392 awesome students.  80 courageous teams.  12 thought provoking missions.  2 risk-taking learning coaches.  1 daring school.

This year’s Strong Connections p.m. activity at Niverville Middle School was truly a team effort.  Taking the form of a scavenger hunt with an Indigenous Perspectives theme, the event saw randomized groupings of the entire 5-8 grades up and moving and learning together.

The initial plan was to use the GooseChase app, but the planning effort required a workaround to make it suit the large group.  A Google Slide Deck was employed, and a shortened url was shared to set it all in motion.   While points were assigned to the various missions, the students were told at the outset that ‘winning’ at the activity would require a combination of team work, lateral thinking, and resilience (and that staff would be watching throughout the event for teams to display signs of each!).

The plan to use an Indigenous perspectives theme came about as a result of looking at the school’s goals for this year.  Subsequently, each of the missions in the scavenger hunt was created by Monica Martens and myself as a provocation in and of itself, with plenty of room for teachers to take and deepen the learning for their students.

The students used iPads to record their various missions.  Check out this short video compilation of some of their documentation to see what they learned.