Newsela Scavenger Hunt

3/9/2017

One of our favorite and most recommend language arts technology tools is Newsela. Newsela takes a current event article and transposes it into four different Lexile levels. Which means that a student can read the article at his/her own reading level and still be able to talk about the article with the whole classroom.

What we have noticed in the classroom is that the teacher assigns the article, the students read the article and then the teacher looks at the data from the online assessments. The teacher can then use the data to teach a mini lesson on the concepts that the students might not understand. For example, main idea, sequence of events, vocabulary words...

After hearing that the teachers are having a hard time engaging conversation with the students about the Newsela articles, we have developed a Newsela Scavenger Hunt that will go along with an article. Our example is used with the article about Bao Bao a US Panda Bear Bond for China

Watch and Learn
Step by Step Guide
Questions and Answers

Watch and Learn

Watch the video on the main idea of the scavenger hunt. Stop the video to scan the different QR Codes

Step by Step Explanation of the Scavenger Hunt

Print out all of the attached documents and QR Codes found at the bottom of this blog post.

The start card will direct the students to read the article from Newsela on Bao Bao and her trip to China. Students can read the article at his/her own Lexile level.
Note: The students can work together in groups of two or three to complete this project.

After the students have read the article, they will locate the second QR code that has an image of the Newsela article. (Feel free to hide or challenge the students to find the QR codes)
The students will scan this card. The card will prompt them to generate a Storyboard using the program Storyboardthat.com.
NOTE: the students don't have to sign up for the program, they can just create the storyboard and take a screenshot of their storyboard.

After the students create the storyboard, then they will search for the QR code that showcases an example of a storyboard.
The next QR code will direct the students to post three words to mentimeter.com.
Note: You can change the code and create your own word cloud in mentimeter.com

After the students post three words to the Word Cloud, then they will locate a sample word cloud and scan the next QR Code.
This activity, will ask the students to color in a Quiver activity sheet that relates to New Zealand. The activity sheet can be found in the printables attached to this blog post.

After the students explore New Zealand, they will be directed to practice their measurement skills using the website located on the QR Code. (BiteSize by BBC)
To show mastery of the activity, the students can take a screenshot and save it with their Storyboard

In the article, the author explains the Bao Bao means precious gift. In this activity, the students will get a chance to examine the meaning and trend of names through the website, names.org.
The students will take a screenshot of their name chart and you can use the screenshot for a math or social studies mini lesson.

The students will find the trend graph of Bao Bao and scan the attached QR Code. This QR Code will take the students to the YouTube video of Bao Bao preparing for her trip to China.
Note: If YouTube is blocked at your school, you can download the video using Keepvid.com or Savevid.com

After the students watch the video they will search for the YouTube video of Bao Bao.
The next activity will take the students to the National Zoo website where they will plan a trip to the zoo. Using the printable map, the students design a route to go visit Bao Bao's parents and brother that are still at the National Zoo. Students can plan to stop and visit other animals while at the National Zoo.

The students will scan the next QR code that will take them to a short quiz on the article and overview of the article using the program PearDeck.
Note: You can either use my code that is provided for the QR Code scavenger hunt or you can create your own quiz using my sample questions.

The students will showcase their knowledge with the Bao Bao and her adventures and move to the last QR Code. This QR Code will ask the students to create a digital poster using smore.com
Note: Since this is a digital poster, make sure the students don't post any personal information on the poster.

This is an example of the digital poster make smore.com. If the students can get more than 30 people to open up the poster, the location of the visitors.

Answer Key: Print out the Answer Key to help direct or guide the students.

Can QR Codes work with Chromebooks?

Yes, QR codes can work with Chromebooks, Surface Pros, smart phones, and iPads. Below is a list of some of the QR Code Scanners that you can use with the different devices.

QR Code Reader - Google Play

Scan- iOS App for iPads and iPhones

Grade Level

This activity can be used in the 3rd through 12th grade classroom. The Newsela article can be read at five different Lexile levels. Some of the activities can be modified ago fit the needs of the different grade levels.

Content Areas

This activity can be tied into the following content areas:

Language Arts
Math
Science
Social Studies

Length of Project

Blended and Personalized Learning Classrooms
If you are teaching in a Blended Learning environment, then this activity would be a part of the rotations. It took a class five days to complete during their rotation activities.
Traditional Classroom Environment
This activity can be broken up into two days. Start the whole group out reading the article and once they have finished reading the article, their group can search for the first QR Code (storyboardthat)