introducing of mice and menOur Junior English classes were getting ready to read Of Mice and Men. Before beginning this book they like to lead with some background information on The Great Depression. Many of the students have studied this topic in some way during their US History classes and have at least some basic background knowledge. Now we wanted to really immerse them more in the experience....and quite frankly, it is 2 days before spring break and sometimes you need to change it up! Here is what we did. The BreakoutWhat got me started was I really wanted the kids to have some culminating challenge at the end of the breakout. I wanted each task to give the students a piece to the end product. I thought it would be really fun to have the kids get in groups of 4 (a family) and complete tasks that would eventually give them supplies to build their own shelter. These shelters would collectively make a Hooverville. The supplies were limited and they had to be able to fit their whole family inside. We had 4 lock boxes. Each box, when opened, gave the group a coupon for one of the following: 2 pieces of tape, a box, 2 pieces of butcher paper, and a trash bag. These were all the supplies that they would have to build their shelter. IntroductionI showed a VERY SHORT powerpoint at the beginning to introduce the idea to the students. Here are the slides that were used. The TasksAll of the tasks were related to The Great Depression, after all this is what we were introducing.
The finaleOnce the kids accomplished the tasks, then they went to the "General Store" to get their supplies. They took their supplies to an empty spot in the library to start building. To get credit, they had to let their teacher know when they were able to successfully fit all members of their family in the structure. Lots of laughs were shared during this part! See some pics below of the fun!
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March 2019
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