Dream Clouds—Reach for Your Goals!

1. Get to know new friends better with this fun project. Students brainstorm a list of their interests. What are they good at? What do they like? Take a poll to see how many classmates share the same interests.
2. Students choose three items from the list that are their favorites. Write them on paper using Crayola Colored Pencils. Use these interests to help imagine some dreams for the future. Write several dream statements beginning with "My dream is…". Set goals for a new school or calendar year, for example.
3. Students form small groups to share their dreams with each other. Discuss how their dreams could come true.
4. Cut a large cloud on white construction paper. Write a dream statements on the cloud with Crayola Washable Markers. Students should include their name.
5. Cover the craft area with recycled newspaper. Paint special effects around the edge of the cloud using Crayola Pearl It! and/or Glitter It! Tempera Mixing Mediums. Air-dry the cloud.
6. With classmates, paint large craft paper sky blue with Crayola Washable Tempera Paints. Paint small clouds using Crayola Pearl It! Tempera Mixing Medium. Air-dry the sky.
7. Glue Dream Clouds on the sky to display. Read aloud each dream. Agree on steps to take to reach each goal.

LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

LA: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

VA: Select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of their ideas.

Invite students to crate dual portraits by folding large, rectangular construction paper in half. Draw and/or paint today's portrait on one half. Show the face achieving dreams on the other half. Combine the two portraits with a short story about how goals were achieved. Publish both portraits and stories and display in the classroom.

Students read Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg. Discuss Walter's dreams for the future and own his experiences changed the way he acts in the present. Students make predictions about how Walter will be in the future.

Students work in small groups to discuss their ideas for the future of their planet. Students create dream clouds about the environment. The group can investigate ways to begin working on making their environmental dreams come true. Share these dreams with other groups in the class.