Enhancing Imagination and Creativity in the Elementary Classroom Through 11 Impossible Children's Books and Related Lesson Plans

Not too long ago we believed that it was impossible to send men outside our planets gravitational force, let alone send them to the moon. As adults, we live in a world that believes in two possibilities, those goals that are possible as long as they believe in themselves and find new ways to accomplish each goal they are given. Slowly this thought process is leaving the students minds to make room for the latest information for best practices in formal test taking. There has been a huge decline in our imaginative and creative thinkers due to this overwhelming need as a nation to "raise our test scores." I agree that our students need to obtain as much information as possible, but I believe in the impossible. I believe that there is a way to incorporate imaginative and creative thinking into our classrooms today to allow for students to build this idea that their impossible ideas can become possible. I want to challenge our students to be those who believe that it is not so impossible to land on the moon, as long as they can use their imagination, and creativity to solve their problems. To do this, I have used this thesis as a basis for 6 lesson plans based on 11 impossible children’s book. This is to provide teachers with resources that match the standards they are already using and create lifelong imaginers and creative thinkers who can turn the most impossible idea into a reality.