I think I have been such a slack teacher lately. I’d love to be that Pinterest teacher or the Mrs. Frizzle teacher everyone loves, but right now I’m just trying to get through this semester. I haven’t even posted to my blog but once a year lately! I am teaching full time and working on my Ed.S. at night, but I still want to Teach Like a Pirate and End Molasses Classes. This semester, I have had to figure out how to prep a lesson in ten minutes that kids love and principals approve. This one takes ten minutes to prep and can last up to 75 minutes or so.  This one was 45 minutes — it just depends how difficult the questions are or how complex the tasks are.

Okay, teachers. This is an easy one, and it works for all high school level classes. You can use it for vocabulary, test review, or guided reading stations. It involves little prep, and the kids will love it!  It took me ten minutes to prepare and about five more to hide all of the clues, but if you are in a rush for time, give each student team a certain amount of clues to hide in plain sight before they begin to hunt.

First, type up about twenty review questions, or vocabulary questions, or you can even just cut a worksheet apart. Second, print it on large font on color paper. Third, hide them all around the school. Fourth, have students group up and number 1-20 (or however many questions you did) on a sheet of notebook paper. Fifth, make some rules and have fun.

You can have students group by readiness level (heterogeneously or homogeneously) or they can (gasp!) work with their friends.  I grouped mine by their houses and gave the winning house house points and posted their picture on social media.

This is an engaging activity that helps students review old knowledge or learn new material. Kinesthetic learners, students with ADHD, or bored students will particularly enjoy this method of learning.

Oh, hey there, colleague Mr. Swann photo-bombing my pictures.

Do you think you can take ten minutes to plan a scavenger hunt?

Happy hunting, everyone! DKP