Scavenger Hunt (Grade 4/5)

Before the winter break, I introduced my class to a novel, "The Breadwinner" by Deborah Ellis.
This story takes place in Afghanistan and before we began discussing the novel I wanted my students to know a little bit about Afghanistan.

So how could I introduce material about Afghanistan in away that was exciting and engaging for my students? I turned to my "Different Lens" support team and with a lot of support and encouragement we developed an Afghanistan Scavenger Hunt!

And WE ARE OFF!

It does take time to set up a Scavenger hunt. It is not something you can do in just 1 hour. However, once you have it organized and sorted out, it is much more worth while than having students read out of a text book or from a handout.

My students were active and excited and they remembered the information that they learned through the scavenger hunt.


Not all activities were written activities either. I wanted to make sure the information was accessible for different types of learners. Students had to cut and glue, sort pictures, take pictures, uses maps, find information in a timeline, and read short paragraphs.

 The stations were set up all over the school so students were able to move around and interact with a partner.

Students worked in groups of 2 or 3 so that there was room at each station.

Students worked together to solve the clues and they had a great time doing it. We met up in the gym afterword and went over our answers and discussed the scavenger hunt. It was a wonderful experience and I will do it again!

This was engaging for all students, however, I found that this was especially encouraging for my students who usually struggle with reading skills. Those particular students could use their partner's strengths, and though they were not as strong academically, they shone as leaders, helping to navigate from clue to clue. They used the variety of tasks to their advantage, and they didn't get overwhelmed by the different tasks, as some of my academically strong students did.

This was very successful for my first time and I will definitely adapt the scavenger hunt and use it again to introduce other material to my students.

I strongly recommend trying a scavenger hunt prior to a unit or as a unit end review. Very powerful!

Post Courtesy of Kendall Kulak