I'm so excited to share with you the new unit I created. When I'm finished with it, I'll post it on Teachers Pay Teachers.
I wanted to end the year with a bang, so I came up with the idea to do a spy themed writing and grammar unit. It incorporates technology and group work for some of the various "missions".
I introduced the unit by turning on the Mission Impossible theme song. Then, I walked to the front of the room dressed in black and with sunglasses on. I announced that a new supervillain, called "The One", has been discovered and that they (the students) were now spies who have to go undercover to discover this villain's identity. I wish I had a picture of the kids' reactions. It was priceless.
The week before, I had given them a survey (picture below) to determine what their undercover identity should be.
Then, I handed them a folder with their new identity and a letter detailing their mission.
The first day, they worked on Edmodo. This week, they had their first mission. They had to work as a group to create a spy kit. In order to find the rest of their group members, they had to go around the classroom telling other students their code word. If their code words matched, they were in the same group.
After they had their groups, they were able to get an iPad to do some research.
After they researched, they submitted a request form to me including the item name, website, price, and reason they need the item. If they convinced me that they need the item, I printed it off to put in their "spy kit". They'll put them together this week and move on to Mission #2.
This could easily turn into a math lesson as well. They could be given a budget and select items within their budget.
After Mission #2, I'll post more info about the unit.
Labels: Spy Unit, Writing
