Back to School Scavenger Hunt

"Back to School" is becoming increasingly true for me as tomorrow is my first day of back to school inservice and I am only a week away from welcoming my new class of sixth graders! I have finally put the fun Pinterest projects aside and starting preparing for Open House and the first week of school.  If you are a list maker like I am then you might recognize the picture below.  

This yellow notepad has been my lifesaver this month.  I started making "To-do" and "To-teach" lists on this pad of paper some time around March of this last school year (about the time we finished up end of year Benchmark testing).  These lists largely stemmed from procedures or concepts that my students struggled with that I knew I needed to teach RIGHT AWAY at the beginning of the school year.  I gradually added items to the lists as I would think of them, knowing that if I didn't write them down immediately I would get to August and have no clue what I needed to do!  One thing I did not learn in college was how to truly have an effective first few weeks of school.  Simply reading Harry Wong's "The First Days of School" did not prepare me for what to do and expect those first weeks of having my very own classroom!  Last year (being my second year of teaching) I had somewhat of an idea of what to teach and this year I have a little more of an idea but I am sure I will be changing my first week lesson plans every single year as I continue to learn from my experiences.  


Teaching procedures to ANYONE can be boring but middle schoolers can be an especially difficult audience to keep engaged while learning procedures.  I do my best to balance the "boring" stuff with a lot of hands on activities that allow my students to talk and walk around.  Something I had discussed with my amazing, awesome, incredible, wonderful co-teacher of mine (her name is Beth and you will probably hear about her frequently) is having a joint scavenger hunt on the first day of school as an engaging (hopefully) way to tour the school with our kids.  Although most students at my school are returning students I still think it is important to take a class tour of the the school not only so new students learn their way around but also so my partner teacher and I can clearly set our expectations for our students no matter where they are in the school building. Yes, sixth graders ideally SHOULD be able to walk in the hallway, sit in the cafeteria and line up for a fire drill without too much instruction but that is just not reality.  We have learned over and over the importance of going over these procedures with our students throughout the school year.  And yes, we do make our sixth graders still walk silently in a straight line while traveling from place to place.  Even though we are a middle school, we function largely like an elementary school and we have to walk quietly in the hall in order to not disturb other classrooms.  Therefore getting some practice walking in the hall the correct way is not a bad thing on the first day of school.  
With all of those thoughts in mind I got to work yesterday coming up with scavenger hunt clues that could guide our students through a tour of the school.  Most of the clues are kind of corny and are fairly easy to figure it out but I still think it is much better than listening to Beth and I talk to the whole time in our best tour guide voices.  The clues allow the students to do the guiding and all Beth and I have to do is just give some procedural information at each stop.  A preview of the scavenger hunt is shown below. 
I developed clues for all of the following places:
1-Hall
If you are interested in the entire scavenger hunt click here to download it for FREE from my Teachers Pay Teachers page.   Clues are numbered for how I use them in my school but can easily be renumbered according to the best route for your school.  I will have to get back with you after next Monday to let you know how it goes with our kids! :)
What are some of your favorite back to school activities for teaching procedures or for getting to know your students?  Good luck with ALL of your "Back to School" plans!

2-Nurse's Office
3-Main Office
4-Computer Lab
5-Playground/Recess Spot
6-Cafeteria
7-Restroom (we will discuss water fountain procedures here as well)
8-Music Room
9-Gymnasium
10-Fire Drill Spot
11-Art Room
12-Back to the Classroom