Supporting Literacy Scavenger Hunt

This activity was creating by myself as well as two other teacher candidates from Trent university.

At the beginning of our first year, we were each assigned two students who were having difficulty with literacy. We went in, twice a week and worked with each student for an hour.

At the end of our placement, we wanted to do something fun and engaging for the students as well as show them, through an activity, how far they had come in their learning.

Before the students arrived, we hid clues around the classroom, down the halls, in the library and even in the office (with the ok from the principal and secretary). With each of the clues, there was a small enveloped with a puzzle piece or two in it. As they discovered the clue and found their way to the next one, they also had to make sure to keep track of their puzzle pieces.

The two other candidates and I stood back and watched as our students, who had come to us as struggling readers, were finding their way through these clues together. It was truly something incredible to watch as they used the strategies, we taught them to help them determine where they needed to go next.

Once they had collected all of the pieces, they were able to go back into the classroom and build the puzzle. As the puzzle was completed, we each handed our student a certificate, congratulating them for their hard work.

They had a blast and we felt beyond proud as we watched them discover how far they had come and how capable they were.