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Grades level iconsGrades 5–6
Session time icon1 Session: 2 Hours
Genre information iconInformational
Resource type iconLessons

Build Your Own Treasure Hunt

Neil Gordon, 826LA
Adventure unfolds in this lesson, where students design a treasure hunt using precise, clear instructions to help any landlubber to discover the secret location of buried treasure!
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Lesson Instructions
What Your Students Will Learn

Students will practice the often-overlooked skill of providing precise, easy-to-follow instructions.

Introduction :

Instructional communication. . . find two words less likely to inspire 11- or 12-year-olds to do something creative, and you deserve an award. Or maybe buried treasure.

The very thought of providing students with a lesson on how to instruct others sounds about as compelling as reciting a dictionary.

And yet, instructing others well leads to a whole host of benefits. Our ability to compel others into action is based on their ability to understand what that action is. Students who use precise, clear instruction will be able to start clubs, throw the best birthday parties, and even create projects like those spoken of in TEDYouth talks that they would otherwise have to wait until adulthood to implement.

This is why, to introduce fifth and sixth graders to instructional communication, this workshop has been put together with a particular theme in mind.

And that theme is pirates.

Pirates, when they’re not busy trying on peg legs and purging themselves from the bellies of whales, bury treasure. But not just anyone is worthy of finding a pirate’s treasure. This lesson has been designed to provide a fun-loving, eye-patch-wearing way for students to challenge others to be worthy of their hidden treasures—and learn the value of writing precise, understandable instructions.

Session 1:
You Will Need
  • Peanut butter
  • Jelly
  • Bread
  • Buttering knife
  • Index cards (for clues #3 and #4)
  • Tape (for clue #3)
  • Markers (for clue #3)
  • Paper (for creating treasure hunts)
  • Pens/pencils (for creating treasure hunts)
  • A “treasure”
  • Pirate paraphernalia
  • Laptop and projector, if available
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