We should not attach speed as a factor in our math learning but I love the intensity my students show when we do the Amazing Race Review.
I first saw this activity from a friend of mine Brian McBain. He created a review game where students travelled around the school completing challenges.The first to make it back to the room after completing all challenges was the winner…..just like in the show The Amazing Race.
Today was a review day on trigonometric expressions. I just grabbed some “Knowledgey” questions from the review section of the text. My goal here was to get them to practice the basics. I wanted to provide them some feedback on the application type questions….so i didn’t include them in the race.
I made clues like this…..
and like…
where they are to complete the review question and then use their answer to figure out where to go next.
I also threw in some like….
where they had to come back to my room and complete a challenge.
Each clue was placed around or in the room indicated. With permission from the teachers of the room the students had to actually go in a classroom and look around for the clue.
When found each clue looked like…
They had to scan the QR code which revealed the clue.
Making the QR codes is pretty easy…..
1. Take a picture of your clues and put them in a Google Drive folder.
2. For each clue, grab the shareable link and paste it into the QR code generator here: http://www.qrstuff.com/
3. Download that QR code and paste it into a sheet like above. And you’ve got a clue!!!
I staggered the start so each group didn’t just follow each other from room to room. I gave them a recording sheet so they could keep track of their clues and work. I set them off and said “Complete all clues in the correct order and you will be eligible to crack the code for the prize.”
Here is the code to crack….
This years class was pretty intense. The kids were racing each other down the halls and blocking each other from looking at their work. When all groups made it back to the room it was a heated match of “who can crack the code” first!! When finally the group opened the lock …..the class erupted! Some in cheers and some not so much!! You could put anything in that box for the prize and they would be happy!!! Stickers is usually my go to choice!!! Kids have a fun time practicing some skills!!
