answer.
Daffodil
Dandelion
Rose
Sunflower
Which one does not belong and why? Come up with 3 reasons for your answer.
Chili
Garlic
Ginger
Basil
Which one does not belong and why? Come up with 3 reasons for your answer.
Arabic
English
Japanese
Spanish
Your turn. Create an odd one out!
ANTONYM STEPS
ANTONYM STEPS
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Begin with a small, simple word and identify its antonym.
Then, take this second word and find its antonym. Many times, you’ll find that an antonym of an antonym isn’t always related to the original word.
Keep going, trying to find antonyms that make the path turn in unexpected ways.
At each step, the path twists in a new direction, and there are often multiple paths from the same starting word.
This activity will work best if you simply give students a starting word and ask them to create a path. Give them time, too. This is a complex task and will require thinking and perhaps consulting a thesaurus.
The path should be at least four steps long to be interesting. Encourage students to explore truly
different words, not just shades of meaning. The path should really wander.
Here’s an example:
From slow to food:
slow
fast
eat
drink
food
Show Students One Solution
1. young young
2. _____ old
3. _____ new
4. _____ used
5. mint mint
DIVERGENT IMAGES
DIVERGENT IMAGES
a Photo
a Photo
Some creative divergent meanings:
-- Another juggler gives up his dream...
-- Throwing away a snowman
-- Levitating balls
-- Throwing away punctuation...
Alternate Caption
Alternate Caption
Tripping may cause jazz hands!
Your Turn
Find 3 or 4 photos that could have a divergent meaning. Create a gallery of your photos and your divergent captions!
ACADEMIC VALENTINES
ACADEMIC VALENTINES
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Some things or people just belong together!
SOCIAL STUDIES
You’re the Zeus to my Hera.
You’re the democracy to my Athens.
You’re the Sphinx to my Giza.
You’re the Lewis to my Clark.
You’re the Caesar Augustus to my Pax Romana.
SCIENCE
You’re the O to my H2.
You’re the Phobos to my Deimos.
You’re the electrons to my capacitor.
You’re the Alfred Wegener to my plate tectonics.
You’re the quarks to my protons.
MATH
You’re the c2 to my a2 + b2.
You’re the divisor to my quotient.
You’re the origin to my coordinate plane.
You’re the vertex to my adjacent angles.
You’re the rise to my run.
CREATE A VALENTINES DAY CARD
The pairing goes on the front of the card, and on the inside of the card you explain why the 2 things go together like peanut butter and jelly!
FOR EXAMPLE:
Phobos and Deimos go together because they are Mars’ only moons. Plus, they were discovered within a week of each other in August of 1877. Phobos and Deimos are Fear and Terror from Greek mythology. Finally, both moons are tidally locked, meaning that they always point the same face to Mars, much like Earth’s moon.
Your Turn: Create your own Academic Valentine!
ACADEMIC LOVE LETTERS
ACADEMIC LOVE LETTERS
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• Pick a Point of View
Who will write the letter? It could be a historical figure, character from literature, or someone from pop culture. And, if you want to go more abstract, you certainly don’t have to stick with humans!
Example
Imagine if George Washington wrote a love letter. What did he love?
Democracy
Freedom
Bravery
A New World
• To Whom Will They Write?
Pick who you think the person or thing would write to.
Example
Dear Moon,
I admire you so much. Your complete lack of water is something that I can only aspire to. My humidity is rarely lower than 5%. You force all visitors to adapt to you, just like I do. My animals grow large ears, sleep under rocks, and travel at night just to survive. Your barren and open landscape is a true inspiration, especially the Lunar Maria – once thought to be a sea, like my own Great Sand Sea. Keep it dry and barren!
Yours, The Sahara Desert
GRAPHING WORDS
GRAPHING WORDS
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How can you graph words?
If you have a set of synonyms, break them down into categories (see left image).
Then plot the words how you see them fitting on a graph! Decide on categories, then plot your words - have a rationale!
Your Turn - Graph the Following Synonyms:
Synonyms for Mad
Furious
Angry
Upset
Raging
Irate
Bristle
Stew
Synonyms for Hungry
Peckish
Starving
Malnourished
Ravenous
Voracious
Famished
Wolfish
Synonyms for Energetic
Dynamic
Robust
Spirited
Powerful
Athletic
Peppy
Animated
Synonyms for Tired
Drained
Worn out
Weary
Bushed
Knackered
Tuckered out
Debilitated
WORD PYRAMIDS
WORD PYRAMIDS
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To create a word pyramid, start with a single letter, and then add one letter per step. Each step must be a valid word. The goal is to arrive at a particular word. Say, go from A to BRANDS or A to PLANET.
Example:
A
AN
AND
BAND
BRAND
BRANDS
How to Do It:
You add one letter at each level, and each level in the word pyramid must be a valid word.
Options:
What if you could delete one letter or add a letter?
What if you could rearrange the letters at each step?
What if you could only add to the front?
Example:
THIS
HIS
IS
I
Example:
TIP
PINT
POINT
PISTON
OPTIONS
Your Turn: Come up with word pyramids and their rules!
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