Thursday, August 16, 2012

iPad Activity: Open House Scavenger Hunt


I searched all summer for a fun Back-to-School activity. Well. . . unfortunately I couldn't find anything!! So, I have been racking my brain to come up with something exciting for Open House.  This is when my kids will find out who their teacher will be for the year, and they will also find out that we will have 30 iPads in our classroom!!  Yay! I decided to incorporate the QR scans and create an Open House Scavenger Hunt to give the parents and kids the information needed to begin the new school year.  As the students arrived, there was an iPad and the first page of the scavenger hunt on their desk.  They were instructed to work through the scavenger hunt with the help of their parents.  Here is what I created:




  • I created the template in Microsoft Publisher.  
  • The "Just for you" QR scan was created on QR Voice (thanks to the Daring Librarian).  If you use the i-nigma app to scan the codes, it talks to you!!  I personalized these codes for each child.  They say, for example, "Welcome to second grade. Johnny, I am so excited to have you in our class."  Download the app and scan it right off the computer!! 
  • The "Shh! Don't tell" QR scan was created by a QR code generator. When they scan this code, they will learn a secret about me.  During one of our Back-to-School activities, they will be able to use this secret.
  • The scan at the bottom begins the hunt around the room where they will find important information to start the year.



  • They will find this clue on a table in the room after figuring out the clue on the first page.  
  • When they scan the QR scan at the top, it takes them to our classroom blog where they will find our supply list.
  • When they continue their hunt they will get a clue for the next stop.




  • They will find this clue on a different table after figuring out the clue from the previous spot.
  • When they scan the QR scan at the top, it asks them to check out the binder on the table.  That way they can set up their binders before the first day of school.  This is a huge time saver for me!!
  • The bottom scan gives the next clue.


  • They will find this clue at the computer table after figuring out the clue from the previous spot.
  • When they scan the QR scan at the top, it gives them my Wish List.
This activity was a huge success this year!!  The kids had a great time using the iPads.  Here is a student finishing up the scavenger hunt with her dad.



Next year, I will change a few things.  The information provided was VERY boring for my class (other than the fact about me).  Next year I will use this to engage the kids more.  I think I will have a place for the parents to go to get the necessary information and let the kids do the scavenger hunt on their own, which is what happened this year with most of the students.

6 comments:

  1. Several schools had decided to use ipads as a teaching tool to their students. With this technique it shows that students show much more interest on listening to their teachers because of the new way of teaching. Some company like ZooGue had even donated ipad cases on some schools.

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  2. Love this idea! We just received only 10 iPads for the entire school of 355 kids. Idea is to have 20 soon. So...now I have to keep this idea under wraps so I can use it for next year in my room.
    Thank you for sharing and I would be interested in knowing how you plan to change it up for next year.

    Kim Remmers
    http://differentiationdiving.blogspot.com/

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  3. Just wondering if I could get a copy of your scavenger hunt??
    rebecca.demmer@byron.k12.mn.us
    Thanks,
    Becky

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    1. Becky, if you scan the QR codes in her scavenger hunt you will see that they are specific to her individual classroom. After finding this idea on Pinterest tonight, I started creating my own QR Scavenger Hunt. It's super easy to do. I am creating mine in Microsoft Word. All you have to do to create the QR codes is go to a QR generating website like: http://goqr.me/. Type in the message you want the kids to read when they scan the code, and then copy/paste the QR code into your document. Viola- Super easy!! Have fun creating your scavenger hunt for the upcoming year! :)

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  5. Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea with us all! I am in the process of making up my own scavenger hunt and I appreciate the inspiration! :)

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