In partnership with the National Fatherhood Initiative, this reading guide highlights the central themes of Cosmic, with special questions designed just for fathers and their children.

4 Standards-based lesson plans that incorporate the key themes of Cosmic:

• Human Spaceflight
• “Space Suits Aren’t Clothes, Idiot. They’re Equipment”
• Science Fiction and Science Fact
• The “Vomit Comet”

Ramona and Beezus is a family film for all ages. It provides an opportunity to discuss God’s perspective on what it means to be “cool”.  Preserving a Christian identity against the grain of peer pressure is one of the preeminent challenges facing churched youth today. Quite often Christian teens can feel misunderstood at the least, or even an object of ridicule or persecution at the most. It is important for every Christian to feel empowered to be different even when the rest of the world is demanding that they conform. Understanding the themes of the film— self respect, understanding, character, and the value of family—is the reason these and other topics are addressed in the movie and why we’ve created this Bible Study Guide. With this guide, you can utilize one the great themes in Ramona and Beezus as a discussion tool with your church or family- What it means to be “cool”.

Click the button below to for the Bible Study Guide, trailer and three clips from the film.

Bring the World of RAMONA to your students with this comprehensive Teacher’s Guide! Created by publisher HarperCollins, this guide offers lesson plan ideas to teach Beverly Cleary’s beloved books in the classroom.
Use this Guide in conjunction with the materials Walden has created for the upcoming RAMONA AND BEEZUS film, in theaters Summer 2010.

In RAMONA AND BEEZUS, Ramona and her father draw a giant mural of their town. Work with your class to help us break a record for The Longest Drawing in the World!
Download the instructons here, and upload your entry at www.walden/com/win/ramonamural

In RAMONA AND BEEZUS, Hobart creates a time capsule that he discovers years later. Use this activity sheet to create a time capsule with your class. Each student can use the space provided to create goals and predictions about the year to come.

In RAMONA AND BEEZUS, Ramona creates new words like “terrifical” because they are “funner” to say. This activity asks students to create their own words, and define them. It also asks students to redefine a real word.

This short 3-minute video introduces students to Genre with the cast of BANDSLAM. Use it with the Bandslam Activity 2 “Understanding Music Forms” to create a complete lesson that’s fun, hands-on and unique!

In this video, the cast of BANDSLAM explores how songs and songwriting employ poetic devices like rhyme, metaphor and simile. Aly Michalka of the pop duo Aly and AJ discusses her own songwriting process and challenges students to write their own song. Use this video with the entire BANDSLAM Educator Guide, or as a unique accompaniment to a Creative Writing or Language Arts lesson.

This video offers students an introduction to music recording with the cast of BANDSLAM and a real life sound engineer. It asks students to research how many people work on one individual song. Use it with the BANDSLAM Educator Guide Activity 6 “Revolutions in Recorded Sound” or as a fun accompaniment to your own unique lesson plan.

The complete Ed Guide featuring all 6 fantastic activities:

“It Starts with a Song”

“Understanding Music Forms”

“Music Epicenters/New York City”

“Spotlight on the 1970s/Be a Music Critic Like Will”

“Culture Shock: 1950s-2000”

“Revolutions of Recorded Sound”

“It Starts With a Song:” An introduction to the history of American Songwriting, and a fill-in-the-blank activity page.

“Understanding Music Forms” offers an in depth description of several prominent music forms (otherwise known as genres). The activity page asks students to compare and contrast different forms of music with Rock & Roll.

“Music Epicenters” invites students to explore how music and genre has a geography. It uses New York City as an example of how different neighborhoods and cultural environments can birth different genres and cultural movements. The Activity page asks students to research other music epicenters and the genres and movements that were created there.

“Spotlight on the 1970s” is an activity that encourages students to describe, compare and contrast the different genres of music that were popularized in the 1970s.

“Culture Shock: 1950-2000” explores how different genres of music can affect the pop culture of its day. The activity pages invite students to compare and contrast different genres and their cultural impact.

“Revolutions in Recorded Sound” offers a history of Recorded Sound with ‘How It Works’ sections that explain how each different technology functions.

The Spanish version of Heal the Bay’s Aqua Explorer Guide.

A fun lesson plan for grades 2-5 about water pollution, the ground water table, the marine ecosystem and the environmental impact our actions have on our planet’s oceans. Also available in Spanish.

Language Arts Discussion Guide