5th Grade Reading Escape Room Challenge
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5th Grade Reading Escape Room Challenge

Grade 5English10 days
The 5th Grade Reading Escape Room Challenge engages students in designing and creating educational escape room activities to enhance reading comprehension skills. Through collaborative and interactive entry events, students work on identifying main ideas, understanding author's purpose, making inferences, and interpreting figurative language by crafting puzzles and clues linked to texts. Guided by the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards, students develop critical reading skills through hands-on, creative problem-solving tasks, culminating in a rubric-assessed escape room that integrates these comprehension strategies.
Reading ComprehensionEscape RoomMain IdeaInferenceAuthor's PurposeFigurative LanguageEducational Design
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Inquiry Framework

Question Framework

Driving Question

The overarching question that guides the entire project.How can we create an engaging and educational escape room to help identify the main idea and key details of a text, while enhancing reading comprehension skills like understanding the author's purpose and making inferences?

Essential Questions

Supporting questions that break down major concepts.
  • What strategies can we use to identify the main idea of a text?
  • How do key details support the main idea in a text?
  • In what ways can understanding the author's purpose enhance our reading comprehension?
  • How can making inferences improve our understanding of texts?
  • What are the key elements of an effective escape room activity?
  • How can we use reading skills to create engaging and educational escape room challenges?

Standards & Learning Goals

Learning Goals

By the end of this project, students will be able to:
  • Students will be able to identify and articulate the main idea and key details in a variety of texts.
  • Students will enhance their ability to understand an author’s purpose and how it shapes a text.
  • Students will develop skills to make inferences and support them with textual evidence.
  • Students will design and create educational escape room activities that incorporate reading comprehension strategies.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for English Language Arts and Reading

5.6A
Supporting
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.Reason: Understanding figurative language is essential for interpreting texts, which is a key component of reading comprehension required for the STAAR exam.
5.8A
Primary
Identify the author's purpose and explain how it is conveyed in the text.Reason: Identifying the author's purpose is a critical skill for reading comprehension, directly aligning with the driving question and essential questions of the project.
5.9D
Primary
Make inferences and use evidence to support understanding.Reason: Making inferences is one of the core skills to be developed in this project, as stated in the inquiry framework and essential questions.
5.9F
Secondary
Summarize, paraphrase, and synthesize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order within a text and across texts.Reason: Being able to summarize is crucial to identifying main ideas and key details, directly tying into the project goal of enhancing reading comprehension skills.
5.10C
Secondary
Analyze how the organizational structure of the text supports the author’s purpose.Reason: Understanding how text structure supports author's purpose enhances comprehension, aligning with the project's focus on reading skills.

Entry Events

Events that will be used to introduce the project to students

Treasure Hunt: Author's Intent Edition

A mysterious, ancient-looking letter is delivered to the classroom, sealed with a wax stamp. The letter invites students to embark on a treasure hunt where each clue is tied to understanding the author's purpose and uncovering key details from various passages. They must work in teams to deduce meanings and uncover the hidden 'treasure' within the text.

Time Traveler's Reading Challenge

Students discover a time travel device in their classroom that takes them to different times and places represented by unique texts. Each journey requires students to comprehend main ideas and make inferences about the historical context to return to the present.

Digital Detective Agency

With gadgets in hand, students join a digital detective agency where their cases involve analyzing short stories and articles to solve mysteries by identifying key details and the main ideas. This modern twist on comprehension keeps students engaged with technology and interactive tasks.
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Portfolio Activities

Portfolio Activities

These activities progressively build towards your learning goals, with each submission contributing to the student's final portfolio.
Activity 1

Main Idea Mastery: Puzzle Creation

Students will learn to identify main ideas and key details in texts and apply those skills by creating puzzles for an escape room game.

Steps

Here is some basic scaffolding to help students complete the activity.
1. Begin by selecting a short text provided by the teacher and read it carefully, identifying the main idea and key details.
2. In groups, discuss the main idea and how key details support it, making sure everyone agrees.
3. Design a puzzle or activity that requires the participants to use the main idea and key details to solve it (e.g., a crossword or matching game).
4. Present your puzzle to the class, explaining how the main idea and details are incorporated.

Final Product

What students will submit as the final product of the activityA completed puzzle or game designed to highlight the main idea and key details of a given text.

Alignment

How this activity aligns with the learning objectives & standardsAligns with TEKS 5.9F by summarizing and identifying the main idea and key details across texts.
Activity 2

Author's Intent Investigation

This activity teaches students to identify the author's purpose and the supporting evidence in texts while crafting a clue for the escape room.

Steps

Here is some basic scaffolding to help students complete the activity.
1. Read a text passage and identify potential reasons why the author wrote the piece (e.g., to inform, entertain, persuade, etc.).
2. Discuss in groups the different purposes identified and agree on the most probable one.
3. Highlight text evidence that supports your determined author's purpose.
4. Develop a clue or a question based on the text that requires participants to understand the author's purpose to solve it.
5. Share your clue with another group and try to solve the clues developed by others.

Final Product

What students will submit as the final product of the activityA clue or question developed for the escape room based on identifying the author's purpose.

Alignment

How this activity aligns with the learning objectives & standardsAligns with TEKS 5.8A by identifying the author's purpose and explaining how it is conveyed in the text.
Activity 3

Inference Detective: Evidence Collection

Students practice making inferences and collecting textual evidence as they create a complex clue for the escape room based on inference-making.

Steps

Here is some basic scaffolding to help students complete the activity.
1. Read a chosen text and identify areas where inference is necessary to fully understand the content.
2. Discuss possible inferences with group members and select the most compelling ones.
3. Find textual evidence that supports your inferences, noting them down with citations.
4. Develop a clue or challenge that requires participants to use inference-making skills to solve it.
5. Exchange clues with another group and attempt to solve each other's challenges, providing feedback.

Final Product

What students will submit as the final product of the activityA well-thought-out clue or challenge that relies on making inferences and using supporting textual evidence.

Alignment

How this activity aligns with the learning objectives & standardsAligns with TEKS 5.9D by making inferences and using evidence to support understanding.
Activity 4

Figurative Language Labyrinth

Strengthen comprehension by exploring figurative language in texts and creating a maze challenge focused on interpreting metaphors and similes.

Steps

Here is some basic scaffolding to help students complete the activity.
1. Select a passage that contains metaphors and similes and read it thoroughly to understand its context.
2. Identify and list the figurative phrases and interpret their meanings within the context of the passage.
3. In groups, discuss the impact of these figurative elements on the overall text's meaning.
4. Design a maze or labyrinth that requires players to interpret figurative language to find their way through it.
5. Have another group try to solve your figurative language maze, discussing the interpretations and meanings behind each step.

Final Product

What students will submit as the final product of the activityAn interactive maze or labyrinth that players navigate using interpretations of figurative language.

Alignment

How this activity aligns with the learning objectives & standardsAligns with TEKS 5.6A by determining the meaning of words and phrases, including figurative language.
Activity 5

Structural Storytelling: Design Challenge

Analyze how a text's structure supports its purpose and create a design challenge for the escape room based on text organization.

Steps

Here is some basic scaffolding to help students complete the activity.
1. Choose a text and examine its organizational structure, identifying how it aids the author's purpose.
2. Discuss with group members the relationship between text structure and content.
3. Create a storyboard or flowchart illustrating the text's organizational structure and its relationship to the author's purpose.
4. Develop a design challenge for the escape room where solving past and future clues relies on understanding text structure.
5. Test the design challenge with another group, discussing the insights on text structure and solvers' experiences.

Final Product

What students will submit as the final product of the activityA design challenge based on understanding and applying knowledge of text structure.

Alignment

How this activity aligns with the learning objectives & standardsAligns with TEKS 5.10C by analyzing how the text's organizational structure supports the author's purpose.
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Rubric & Reflection

Portfolio Rubric

Grading criteria for assessing the overall project portfolio

Reading Comprehension Escape Room Rubric

Category 1

Identification of Main Idea and Key Details

Assessment of the student's ability to accurately identify and articulate the main idea and key details in a text.
Criterion 1

Accuracy of Main Idea Identification

Measures if the student correctly identifies the main idea in the text provided.

Exemplary
4 Points

Main idea is accurately identified and articulated with insight and clear understanding.

Proficient
3 Points

Main idea is correctly identified and articulated with clear understanding.

Developing
2 Points

Main idea is partially correct with some understanding demonstrated.

Beginning
1 Points

Main idea is incorrect or not clearly understood.

Criterion 2

Use of Key Details

Evaluates the use of key details to support the main idea.

Exemplary
4 Points

Key details are effectively used and clearly support the main idea.

Proficient
3 Points

Key details are used to support the main idea with accuracy.

Developing
2 Points

Some key details support the main idea, with inconsistencies.

Beginning
1 Points

Key details are misused or do not support the main idea.

Category 2

Understanding of Author's Purpose

Evaluation of the student's ability to identify and explain the author's purpose with supporting evidence.
Criterion 1

Identification of Author's Purpose

Measures the student's ability to determine and explain the author's purpose in the text.

Exemplary
4 Points

Author's purpose is identified and explained with exceptional insight and evidence.

Proficient
3 Points

Author's purpose is correctly identified and explained with clear evidence.

Developing
2 Points

Author's purpose is identified, but explanation lacks clarity or support.

Beginning
1 Points

Author's purpose is incorrect or explanation lacks evidence.

Category 3

Inference-Making Skills

Assessment of the student's ability to make and support inferences from the text.
Criterion 1

Quality of Inferences

Evaluates the student's ability to make logical inferences supported by text evidence.

Exemplary
4 Points

Inferences are insightful, logical, and well-supported by text evidence.

Proficient
3 Points

Inferences are logical and well-supported by text evidence.

Developing
2 Points

Inferences are sometimes logical, with variable support from text evidence.

Beginning
1 Points

Inferences are illogical or poorly supported by text evidence.

Category 4

Interpretation of Figurative Language

Evaluation of the student's ability to interpret and explain figurative language used in the text.
Criterion 1

Interpretation of Metaphors and Similes

Measures the student's ability to interpret metaphors and similes within context.

Exemplary
4 Points

Interpretations are insightful and contextually accurate, enhancing text understanding.

Proficient
3 Points

Interpretations are accurate and enhance understanding of the text.

Developing
2 Points

Interpretations are partially accurate and provide some contextual understanding.

Beginning
1 Points

Interpretations are inaccurate or lack contextual understanding.

Category 5

Design and Creativity of Escape Room Activities

Assessment of the creativity and educational value in the design of escape room activities that incorporate reading comprehension elements.
Criterion 1

Creativity and Engagement

Evaluates the originality and engagement level of escape room activities designed by students.

Exemplary
4 Points

Activities are highly creative, engaging, and thoughtfully designed to enhance learning.

Proficient
3 Points

Activities are creative, engaging, and well-designed to support learning.

Developing
2 Points

Activities show some creativity and engagement but need further development.

Beginning
1 Points

Activities lack creativity and engagement, and do not effectively support learning.

Reflection Prompts

End-of-project reflection questions to get students to think about their learning
Question 1

What strategies did you find most effective for identifying the main idea and supporting details in a text, and why?

Text
Required
Question 2

On a scale of 1 to 5, how confident do you feel about your ability to make inferences from a text after completing this project?

Scale
Optional
Question 3

How did understanding the author's purpose influence your comprehension and engagement with the texts used in the escape room activities?

Text
Required
Question 4

What was the most challenging aspect of incorporating reading comprehension skills into the escape room activities, and how did you overcome it?

Text
Required
Question 5

Select the statement that best describes your experience with understanding figurative language and creating the maze challenge: A) It was easy to interpret and incorporate into the activity. B) Initially difficult, but became manageable with practice. C) Still find it challenging to implement effectively.

Multiple choice
Optional
Options
A) It was easy to interpret and incorporate into the activity.
B) Initially difficult, but became manageable with practice.
C) Still find it challenging to implement effectively.