Growth Mindset Read-Aloud: Cornelius by Leo Lionni

As I was reading Cornelius by Leo Lionni, it occurred to me what a wonderful book this is to teach Growth Mindset.

After being picked on for being different by his friends, Cornelius decides to set off into the world to live life for himself.  He soon meets a monkey who can stand on his head and hang from his tail.  Cornelius decides that he, too, would like to stand on his head and hang from his tail.

The monkey reminds him that he can learn anything with "a lot of hard work and a little help."

I love the part about achieving your goals through hard work and a little help!  Eventually, Cornelius does learn to do the seemingly impossible task of standing on his head and hanging from his tail.


In true Leo Lionni style, the pictures are colorful, the words are few but well thought out, and the lessons go deep.


Have you used this book for other lessons?  I'd love to hear how!

Growth Mindset Poster Scavenger Hunt

Would you like to inspire your students to have a Growth Mindset?  Would you like to incorporate movement and collaborative learning into your Growth Mindset lesson?  If so, then this post is for you!

We've been using Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in Schools by Mary Cay Ricci in our school and county.  My school is also focusing on getting the students up and moving while learning.  Then it dawned on me:  I should combine the two and do a gallery walk/scavenger hunt!

The Growth Mindset Poster Gallery Walk / Scavenger Hunt starts with 10 growth mindset quotes. 

Students walk around the room and answer questions about the posters.  There is an answer key included to make the activity self-checking or for aid in use as a formative/summative assessment.

The second poster scavenger hunt focuses on the neuroscience behind having a growth mindset.

Some of the posters focus on how to strengthen the brain with food.

Other posters focus on the nerve and brain cells.

Students are again asked to take a gallery walk and answer questions about the posters.


The entire packet includes:
~10 growth mindset poster quotes, some by famous people
~A scavenger hunt student sheet and answer key for the quotes
~10 posters on how the brain works and how to strengthen it
~A scavenger hunt student sheet and answer key for the brain section of the scavenger hunt


If you'd like to pick up a copy, click here.


Do you have any low-prep, fun activities to teach or reinforce growth mindset?  I'd love to hear about them!

Growth Mindset, Art, and Science Activity: Brain Hats

Do you want to create or reinforce a strong growth mindset in your classroom?  Do you want to reach multiple learning styles, including artistic and logical?  Then read on to see how I use brain hats to do all this!

We've been using Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in Schools by Mary Cay Ricci in our county.

At the beginning of the year, we took a get-to-know-you Growth Mindset survey that let students know if their learning style was more right- or left-brain.

Adding on to the knowledge of the two hemispheres, we recently made "brain hats".   These were inspired by Ellen McHenry's activity. 

These hats have all the parts of the brain labeled and list what activities might be associated with each part.  There are different sizes from which to choose. For our middle-schoolers, we used the large/adult size.  There is an option to use smaller sizes for younger students as well. 

Students labeled, colored, cut, and taped them together.  

This was excellent to use for a Growth Mindset activity because we discussed  how you might have to move outside your comfort zone if you want to strengthen the neural pathways in your brain.  We reviewed what neurons are made of, which we learned about in an activity earlier this year that had us building edible neuron models.

Yes, even middle-schoolers need some growth mindset education.  Actually, this is a crucial age to teach the concepts of neuroscience and grit. This was one of those unique activities that combined art, science, and Growth Mindset all in one. 

What are your favorite Growth Mindset activities?  I'd love to hear about them!

Growth Mindset Activity: Learning Style Quiz and Hemispheres of theBrain

Would you like to get to know your students on a deeper level and discover their learning styles all at once?  How about a way to teach your students their learning style strengths while teaching them realistic ways to practice with the opposite learning styles.  Then this post is for you!

We've been using Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in Schools by Mary Cay Ricci in our county.

One of my favorite activities I did in college was to learn if I was "right-brained" or "left-brained".  We've all heard the talk about how we are either one or the other. Turns out, most of the successful people in the world have more balance between the two hemispheres. So, I wanted to create an activity that would not only gauge students' learning style, but also give them strategies to create the balance that successful people have. 

First, we took a learning and personality style quiz. This consists of series of paired statements from which students had to choose the statement that sounded more like them. For example, 

As the students answered the questions, they colored in the appropriate circle to indicate their answer choice. 

After all questions were answered and circles were filled in, we discussed the patterns we saw. For example, were there more left or right circles filled in?  Were there equal amounts filled in on each side?  If there were more circles colored in on the left, that showed a tendency toward left-brain "logical" thinking and vice versa for the right side. If equal amounts were colored, that tends  to indicate a person that uses both left- and right-brained approaches, depending on the situation. In other words, this indicates a person that is willing to try things outside their comfort zone if the situation calls for it. 

We then talked about how to strengthen the side (hemisphere) on which there were fewer circles filled in. It basically boils down to trying activities outside your "comfort zone". Below are the examples we talked about for the students who were more "Left-Brained".  I have another list for strengthening the left hemisphere and one to help strengthen both equally. 

If you'd like to pick up a copy of this packet, it includes:
~21 paired statements from which to choose.  The first statement of the set (labeled with A) indicates a tendency toward right-brain thinking.  The second statement of the set (labeled with B) indicate a tendency toward left-brain thinking.
~A "Brain Worksheet" for students to color in their answers to the paired statements
~Tips for strengthening the left and right hemispheres
~Tips for strengthening both hemispheres

Click here to pick up a copy.

We constantly refer to these lists and "stepping outside our comfort zone" when we encounter challenging situations so we can learn and grow. Do you do any activities to encourage students to think about how they learn?  I'd love to hear about them!

Growth Mindset, Art, and Science Activity: Edible Neurons

We've been using Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in Schools by Mary Cay Ricci in our county. It is honestly one of my favorite district initiatives because believing in yourself and perseverance are two of life's most important skills. 

Many of the activities in its sister book, Ready-to-Use Resources for Mindsets in the Classroom: Everything Educators Need for School Success, are geared toward elementary students or Language Arts, and I teach middle school science. So I decided to combine art and science in my first Growth Mindset activity: Edible Neurons. 

Since cells are such a big part of our curriculum in Life Science, I was able to tie this activity into cell parts when I showed them the following diagram.

So, we grabbed the Twizzlers and Fruit Roll-Ups and started creating our own edible models.  I did have them use hand sanitizer before beginning.

Finally, we got to EAT them!  This was easily their favorite part.

I created a document that gives step-by-step instructions and a materials list.  
This document includes:
~A materials list
~A procedure list
~A neuron diagram
~Pictures of partially and completely finished edible neurons

If you would like to pick up a copy, click here.

Do you have any Growth Mindset activities that mix well with science?  I'd love to hear about them!