QR Code Easter Egg Hunt

As a Catholic School Teacher I am able to incorporate in our Catholic holidays within the curriculum and Easter is no exception.  One of my favorite activities that I do with my kids is our QR Code Easter Egg Hunt.  However, if you aren't able to celebrate "Easter" this could easily be adapted without using that word. :-)

Making the QR Codes with riddles and the final prizes.

I begin the day by grouping my students into groups of four.  After that, they are given a puzzle or activity of some sort that they need to solve.  Once they have figured out the answer, they bring it up for me to check.  If the answer is correct, I give them a QR Code that I created.  When they scan the QR Code, they are given a riddle of sorts which will lead them to another teacher's room.  When they get to that room, one student goes in and tells the teacher what the password is that they were given on the riddle.  If the password matches what I told that particular teacher, they are given their groups colored egg (each group is assigned a color so they only get their eggs). If it doesn't the teacher tells them they have the wrong teacher.  Within the plastic egg are letters which they will use for the final puzzle.  After getting their egg, the group comes back to me for the next puzzle.  Once they solve that, they get another QR Code from me with a riddle and it continues through six puzzles or activities.  They collect six eggs total (some contain more than one letter).  The final puzzle requires them to unscramble the letters they got in the eggs, which spell out the final location of the prize - PRINCIPAL. :-)

The students truly enjoy this activity and it's pretty simple to set up.
Here is what you will need:

My clues - each leads to a different teacher
and the final to the Principal

• 6 plastic colored eggs in 4-5 different colors (depending on how many groups you want. I usually do groups of 4 or 5 kids)
• Letters to put in the eggs which will spell out the final location of the prize when unscrambled. 
• 7 different riddles - the last one should lead them to the prize.
• 7 QR Codes (I color code mine) that when scanned give the students the riddle
• 7 different puzzles or worksheets that need to be completed accurately
• Prizes for the winners (I do class cash, free homework pass, and fun pencils. Depending on the place the group comes in, it gets less and less for each one)  
• I do 4-5 new QR Codes that when scanned tell the group what their prize is.  So one code is for 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place and so on. 

QR Codes for the riddles

My favorite activities are usually freebies from Teachers Pay Teachers.  However, rule of thumb - if you grab a freebie from TpT, be kind and leave some feedback. :-)  My all time puzzles that I do are the Hink Pinks and Hinky Pinkys.  I particularly loved these ones: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easter-Hink-Pinks-Hinky-Pinkies-223996

I used them for three of my puzzles and the students would solve four at a time.  They are challenging but fun!  For the other activities I would usually do an unscramble of sorts, a brain puzzle, and a math worksheet.

Leave me a comment if you give this a try. I would love to hear how you adapted it for your classroom.

Katie

Who Wants to Be a Mathonaire??

I was super excited the other day when I received my weekly email from Edmodo with resources that have been shared on their site.  They had this awesome Math game listed and after I checked it out, I knew other teachers would love it too.  It's a take on Who Wants to be a Millionaire but is called Who Wants to Be a Mathonaire.

They have five levels of difficulty - however, I think this would be best for grades 2-6.  Just like in the original gameshow, you answer questions to earn points all the way up to 1,000,000,000.  And you even get the three lifelines in case you get stuck.

I suggest you check it out - I had a lot of fun playing around on it.  The only wish downside in my opinion is that there was no sound.  But I think my students would be hooting and hollering so much when we played that it wouldn't matter in the long run.

How would you use this game in your classroom?  Have you come across any great games? Share them below.



P.S. If you don't know about Edmodo, read my post about it here.

Website Wednesdays (errrr....I mean Thursday): Mangahigh

Okay - I realize I'm a day late. However, I was super swamped yesterday and could only get one post in and the Leibster Award won.....literally! ;-)  BUT, I'm back today with my Website Wednesday post.  Today's website I want to discuss is Mangahigh. If you haven't had a chance to check out this FREE math game website, you need to get on it!  I stumbled across this site last year and I can honestly say it is one of my students' favorite websites.  When we do math stations and I list Mangahigh as one of the activities that needs to be done, the kids are always excited.  And hey - what's not to love about students being excited about math? Nothing...that's what!

This fabulous resource allows you to create a personalized account for your school.  You can have just one teacher use it or multiple teachers can create class lists (which the more students learning and playing the better!).  Each student gets their own personalized login and password (and the site allows you to print out easy to handout login information slips).  Once you have your class list in, students can begin to search through math games and play.  But even better, you can begin to assign game challenges to either individual students or to the entire class.  Students have an opportunity to earn medals (bronze, silver and gold) depending on their score.

Another fabulous addition to this already awesome site are the Fai-Tos.  At some point your school may (and probably will) be chosen for a Fai-To.  A Fai-To is where two schools have an all out battle.....math battle that is.  When students login in and their school is up for a possible Fai-To, they actually vote on which school out of two that they want to challenge.  Then, through the games they play, they earn points and win rounds.  The winner receives the virtual Fai-To trophy.  These school vs school challenges are so motivating to the students! They never want another school to show them up.

When it comes to setting challenges, you have a variety of a games to choose from for your class.  One thing I have noticed is that the creators of Mangahigh work very hard at aligning their games with core standards and making it easy to search for a particular skill set you want your students to work on.  With a couple quick clicks of a button, you can easily find a game or games that suit your students' needs.  You have the ability to set multiple challenges for your students.

There are so many other neat components of this gaming website, that it really is impossible for me to list them all in this brief post.  Along with having awesome games , they really also make it easy for a teacher to see individual student results.  They also are super about responding back to individual questions and about organizing the site to make it really easy to use.  You definitely need to check it out today and get your class mathematically challenged!