2026 — Fandom Snowflake Challenge, Day 6

[angenoir]

Challenge #6: Top 10 Challenge.

 

Ngl, life has been particularly rough the past month and when I saw this challenge it kinda stalled me out, because I wanted to do all the challenges in order but I also don't think I have a top 10... anything.

But I always tell my students a 50 is better than a zero, so maybe a shorter list that I can come back and edit, or add to, or something, would at least get me over this blank spot I've been in for this top 10 challenge.

So, I'm going to go with top 10 movies / shorts I show my students and that I like to use in the classroom, though some of these are only things I wanted to show and didn't actually show, so it may not actually count.

1) Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. This is such a particularly good movie, especially for me as a social studies teacher. It perfectly kiddie-fies the concept of Manifest Destiny. I try and have all my social studies classes watch it right before winter break - it normally meshes well with Texas's 5th, 7th, and 8th grade curriculum at that point in time.

2) Meet the Robinsons. I've shown this movie multiple times and it's always a good movie for the kids because it allows kids to understand that failure is a part of growing up - and also allows them to see what happens when you focus on the negatives in your life instead of the positives. Plus the sheer wackiness of the family I always felt was very welcoming.

3) The Emperor's New Groove. This is what I have my 6th grade (world cultures) watch right before winter break, as that meshes with Texas's curriculum for them better than Spirit. It's about the Inca empire, which they learned about back in November, so it's a little less directly connected but I have the kids look at the carvings, the backgrounds, the clothing, the mountains. I have them remember the achievements of the Incas (their roads, and their suspension bridges). It's also just a very fun movie to watch.

4) There's a wonderful little short called Deathigner, on vimeo I believe (I have to google it every year, because I always forget the name) and I do use it with the kids to talk about how there are many ways to get things done, not just one way, and just because the baby grim reaper can't be as bloodthirsty as the others doesn't mean he's in the wrong.

5) Moana. Maybe it's a bit too obvious, but for 6th grade right before the end of school they're learning about Oceania and Moana fits very well into that.

6) I have shown Around the World in 80 Days (the Jackie Chan movie) because, though wildly inaccurate in many ways, it demonstrates what train travel was like, it shows how the industrialized world is interconnected, but I think I only showed it one year because there are other, better choices.

7) I've never shown the whole thing (obviously) but I've used multiple clips from Hamilton for 8th grade, and even shorter clips and more carefully curated (as in, music only) for 5th grade.

8) Two years in a row I showed clips from Captain America (the very first one) to discuss World War II and show students some of the technology used in the war, but I'll be honest it was more for me to watch something fun with the class than to really do something school related. Valiant is another kids movie that is a bit better if I really wanted to show the fighting in World War, though if I'm remembering correctly it's WWI not WWII.

...I wish I could think of others. I know there are, that's the thing. I just can't think of any, and I know that's me failing at a top 10 anything but. Oh well I guess.