Pixton Lesson Ideas

Desert Island

Consider the classic question, "Who or what would you take with you if you were stranded on a desert island?" with your students. Encourage students to apply their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to ensure their survival.

Dinosaurs

Students will create a comic based on the fossil record.

Dark and Stormy

Get students familiarized with Pixton by asking them to imagine a spooky story about being alone in a house on a dark and stormy night.

Animal Habitats

Frogs, monkeys, polar bears and more! Learn about the different habitats animals live in.

Water Cycle

Students will demonstrate their understanding of the water (hydrologic) cycle by creating comics depicting and explaining each stage of the cycle.

Simple Machines

Students will demonstrate an understanding of simple machines and how they are used to make work easier.

Mothers' Day

Use this activity to introduce students to the history of Mother's Day while creating the perfect Mother's Day card. Students will incorporate an avatar of themselves and their mother or guardian as they express how much their mothers mean to them.

Gaslighting

Gaslighting is a term used to describe a particular kind of emotional abuse. It's the act of manipulating someone into questioning the validity of their own perceptions, thoughts and memories. Introduce students to this serious problem often experienced in personal relationships and by means of public figures.

Father's Day

Students can create the perfect Fathers’ Day card, incorporating an avatar of themselves and their father or guardian as well as a message to express how much this family member means to them.

Famous Women Scientists

From Marie Curie to Jane Goodall, Alice Ball to Gertrude B. Elion, female scientists have always played a major role in the advancement of our understanding of the world around us. Research and celebrate the achievements of these dedicated experts in their fields.

Family Life

Introduce a special family - from "a day in the life," to cherished memories. Have your students add characters that look like relatives for a uniquely personalized experience.

Diabetes

Use this to lesson to introduce students to diabetes and strategies for maintaining good health.

Denotation and Connotation

Understanding the difference between denotation, the strict meaning of a word, and connotation, the feeling the word conjures, can be challenging to wrap one’s head around. Visually demonstrate the difference for readers and writers.

Consequences

We are all faced with daily decisions, each of which has good and/or bad consequences. Our ability to tackle these choices in an informed and responsible manner is key to the development of our personal character. Illustrate the consequences of our decisions, big and small.

Autism Awareness

Autism is a developmental disorder which affects approximately 1 in 54 children in the United States. Symptoms often include difficulty communicating with other people, repetitive behaviors and sensory sensitivities. Bring awareness and understanding to your students about autism, and teach them how to respond appropriately to pertinent situations with patience and sensitivity.

Climate Change

Climate Change is often cited as the defining issue of our time, as its ongoing effects threaten our collective future. In this lesson students will learn about climate change, its causes, potential impacts, and things that humans can do to address it.

Actually Fake News

“Fake news” is a term meant to indicate when a news source is misrepresented or not factual. This is often the result of bias in reporting, whether conscious or not. These days, we are each burdened with the task of filtering out this “noise” so that we can get to the heart of matters and not be distracted by loud, preference-driven commentary. Use this lesson to promote critical thinking and introspection among your students.

Setting Boundaries

Through prompted questions in comics, students will reflect on people and situations where they may have struggled with setting boundaries to better prepare for similar future scenarios.

Self-Advocacy

This lesson is intended to allow students to practice asking for help while creating a future scenario.

What? So What? Now What?

Students will learn to better comprehend and check their understanding of nonfiction text by asking reflective questions. They will create a comic to demonstrate their understanding and personal connection to the content in a social studies text.

Shape Riddles

In this lesson, students will craft riddles to describe 2D shapes based on their points, angles, and lines.

The Big 12 in Greek Mythology

Students will begin to explore the twelve gods and goddesses in Greek mythology.

So Many Syllables!

Students will analyze multisyllabic words in context to determine the meaning, syllables, and word parts.

Shape Classifications

In this lesson, students will classify a given set of shapes and provide an explanation to justify their answer.

Top 5 Facts

Students will conduct a short research project about a topic. Students will create a comic to demonstrate their understanding of the researched topic of their choice.

Following a Routine

This lesson is intended to reinforce what to do during daily routines to help students be successful and minimize disruptions in the classroom.

Participation is Key: Democracy in the US

Students will explore ways in which citizens can participate in the democratic process in the United States.

Conjunctions

Students will practice using conjunctions to combine sentences.

I Used to Think / Now I Think

Students will use the "I Used to Think/Now I Think" strategy to help them determine specific text evidence and infer information drawn from text. They will create a comic to demonstrate their understanding before and after reading.

Mutual Respect Online

In this lesson, students will explain how they can respect others online.

Let's Take a Trip

Students design a comic brochure about a destination and notice language patterns used to describe a specific place.

Peak, Pit & Horizon Mindful Reflection

Students will mindfully reflect on their week’s highlights, challenges and hopes using a mountain metaphor.

Keeping a Clean Digital Footprint

In this lesson, students will describe actions that they can take to keep a clean digital footprint.

Calm Down Strategies

This lesson is intended to reinforce and create an individualized calm down strategy for students.

Distance Problems

Students will interpret data to write and solve a real-world word problem involving distance.

Our First Colonists

Students will explore the first colonists who settled in their community.

Guess My Number

In this lesson, students will provide clues to the location of a mystery rational number on the number line.

Safe Actions in Tricky Situations

In this lesson, students will explain how they can make a safe choice when faced with a tricky situation online.

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt

Through prompted questions in comics, students will reflect and learn to be grateful.

Political Cartoons

Students will learn about the impact imperialism had on indigenous peoples and cultures from around the world.

Justify the Symmetry

In this lesson, students will explain how they know whether a sample object is or is not symmetrical.

Exponent Power

In this lesson, students will learn to write and evaluate matching expressions and exponential form involving whole-number exponents.

Solving Problems Using Math Terminology

This lesson reinforces the language associated with finding the percent of numbers when solving word problems.

Personal Traditions

Students will create comics about personal traditions they celebrate outside of school.

Digital Citizenship: Find the Good

In this lesson, students will describe a beneficial way to utilize the Internet and/or social media that impacts the greater good.

See, Think, Wonder

Students will use the "See, Think, Wonder" strategy to help them better understand scientific information or text. They’ll demonstrate their understanding in a comic.

“How Are My Collaboration Skills?” Self Test

Students will take a comic-based collaboration self-assessment to reflect on collaboration skills and goals.

Cultural Events in My State

Students will explore different cultural events throughout their state and learn why they are important.

Adverbial Phrases

Students will practice working with adverb phrases to help provide descriptions while speaking and writing.

Cognates

Students will notice cognates that exist in English and Spanish. These are words that are both visibly and audibly similar, and have the same meaning.

Progressing Action

Students will learn about progressive verb tenses and create a comic to demonstrate their understanding of progressive verb tenses.

Fractions

This lesson is intended to reinforce vocabulary and language used to describe fractions. It can be used as an ESL lesson or as a math lesson to reinforce the concept of fractions.

Fraction Word Problems

In this lesson, students will write and solve word problems involving the addition or subtraction of fractions with like denominators.

Code It and Define It

In this lesson, students will define a coding term by describing and providing an example of it in context.

Interjections!

Students will learn to use interjections in writing through the creation of a comic.

Visible and Invisible Me!

Students will define visible characteristics that describe who they are and then explore the invisible characteristics, or things that are unseen and felt inside, that define who they are but people may not know.

Area and Perimeter

In this lesson, students will write and solve word problems for the perimeter or area of a rectangle.

3D Shapes

In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to practice using language to describe the basic features of three dimensional shapes. Students will use key vocabulary to compare and discuss shapes.

Up, Down, and All A-Round: Rounding Decimals

In this lesson, students will round decimals to a given place value.

There’s an App for That

In this lesson, students will develop the idea for an app that will solve a problem they encounter at home or at school.

Asking For Help!

Students will practice how to ask for help.

Where’s the Evidence?

Students will practice speaking and writing arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

Digital Habits Quiz

Students will take a true or false quiz to test their knowledge about digital usage and their mental health, and then create a comic showing some positive alternatives.

Products of Agriculture

Students will learn and explain how agriculture has impacted their state.

Checks and Balances

Students will learn how each branch of government plays a role in making sure another branch does not become too powerful using a system of checks and balances.

Get to the Root

This lesson provides students with the opportunity to practice using Greek and Latin roots to help figure out the meaning of words they’re not familiar with.

The Jewish Plight: Interwar Years

Students will learn about discrimination, prejudice, and the attempted genocide of Jewish people during the Holocaust and the years leading up to WWII.

Preposition Power!

Students will learn about prepositions and create a comic to demonstrate the use of prepositions in sentences.

Types of Pronouns

Students will learn about subjective, objective, and possessive pronouns. They will create a comic to demonstrate properly using pronouns in writing.

Active and Passive Voice

In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to practice using both active and passive voices.

The Three Branches of the U.S. Government

Students will learn about the three branches of the U.S. government and be able to differentiate between them.

My Motivational Motto!

Students will create a motto using Mad-Lib type sentence frames.

S.M.A.R.T Goal Refresher

Students will review the meaning of the acronym of “S.M.A.R.T.” goal in preparation to write a goal of their own.

That’s Perfect!

Students will learn about perfect verb tenses and create a comic to demonstrate their understanding of perfect verb tenses.

The Events Leading to WWII

Students will investigate key events during the interwar years that indirectly or directly lead to World War II.

Dare to Compare: Comparing Fractions

In this lesson, students will work in pairs to explain how to create common denominators and compare fractions. Students will show the calculations used to create common denominators on a separate worksheet.

Be Proud!

Students will celebrate accomplishments they’ve achieved in the last year.

How Similar Are We?

Students will be able to compare and contrast cultural aspects of different ancient civilizations that developed around the same time.

Making Smart Choices

Students will use reflection questions to learn how to make good decisions at home and in school.

Trade Advances Technology

Students will learn how trade between regions contributed to advances in technology.

Transcontinental Railroad

Students will understand the impact the transcontinental railroad had on the economy, environment, and culture of the United States.

Transition Words

Students will create a comic using transition words to convey sequence.

Analyzing Positive and Negative Events in Narratives

Students will analyze a familiar narrative and explain positive and negative effects of events within the text.

What Should I Write About?

Students will generate ideas for a personal narrative writing topic.

Super Suffixes

This lesson is intended to reinforce the idea of determining the meaning of words with suffixes. Students will create a comic to inform others how to figure out the meaning of a new word using suffixes.

Supporting Your Opinions

Students will practice responding to opinion statements of others with their own personal preferences.

Comparing Decimals: Which Is Bigger, Faster, Farther?

In this lesson, students will compare decimals to the thousandths >, <, = by comparing weight, speed, or distance in a comic.

How Questions

Students will explain a phenomenon by answering “how” or “why" questions.

In the News!

Students will create a "News Story" comic to share information or explain a topic.

Making Inferences

Students will practice expressing their ideas and inferences about a text.

African American Spirituals

Students will learn how some African American spirituals became necessary for exchanging secret messages among fugitive slaves for safe movement along the Underground Railroad.

Who Is the Narrator?

Students will learn about first and third person points of view by narrating comics of their own.

The Highs and Lows of Positive and Negative Numbers

In this lesson, students will describe the elevations and temperatures of locations using positive and negative numbers.

Acrostic Poems and Comprehension

Students will write Acrostic poems to demonstrate their comprehension of a literature selection.

Decoding Coding Vocabulary

In this lesson, students will demonstrate their knowledge of key coding vocabulary.

Mindful Morning Routine

Students will use a comic to guide themselves through a short mindful practice.

The Art of Apologizing

Through this sample comic, students will learn to use compassionate words when apologizing.

Writing Multi-Digit Word Problems

In this lesson, students will create word problems requiring addition or subtraction of multi-digit numbers. Students will solve word problems written by a classmate.

Conserve to Preserve

Students will identify a current global issue affecting our environment and determine a method for resolving the issue.

Try Time Management Strategies!

Students will learn time management strategies, then choose one to use for a week.

World Languages Introductions

This comic will introduce students to basic greetings and how to use the Input Method Editor (keyboard) of the target language.

Spot the Differences

Use this fun little exercise to have your students practice their observation skills by having them list out the five differences between these comic panels. Or, use this idea to make your own Spot the Difference activities!

Places in the House

Students will practice vocabulary through the creation of a "Places in the House” comic.

Panama Canal Debate

Students will practice their research and debate skills by creating a comic which explains their perspective on a historic event.

Greeting a New Student

After learning how to greet people in the target language, students will read a sample conversation comic and make a comic of their own.

A Day in My Life

Students will create a comic taking the reader through a typical day in their life.

Health Is Wealth

Students will learn about the importance of taking care of their health.

Egyptian Math Mashup

Practice math skills and learn about Egyptian history at the same time with this activity.

Healthy Relationships

Set your students up for life in and out of school by teaching them about healthy vs. unhealthy relationships.

Student Interview

Students will practice the skills being learned in class by creating I-statements in the target language.

Test Taking Strategies

Students will learn some test taking strategies and create a comic to demonstrate their understanding.

Recycling Superheroes

Teach students to care about recycling with this creative comic lesson.

Inspire Donations to Those in Need

Students will practice persuasive writing while inspiring others to donate to charities or people in need.

Preserving the Environment

Students will review cause and effect while learning about ways to take care of the environment.

Story Writing Taking Over

Students will practice planning and writing narratives by creating a comic.

First Day of a New School Year

Students will think about how they and others are feeling about the return to school.

The Great Depression

Students will learn about the Great Depression and demonstrate their understanding of this economic downfall.

Restaurant Dialogue

Students will learn restaurant dialogue through the creation of a comic.

Passion Project

Students will create a comic to demonstrate their understanding of a topic of their choice. They will conduct basic research for this project.

Analyzing Authors’ Work

Students will create a comic to demonstrate how two authors present different information about the same topic.

Vocabulary: Get the Picture!

Students will determine and clarify unknown vocabulary words by creating a comic version of the Frayer Model.

Handling Conflict

Students will read a conflict comic and discuss conflict resolution.

Feudalism Brings Order to Europe

Students will understand why Feudalism was developed and the social hierarchy that resulted from this political landscape.

Integrity

Students will use comic scenarios to discuss whether or not the characters are showing integrity.

Religious Diversity in the Ottoman Empire

Students will understand how the Ottoman Empire (1299-1922) maintained control over a religiously diverse group of peoples.

Staying Safe Online

In this lesson, students will learn how to stay safe online.

Determining Author’s Purpose

In this lesson students will be able to determine the author’s purpose of a text.

Genres

This lesson is intended to reinforce the language and vocabulary needed to discuss the genre of a text. Use this lesson as an informal assessment to determine the knowledge and features of genres.

Main Idea and Details

Students will determine the main idea and at least two supporting details of a passage.

Think Like a Geographer

Students will explore the interaction inhabitants of river valley civilizations had with their surrounding environments and how they adapted and innovated to meet their needs.

My Reading Log

Students will reflect on their independent reading selections and demonstrate their understanding of the texts by creating a comic reading log.

Calling All Inventors!

In this lesson, students will imagine an invention that would solve a problem at home or at school.

Laying the Foundation for the States

Students will identify significant figures and understand why their state was founded and established.

Using Key Words to Compare and Contrast

Students will practice using key words to signal compare and contrast.

Global Problem Solvers

Students will describe an invention that would solve a global or environmental problem, e.g., flooding, waste disposal, pollution, extreme heat, etc.

Coping With Anxiety

Students will practice different coping mechanisms that can help with anxiety.

Be an Upstander!

Students will learn about living as an upstander and explore what they might say to someone who is bullying someone else.

Name That Region

Students will learn how the colonial regions; northern, middle, and southern differed economically by exploring the advantages of their locations and what they exported.

Naming Parts of the Brain

Students will review brain terminology.

Comparing Numbers

In this lesson, students will read and write numbers in base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form. Students will also compare numbers using >, <, = symbols.

Rounding Multi-Digit Numbers

In this lesson, students will round multi-digit numbers to any place value.

Cause and Effect

Students will create a comic to demonstrate their understanding of cause and effect from informational text.

Prefixes

Students will create a comic informing others how to figure out the meaning of a new word using prefixes.

Rewind Your Routine

Students will organize panels in the sample comic in the order of their own morning routines.

State Symbols

Students will explore the historical context from which state symbols became meaningful and symbolic.

Phrases for Algebraic Operations

Students will identify key phrases in word problems to determine which operation should be used.

Innovation Starts With Us

Students will explore different inventions and innovations during the Industrial Revolution and the role these inventions had in the United States.

Multiple-Meaning Words

Students will explore multiple-meaning words.

Word Detectives

Students will practice using context clues to determine the meaning of an unknown word.

Same but Different

Students will learn about homographs and create their own comics to illustrate common homographs.

Silly Similes

Students will demonstrate their understanding of similes by creating a comic.

Opposites Attract!

Students will deepen their understanding of current vocabulary terms by exploring antonyms.

Cause and Effect Words

Students will learn about cause and effect words and use them in their own writing.

Kindness Checklist

Students will practice kindness while completing a Kindness Comic Bingo Card.

Indigenous Groups of America and Their Importance

Students will explore the impact of one of the four major indigenous civilizations from the Americas: Olmecs, Incas, Aztecs, or Mayas.

Synonyms and Antonyms

Students read a comic and create synonym and antonym cards.

Create a Procrastination Villain!

Students will learn to combat procrastination with this activity.

America: The Melting Pot

Students will become familiar with the variety of reasons different groups of people chose to leave their homes and start a new life in America.

Show Me The Money: Major Economic Systems

Students will understand the three major economic systems and explore the pros and cons of each.

Visible Connections: Working With Text and Images

Students will make connections between fictional texts by creating a visual presentation.

Checking for Capitalization

Students will demonstrate correct capitalization in their writing.

Thanks for the Tip! Using Percentages

Students will use percentages in order to determine how much to tip.

Perfect Patterns

Students will create and explain their own number patterns and rules.

The Mighty Power of 10

Students will explain the pattern of the number of zeros of the product when multiplying by powers of 10. Students will recognize that powers of 10 are represented as 10 with an exponent.

What’s Your STEM Superpower?

Students will imagine a solution to a real life STEM problem by creating a STEM superhero comic.

Is It Joking or Bullying?

Students will learn the difference between joking and bullying.

What Triggers Me?

Using comic scenarios, students will reflect on what triggers them and how to cope with those triggers.

STEM Careers

In this lesson students will explore a STEM career that interests them.

Would You Rather?

Play a game of Would You Rather to create opinion comics with your students.

Storytelling: Conflicts and Resolutions

Students will develop story sequence skills while creating a narrative comic.

Super Summaries!

Students will create a comic summarizing a text they have read in class.

Party Balloon Subtraction

Students will better understand addition and subtraction by solving and creating multistep word problems.

Representing Numbers in Different Ways

Students will learn to represent numbers in different ways by creating a number comic.

Flower Power Division

Students will solidify their understanding of division while creating a word problem comic.

Prove It!

Students will learn to support a point of view.

Making Sense of Analogies

Students will better understand the relationship between words by completing analogies.

They're? Their? There You Go Again!

Students will correctly use frequently confused words there, their and they’re.

Too Many Twos!

Students will correctly use the frequently confused words to, too and two.

Verb Tenses

Students will use present, past, and future tenses with appropriate time markers when speaking and writing.

Pattern Pair Play

Students will create a numerical pattern using a given rule and apply to generate ordered pairs. Students will explain the relationship between the numbers.

Calling All Superheroes! Exploring STEM Careers

Students will create a STEM superhero based on one of the components of STEM. Students will craft a scenario for their superhero based on their traits and area of expertise.

I Declare

Students will read an informational text and practice using declarative statements to provide objective, factual information.

Factor Finder

Students will learn about prime and composite numbers and their factors.

Interpreting Graphs

Students will learn the basic parts of a graph in English and use simple sentences to explain its features. Students will use the information from the graph to draw conclusions.

Step-By-Step Solve It

Students will explain the solution of multistep word problems using the four operations.

Athens and Sparta: Are They the Same or Different?

Students will identify the similarities and differences between the Greek city-states, Sparta and Athens.

Get To Know Me!

Students will share their life in a comic.

Perseverance Power!

Students will create themselves as “Perseverance Superheroes” and find a quote that inspires them to never give up.

My Trust Team!

Students will illustrate people in their lives that they trust and can confide in.

Responsibility in School and Classroom

Students will illustrate a classroom or school expectation in comic book style.

Practicing Empathy

Students will practice showing empathy in different comic scenarios.

Ready, Set, Action! Exploring Verbs

Students will practice using action verbs to describe what is happening in the present tense.

State Your Case!

Students will create a comic expressing an opinion with reasons to support the opinion.

The Bill of Rights and Me

Students will develop an understanding of the Bill of Rights and how it impacts their lives.

Impact of Resources in a Region

Students will recognize and understand the impact resources have in the development and growth of their region, either locally or statewide.

Taxation Without Representation

Students will identify ideologies that led to the American Revolution.

World War II Cause and Effect

Students will make cause and effect connections between World War I and World War II.

STEM Is Everywhere

Students will explore a future career that interests them.

Plural Nouns

Students will explore the rules for making nouns plural and practice using the correct spelling of plural nouns.

Comparing Characters

Students will compare and contrast two characters in a story.

Neolithic Revolution

Students will understand the impact agriculture had on culture and daily life of peoples living during the Neolithic Era.

Idioms

Students will explain the meaning of common idioms.

Sequencing Time and Events

Students will use sequence words to describe the order of events in a story when speaking and writing.

Greetings!

Students will practice formal and informal phrases for greetings, making introductions, polite conversation, and saying goodbye.

Yes or No Questions

Students will practice asking and answering "yes" or "no” questions with the verb “do”.

Gratitude Journal

Students will create a comic journal documenting what they’re grateful for.

Create Emotion Characters

Students will create a comic depicting a variety of emotions.

Responsibility: What Would You Do?

Students will explore responsibility and reflect on how they would handle authentic moral dilemmas they may face in school or in life.

Migration During The Industrial Revolution

Students will develop an understanding of the reasons why people leave their home and begin a new life in a new place.

Role of Women During WWII

Students will understand the impact women had on the developing identity of the United States as it emerged from WWII as a World Leader.

The Incan Defeat

Students will develop an understanding of how the Incas interacted with the Spanish Conquistadors.

Celebrate Your Peers!

Students will interview a classmate and create a comic celebrating their unique strengths and passions.

Rights and Responsibilities

Students will be able to distinguish between protected rights and responsibilities as members of their community, state, and country.

Summary Tweet

Students will read an informational article and determine the central ideas of the text.

What's the Point of View?

Students will analyze how an author develops and contrasts points of views of characters in a text.

The Plot Thickens!

Students will examine a story to determine how the plot unfolds and how the characters change based on the plot.

Solving Word Problems

Students will use key words to solve word problems using multiplication and/or division and create a problem solving comic.

Proportional Relationships

Analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems.

What’s the Ratio?

Students will define the meaning of a ratio and provide several examples using real-life scenarios.

Interpreter Needed! Creating and Solving Equations

Students will write equations using parentheses, brackets, and/or braces and explain the order of how to solve.

STEM Challenge Reflection

After completing a STEM challenge students will reflect on their thought process and results.

The Power of Yet!

Students will explore the power of “yet” and create a “Things We Can’t Do Yet!” comic.

Nouns

Students will define and provide examples of nouns, identify various objects, and use appropriate nouns while writing to bring clarity to the audience.

Exploring the Main Idea and Details in a Story

Students will create a comic demonstrating their understanding of the main idea and details of a story.

How to Teach with Comics

Grade Level

Objective

Subject