As part of the pre-reading activities to this story, we watched a number of short clips regarding famous survival stories (the Chilean miners, Aron Ralston's horrific ordeal, and the video trailer for the movie "Alive" (about the Uruguayan rugby team that crashed into the Andes Mountains). As a bonus, I am interested to see if any students take it upon themselves to research the stories further. I mentioned that we had the novel "Alive" in our library.
I also added a short news clip about Rita and Albert Chretien from Penticton who were lost in the Nevada desert when they followed their GPS on some back roads.
Finally, two short clips on hypothermia - causes and how to identify it.
The videos were used to "hook" the students into the story.
Then they were given the task of building a lean-to that could protect "The Brain" (small toy) from the elements. They were given 20mins max to find the supplies from the school grounds. They had to find the items outstide. Then they were allowed to construct what they felt was the "best" lean-to.
I put the students into groups as I wanted them to work with students they would not normally work with. I purposely divided up students so as to force them to work with someone new in the class. It was a "safe" opportunity to do so. This was perhaps the third such small group activity in the new semester - each time with someone new!
I think the activity was fun. It got the students engaged. It provided opportunities to do some creative thinking and for small group problem solving. Whether they built the best lean-to was a bonus - it was the process that was important.
Searching for items..
Constructing the lean-to's.
Testing them out
Is there interest?
Put this picture in there to show that some of my "at-risk" students were leading the charge to test out the last lean-to. There was interest to see if it would survive the wind and rain. Interestingly enough, we tested them out during a cold day here in Penticton - so we had snow on the ground. The conditions fit in well with the chilling story of A Mountain Journey! ;-)
No one seemed to care who actually "won" the contest - they were just interested in seeing the different ideas and to see if they held up against the "elements".
Kinda fun and great group activity.
