Wednesday, August 27, 2008

How's Your Content Knowledge?

My students arrive in 75 minutes. On the first day of class we begin by with a scavenger hunt as both a means of introduction and a way for me to see how much they "know" about the curriculum they will one day teach. Here are the rules and the questions.
  4. Sit down as soon as your hunt is completed.
  • Define and give you an example of opportunity cost.
  • Name the “Father of the Constitution.”
  • Name the most highly valued barter item in Colonial Virginia.
  • Tell you who Christopher Newport was.
  • Name two important figures in the Harlem Renaissance.
  • Name the five regions of Virginia.
  • Tell you the difference between latitude and longitude.
  • Name two things George Washington Carver was famous for.
  • Tell you about Werewocomoco.
  • Name the five oceans of the world.
  • Draw and name the parts of a light wave.
  • Name the components of soil.
  • Tell you the required components and products of photosynthesis.
  • Name the eight planets in order from the sun.
  • Tell you what a dichotomous key is.
  • Name four nonrenewable energy resources.
  • Tell you the difference between weathering and erosion.
  • Name the five kingdoms of classification.
  • Name the six types of simple machines.
How did you do? My students will be moaning and groaning, cheering every so often, and then wondering how they'll ever learn/remember it all. We'll spend the semester thinking about these topics and more, while we explore the best ways to teach them. You can be that books (and I don't mean textbooks) will play some small role here. :)


  1. Love, love, love this activity. I am going to modify for third graders for various content areas and use it as a bit of a formative assessment. What a great community builder!
    Thank you!

  2. Love this concept...will be definetly using in the first few days. I far below basic kids so their buy in is tough to get at times. They might enjoy this

  3. I love this too! Will put it in my bag-o-tricks for subbing! Thanks! :D