Stories, lessons, recommendations

The Movie Guide Blog

Discover movies worth showing in your classroom, with practical insights on the themes, learning opportunities, and educational value of each one.

Showing 13 posts

Grades 6–10

The Truman Show (1998): The Movie That Makes Students Question Everything They Think Is Real

The Truman Show follows Truman Burbank, a man who has lived his entire life inside a giant television set without knowing it. Every person around him is an actor, every event is staged, and billions of people have been watching him since birth. It is a movie that asks serious questions about reality, consent, and who controls what we see, and it gives students a lot to think and write about.

4 June 2026Read more →

Grades 7–12

The Goonies (1985): The Adventure Movie That Gets Students Writing Before It Even Starts

The Goonies follows a group of kids in Astoria, Oregon, who discover a pirate treasure map and set off underground to find a fortune that might save their homes from demolition. It is a fast-moving adventure with genuine stakes, memorable characters, and enough humour and tension to keep a class engaged across its full 114 minutes. The 16-page guide includes a pre-watch writing task, differentiated comprehension questions, character analysis, a storyboard, and two creative writing activities.

3 June 2026Read more →

Grades 7–12

Pay It Forward (2000): The Movie That Turns Kindness Into a Classroom Conversation

Pay It Forward follows Trevor McKinney, a seventh grader in Las Vegas who responds to a Social Studies assignment by designing a chain of kindness that ripples further than he ever imagined. It is an emotionally rich movie that gives students real things to think about: how one person's choices can affect others, and what it means to take responsibility for the world around you. This 12-page guide keeps students structured and accountable throughout the viewing.

3 June 2026Read more →

Grades 7–12

The Princess Bride (1987): The Fairy Tale Adventure Your Students Will Actually Enjoy Studying

The Princess Bride blends sword fights, true love, and sharp humour into a fairy tale with a fast-moving story and vivid characters. The guide covers comprehension, creative writing, and visual tasks across 14 pages.

3 June 2026Read more →

Grades 4–9

Wonder (2017): The Movie That Makes Kindness Worth Talking About in Your Classroom

Wonder follows Auggie Pullman, a boy with a facial difference who enters a mainstream school for the first time in fifth grade. It is a story told from multiple perspectives, which means students do not just follow Auggie through the year but also see how the people around him experience it. Few movies ask students to step into someone else's shoes quite as deliberately as this one.

3 June 2026Read more →

Grades 4–9

Ratatouille (2007): The Pixar Movie That Gets Students Writing, Designing, and Creating

Ratatouille follows Remy, a rat with an extraordinary sense of taste and smell, as he pursues his dream of becoming a chef in one of Paris's most celebrated restaurants. It is a movie about ambition, identity, and what happens when someone refuses to accept the limits others place on them. Students who think they have nothing to say about food, creativity, or following a dream tend to find out otherwise.

2 June 2026Read more →

Grades 7–12

Hidden Figures (2016): The True Story That Brings History, Maths, and the Civil Rights Era to Life

Hidden Figures tells the true story of three African American women whose mathematical brilliance helped NASA win the Space Race, all while navigating the segregation and discrimination of 1960s Virginia. Students who think history class means memorising dates will find themselves gripped by a story where the stakes are as high as orbit. It is the kind of movie that sparks genuine conversation long after the credits roll.

2 June 2026Read more →

Grades 7–12

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008): Teaching the Holocaust Through a Child's Eyes

A quietly devastating drama that tells the story of the Holocaust through the eyes of a German officer's young son who befriends a Jewish boy on the other side of a concentration camp fence. Sensitively made and deeply affecting, it is serious classroom material for older students.

1 June 2026Read more →