Our Digital Library Adventure (not the scavenger hunt/breakout I thought)

I have wanted to do a scavenger hunt (think interactive orientation) through the library for years. I briefly investigated Goose Chase and digital breakouts this summer but was limited by policy & finances. Ultimately I decided to "go with what I know" and make google forms work for me. Using the response validation feature to "lock" sections of the form, I was able to bring a "game" feeling to the activity by requiring specific answers to continue. 

I created a series of activities that would guide students through our library and have them try a variety of tasks from checking books out to themselves to exploring different genres.  This also let me assess the interests of my students and guide my programming. (A list of the questions is here).  

The goal of this week was to have students

• Actively moving through the library 
• Checking books out to themselves
• Noting new items   
• Looking at genres/books they don't usually try
• Providing me with their attitudes towards library 
• Making suggestions to our library program
• Have fun!

The week before we participated in a Dot Day breakout, but with limited time, not all classes "broke out."  I wanted students to feel successful so I created an activity that they could succeed in doing.  I originally called it a "scavenger hunt."  See my "takeaways" below for my students' feedback.

Students up on their feet and moving around the library

Lots of collaborative thinking took place

Two students work through self-checkout

Students exploring different genres

Following our activity, we did a wrap-up on the rug of "highs" and "lows."

Highs

• This was so fun!
• We were moving around.
• We saw books we haven't seen before.
• It made me think about myself as a reader.
• It asks lots of questions but they are in sections.
• Everyone was reading sentences to each other. 
• Everyone was focused on their questions.
• I like looking through the genres.

Lows

• There are too many questions.
• It is too easy (5th grade).
• It feels more like a survey than a scavenger hunt (1st class of 5th graders).
• It was tricky (4th).
• I had to start over (4th).

My biggest success was a student who shared his picture of a book he wouldn't usually read.  It was one of the books he checked out to take home!

My takeaways

I was trying to gain some insight into my students' lives and incorporated too many of these opinion type questions.  This became more of a survey or set of tasks for them to accomplish.  I gave this activity the wrong name.  After the first round, I renamed it our "Digital Library Activity" (instead of scavenger hunt).

According to my first group of 5th graders, it was too easy but the second group had none of those complaints/concerns.  I wonder if the name change helped facilitate this.  There were no unmet expectations.  It felt just right for the 4th graders.

Some got to the end and when they had to "check in" with me, they did not have the book they checked out.  They told me that they didn't check out.  This means they clicked the box that said they did it, without actually doing the activity.  I humored having them type the title to hold them a bit more accountable, but decided to keep it simple.  Maybe I should have done this.

A sampling of some of the questions & their responses:

We took shelfies at the end of last year as an optional activity.  Not everyone participated.

I am trying to decide how best to use my bulletin boards.

No surprise here!

No surprise here either!

Students were learning to check books out to themselves.

Looking for input for our Makerspace

I was wondering if they were still interested.  Yes!  Lunch Bunch it is!