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You are here: Home / All Freebies / HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS SCAVENGER HUNTS: SUBTLE LEARNING

February 5, 2020 · Leave a Comment

HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS SCAVENGER HUNTS: SUBTLE LEARNING

3-5· All Freebies

Do you have a like/dislike kind of feeling towards holiday celebration activities throughout the school year? Every time they come around, be it Halloween, Thanksgiving, Harmony Day or even Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, it takes some effort to get students to stay focused on the curriculum while also accommodating these holiday-themed activities into the classroom.

Well, I have discovered one way where subtle learning can take place even in the midst of celebration frenzy and excitement – via fact-based Scavenger Hunts. These Hunts could be just about for any subject.

school holidays and celebrations such as halloween, thanksgiving, veterans day, australia day, easter, st patricks day, cinco de mayo, diwali, leap year, new years day, july 4th, april fools day, martin luther king jr, memorial day, groundhog day, valentine's day scavenger hunt activities

So for instance, you can have students learn all about how Christmas is celebrated around the world by having them go on a scavenger hunt for fun and interesting facts

school holidays and celebrations such as halloween, thanksgiving, veterans day, australia day, easter, st patricks day, cinco de mayo, diwali, leap year, new years day, july 4th, april fools day, martin luther king jr, memorial day, groundhog day, valentine's day scavenger hunt activities

or how the Chinese celebrate their new year

      school holidays and celebrations such as halloween, thanksgiving, veterans day, australia day, easter, st patricks day, cinco de mayo, diwali, leap year, new years day, july 4th, april fools day, martin luther king jr, memorial day, groundhog day, valentine's day scavenger hunt activities

or even about the strange and interesting traditions celebrated around the world to bring in the New Year.

back to school new year

Technology always seems to fascinate kids and having a hunt that has QR codes to scan is indeed a winner.

veterans day qr code activity

Quoting from personal experience, my students have so much fun with these hunts that they don’t even realize/realise they are assimilating important information – that’s the charm of subtle learning!

australia day scavenger hunt activity

So in other words, a great way to convey complex, otherwise mundane content, is through fun and exciting Scavenger Hunts that provide an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning.

school holidays and celebrations such as halloween, thanksgiving, veterans day, australia day, easter, st patricks day, cinco de mayo, diwali, leap year, new years day, july 4th, april fools day, martin luther king jr, memorial day, groundhog day, valentine's day scavenger hunt activities

So how does a holiday celebration scavenger hunt work?

school holidays and celebrations such as halloween, thanksgiving, veterans day, australia day, easter, st patricks day, cinco de mayo, diwali, leap year, new years day, july 4th, april fools day, martin luther king jr, memorial day, groundhog day, valentine's day scavenger hunt activities

Well, first and foremost, prior to having the students go on a hunt, the teacher needs to engage the students in a 5-7 minute warm-up activity whereby a brief introduction is provided on the subject in focus. Rules are explained, difficult terminology is targeted, and a subsequent activity is kept ready for early finishers.

school holidays and celebrations such as halloween, thanksgiving, veterans day, australia day, easter, st patricks day, cinco de mayo, diwali, leap year, new years day, july 4th, april fools day, martin luther king jr, memorial day, groundhog day, valentine's day scavenger hunt activities

Then students armed with their recording sheets go on the hunt. They have to find the corresponding fact cards to answer the questions on their recording sheet.

This entails careful reading of the fact cards and consequently comprehending the information on each one – now isn’t that some much needed reading practice coming into play.

leap year hunt 2020

I find this application of reading skills particularly beneficial to my students who are reading challenged – in that, content information is presented in manageable chunks so to speak.

The skill of decoding, reading and comprehending is still at work – but with snippets of text. Talk about the ideal way to set a child up for success!

school holidays and celebrations such as halloween, thanksgiving, veterans day, australia day, easter, st patricks day, cinco de mayo, diwali, leap year, new years day, july 4th, april fools day, martin luther king jr, memorial day, groundhog day, valentine's day scavenger hunt activities

You can also add an element of competitiveness to this activity by having students work in groups and rewarding the team that finishes the Hunt first or even set a time limit.

Kids love the excitement of competing – all in good fun.

school holidays and celebrations such as halloween, thanksgiving, veterans day, australia day, easter, st patricks day, cinco de mayo, diwali, leap year, new years day, july 4th, april fools day, martin luther king jr, memorial day, groundhog day, valentine's day scavenger hunt activities

The best part is that learning is happening subtly, although outwardly – it seems to be all fun and games, students are consciously/subconsciously acquring information.

leap year qr code activity

Time permitting, we do several scavenger hunts from this holiday celebration collection throughout the year. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/HOLIDAYS-AROUND-THE-WORLD-SCAVENGER-HUNT-BUNDLE-HISTORY-AND-TRADITION-2224789

 

So if you would like your students to try a hunt from this collection, then this April Fool’s Day freebie is for you! Witness first hand the fun, excitement and yes – learning it generates.

 

Happy teaching!

Until next time…

This post first appeared on teach2tell.com

 

 

 

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About Teach2Tell

Laurane Rae is the founder of the educational website, Teach2Tell. Her teaching tenure has given her the opportunity to teach students at the elementary level (K-5), middle school (6-8) and high school level (9-11).

She designs curriculum in subject areas pertaining to math, literacy, literature, science, history and social studies. Her strong passion lies in improving students' writing skills, hence she has spent and continues to spend countless hours designing interactive lessons on this often considered difficult-to-teach subject.

She is a strong advocate of taking on the role of a facilitator and directing teaching and learning to be more student-focused. Moreover, her teaching mantra dictates, that less teacher talk and more action gets the pace of a lesson going.

In addition to fulfilling her professional duties as literacy coach/literacy co-ordinator, Laurane has also delivered professional development sessions to teachers and been a mentor to new teachers

To unwind after a busy school week, Laurane plays the piano and enjoys going on long hikes and biking trails with family and friends. She is also a pet parent to a very active Dobie called Mercy (her 4:30 am running partner) and cuddly bundles of joy (cats), Bouncy and Missy Boy.

Visit her TpT Store to see all her teaching resources.

You will also find useful teaching ideas at her Blog.

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