What Is College? Worksheet

Name: ____________________________ Date: ___________

1. Fill in the Blank

College is a __________ where people go after high school to learn more about things they like.

2. What Place Is This?

Look at each picture. Write the correct place name under the picture.

1. (Picture of a classroom)

1. (Picture of a library)

1. (Picture of a cafeteria)

1. (Picture of a playground)

3. Circle Two Advantages of College

Find and circle two good things about going to college:

• Make new friends
• Play games all day
• Learn new things
• Sleep in late
• Try fun activities

4. Draw and Write

Draw a picture of something you would like to learn in college in the box below. Then write one sentence about it.

[Draw here]

My sentence: ________________________________________________________

Dream Big Poster Activity (5 minutes)

Materials:

• Poster paper or large drawing paper
• Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
• Example poster (teacher-made) showing a student learning something fun in college

Steps:

1. Explain the Task (1 minute)
   • Show the example poster and read aloud: “This student wants to learn how to paint in college.”
   • Say: “Now it’s your turn to dream big!”
2. Create Your Poster (3 minutes)
   • Give each student a sheet of poster paper and art supplies.
   • Prompt: “Draw something you would like to learn or do in college. It could be painting, playing sports, playing an instrument, or anything you imagine!”
   • Under their drawing, have students write one sentence using this starter: “In college, I want to learn ______.”
   • Provide support: offer word banks (art, science, music, sports) or sentence frames for students with emerging writing skills.
3. Share with a Partner (1 minute)
   • Pair up students and have them show their posters.
   • Ask each partner to say: “I like your poster because _____.” to practice positive feedback.

Teacher Notes:

• Circulate to encourage creativity and help with spelling or drawing ideas.
• Celebrate each student’s dream by displaying posters on a classroom wall titled “Our College Dreams!”
• For students with IEP or language needs, provide pre-written sentence strips they can glue onto their posters.

College Matching Game (4 minutes)

Materials:

• Printed set of 8 cards (4 picture cards and 4 matching word/phrase cards)
• Timer or stopwatch (optional)

Card Pairs:

1. Picture: a college building
   Match: College
2. Picture: two children high-fiving
   Match: Make new friends
3. Picture: an open book
   Match: Learn new things
4. Picture: a soccer ball (or paint palette)
   Match: Try fun activities

Setup:

1. Shuffle all cards and lay them face down in a grid on a table or the floor.
2. Explain that each picture card has a matching word/phrase card.

How to Play:

1. Students take turns flipping two cards over.
2. If the cards match (picture + correct word/phrase), the student keeps the pair and names why it’s related to college (e.g., “I matched the open book with Learn new things because in college you study lots of subjects!”).
3. If the cards do not match, the student flips them back face down and the next student takes a turn.
4. Continue until all pairs are found.
5. Celebrate by having the class cheer for each correct match.

Teacher Notes:

• For students needing extra support, allow them to flip one picture card and choose from word cards laid out in front, narrowing choices.
• To increase engagement, time each round and challenge the class to beat their own time in finding all matches.
• Reinforce vocabulary by asking students to use each term in a sentence after they make a match.

Brainstorm Warm-Up Chart

Activate Prior Knowledge

Today we’re going to start our College Quest by sharing what we already know and what we imagine happens at college.

Ask students:

1. “What have you heard about college?”
2. “What do you think people do at college?”

Teacher Tip: Record every idea—there are no wrong answers! Use this chart to guide our lesson and see how many of these ideas we explore today.