Breakout - Even More Tricks

 On Friday, kindergarten got to experience our first virtual breakout. Just like real breakout rooms, we had to solve various riddles to unlock each room and breakout (except it was all on our Chromebooks). Now it was all virtual, but the students actually believed that they needed to unlock all of the pages in order to breakout. They even wondered if they would be able to go to Trunk or Treat if they couldn't solve the riddles. Talk about some motivation to escape!!! :)

The challenges varied from ordering the images by size and then entering the color code, identifying the direction objects were turned in order to enter a directional code; figuring out the missing numbers to enter a five digit code; and identifying the beginning sounds to create the last code word. All of these skills are academically important to learn and apply in kindergarten, but the best part was the teamwork and problem solving skills they needed to use.

Each team shared one computer to complete the virtual breakout, so immediately they needed to decide how they were going to take turns and make sure that everyone was involved. First mission accomplished! Next, they needed to discuss the first clue as a team to decide how they were going to enter the correct code. Students quickly starting pointing out their observations about the images on the screen. They quickly came up with some ideas and tested their theories. Success... for one group... Now what? They decided (on their own) that each person from their team should go to another struggling team to ask if they wanted help. Another incredible moment! They shared their learning with the other teams instead of trying to compete and race the other teams to finish.

All of this hard work, teamwork, and collaboration, allowed them to apply academic skills in a fun and engaging way! They celebrations were incredible when they completed the breakout! Maybe it was because they were so engaged and had a great time or they just knew that they would be able to go to Trunk or Treat :)