Chaotic? Yes, but seeing all the minds at work trying to solve the mystery - now that's priceless. All 5th grade classes participated in this year's MysteryQuest USA. One class has 4 other schools around the nation in their event making it a much challenging quest. This program ties in to their curriculum in geography.
Our students find a mystery state and a mystery city in that state. They then present their clues either by posters or something new this year for our 5th graders - clues presented in a court room scene. How clever!
I set up the video conference room in such a way that there we have the laptop mobile cart that day so that the students may use the laptops for research. In addition, Atlases, textbooks, and maps are all readily available for the students to use.
At the end of their research period, they now have a chance to ask the other schools one question for the students to reevaluate their answers. Then comes the revelation which is the most exciting part especially when you guess the mystery correctly.
What I am very proud of this year is the encouragement that I've seen from teachers who have already done this in the past to teachers who may have seem reluctant and unsure if this video conference program is something that they could do. At the end of this MysteryQuestUSA 2011, hearing the reluctant and unsure teachers say "I think I'll do this again next year" is very rewarding.
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