Types of Training Scavenger Hunt Meets Breakout EDU!

One of my favorite activities to do with 5th graders is the scavenger hunt around the building where they learn all of the different types of training our teachers and staff have gotten.  Each staff member was asked to share their degrees and where they got their training so that students could see the variety of options that are in our building alone!
Students completed a scavenger hunt sheet that asked them to find a staff member who: went to school in Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota; a staff member who held a technical degree; staff who have an Associate's degree; a staff member who had a Doctorate; a staff member who served in the military; and staff members who had a Master's degree.
A completed form won them a code to unlock one of several locks on a box containing a little prize to help remind them the importance of training after high school!

Gossip and Glitter

Fourth graders talked about gossip in our last lesson and read the book "Armadillo Tattletale" by Helen Ketteman.  Armadillo liked to overhear others' conversations and then twisted the words and told the other animal whom was being talked about.  We discussed how we may hear rumors and gossip a lot in 4th grade and what to do when someone shared a rumor with us.  Fourth graders learned to approach the person the story was about to get the true story or to tell the person "this sounds like a rumor and it isn't our story to tell."  Rumors die when there isn't an audience to listen to them, so we encouraged students to not be an audience for this!

Next I challenged them to pass around a handful of glitter and then put it all into a cup.  The team that was able to do it was promised an extra recess - but the challenge was making sure every single speck of glitter made it into the cup.  For those of you who have ever allowed glitter in your house, you would probably agree that this is impossible!  We made the connection that glitter is like gossip - once you pass it on, it is near impossible to clean it all up.  Students will be seeing glitter on the 4th grade hallway floor for weeks to come, I'm sure, and I hope it reminds them to be careful of how they speak of others.