"Spy" themed winter camp

[ucla_all_the_way]

I'm planning to plan my winter camp around a spy/catching a criminal theme/Carmen Sandiego theme.

Some ideas I have come up so far:
- watch one of the "Spy Kids" movies in increments each day or a similar TV/shoe movie
- I'm planning on splitting my students into spy teams - complete with code names, secret passwords, secret handshakes, and a team t-shirt.
- the whole premise is to find the bad guy spy which will culminate in a last day scavenger hunt around the school where they collect "evidence" and find out that the evil spy is really me.
- My coteacher is intent on teaching a cooking lesson so the way I'm going to try to fit it in is that the students will chase the evil spy around the world and we will make a food from one of the countries we go to. (ex Mexico - quesadilla or burrito)
- I will be teaching a song - "Secret Asian Man" by Johnny Rivers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iaR3WO71j4 and making a fun video with it

these are some of the ideas I've figured out. 

any suggestions?  ideas?

[ucla_all_the_way]

some other ideas swimming in my head:

- decoding sentences/messages
- teaching students descriptive words and having them use it to describe a suspect while a student tries to sketch a composite
- I'm trying to incorporate some cool spy "gadgets" - for example a game where the students will use cups tied on a screen to talk to each other.

[katylm]

This sounds fun!  I think a scavenger hunt around the school would make a great addition to the activities, if you're still looking for ideas.

[bern]

Here's my coding stuff, the kids love it!

The last slide of the powerpoint is a coded letter which is a treasure hunt. Each clue leads to the next cypher which can be used to crack the next code. I think I've included most of the cyphers but you'll need to edit it anyway as it relates to my school!

Also check my winter camp - fugitive post, it'll fit in nicely.

edit - just realised the PPT code grade 6 is much better, it's now included!

Have fun

[peanutbotter]

You can also teach them to play Cludo if you have the game handy. A whole team can be one person, so if one doesn't follow in the beginning the rest can help out. If you don't have the boardgame, you can maybe make your own one. I've tried finding the whole game online, but you need to register for all of them, and I didn't do that. Maybe you can look into it.

In any event, if you wanted to make your own board you can find all the items on the following page: http://www.cluedofan.com/onlinegame.htm

All the best of luck with your preperation.

[juliehrrs]

This looks amazing. During my summer camp I did a mystery lesson using directions and revising work from the whole camp, the students loved it! This seems like a fun theme to use for my winter camp and I know they will love it!

[MikeW]

- I will be teaching a song - "Secret Asian Man" by Johnny Rivers and making a fun video with it

I'm just wondering if this was intentional. Regardless, it's hilarious. 

[iHhoijung]

A decoding method I used last year was using American Sign Language (just the ABCs).  Korean sign language is pretty popular just like in "Napolean Dynamite."  You can get a basic American Sign Language chart online.  Just Google it.

Another "spy" activity I did was having a "gameboard" with different pictures of people (i used students, teachers or anyone the students would know).  The pictures were printed small, so a magnifying glass was needed to identify them.  I read off clues describing each person either based on their attire or body features.

(I work at a public elementary school)

[ucla_all_the_way]

haha definitely not on purpose.  I must have been thinking about the comic strip...

[ucla_all_the_way]

@juliehrrs could you elaborate on some of the activities you did?  I am kind of stuck now...

[jiminkorea]

Hey, I did a police sketch artist activity where the students had to ask me what the suspect looked like using describing words... I can upload the .ppt if you want!

[Sophie555]

I found this website and it has several different links to some really cool spy activities. The scholastics site is well done with pdf files and worksheets. Good luck.

http://secretspyacademy.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=updated

[Sophie555]

Hi I just noticed that the scolastics link didn't work. Here is is:

http://www.scholastic.ca/titles/spyx/spyacademy.htm

[taebaekluke]

All of the stuff here is great for ideas.

I've just started planning for my Winter camp and it's going to be along the lines of Spy/Detective or Mystery theme.

I'll attach the murder hunt materials for anyone interested.

It basically consists of:

1. Anagrams: directs the students to a teacher (make your own at http://www.easypeasy.com/anagrams/)
2. Sentence clue jigsaw: directs students to a place (jigsaw template attached. we laminated it and cut out the pieces)
3. Playing cards: The kids run to the place directed to by the jigsaw and find all the playing cards.
4. Interviews: Students have to ask the teachers some questions relating to the murder.
5. Fingerprints: Students are given paper with all the teachers' fingerprints on, labeled. They need to go to the room where the murder happened (perhaps identified in part 2) and label on the map their locations.
6. Final clue: Students assemble a ripped up note to find out the exact location of the murder and deduce who did it by looking at their fingerprint clue.

[juliehrrs]

Well I just did one day as a mystery themed day. Some of the clues involved some of the work we had covered during the semester.
1. I gave them lyrics to a song and they had to guess who sang it (mine were from "If I were a boy"-we had done it earlier in the year).
2. Use the answer as a password to open a file on the computer (you can set this using the Korean word document program)
3. Read the article and answer the questions. When you have finished your worksheet I will check your answers and give you the next clue.
4. Read the directions to a hidden box marked with an X.
5. Take the key from the box and bring it back to the classroom to unlock your next clue.
6. Using the clue sheet with clues to secret locations around the school, go to each location and write the mystery word at each location.
7. When you have all the mystery words come back to the classroom and I will give you your decoding sheet
8. Once you have decoded the sentence correctly you will be given your final task. My sentence was "I like to eat dessert on a deserted island under a tall, green palm tree"
9. Use the blindfold and direct one member through the maze, no touching and only using English.
10. The first team to have their member arrive safely at the end of the maze wins the prize.

I got some of these resources from other members on Waygook, so credit to them for that! I will attach the secret locations and decoding worksheet so that you can get an idea of what it was about.

My students really loved this lesson so for my winter camp I am thinking about doing a similar kind of thing, but they have to go different countries and complete tasks involving that country's culture and specific dos and don'ts that we would have reviewed at the beginning of class. So if anyone has any ideas to contribute to that it would be much appreciated!

[Cranberryopah]

A decoding method ...American Sign Language (just the ABCs)...a Language chart online.  Just Google it.

All of my elementary kids went crazy for these last year
A mom signs the ABCs at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMQHd1UBkeI
and ASL phonics by her cute daughter-assistant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlMPQ-Lr2_Y&feature=channel

[Awesomo]

Hey, I did a police sketch artist activity where the students had to ask me what the suspect looked like using describing words... I can upload the .ppt if you want!

I'm interested in this!

[ucla_all_the_way]

Hey, I did a police sketch artist activity where the students had to ask me what the suspect looked like using describing words... I can upload the .ppt if you want!

that would be great if you could.

some new ideas I've thought of

- An activity where the students will make a cup telephone to relay information to each other.
- "Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?" is a popular story/song so I will use it as a fun game and then eventually use it as a basis for a play.  The class will be split into smaller groups and given time to practice the simple skit

[Kingeudey]

Yea, You could use message decoding in the form of Cryptograms or Cryptoquips.  With little effort, the students catch on, and they typically enjoy them.  You can get a new crypto puzzle that is moderately hard but with clues at http://www.wordles.com/getcrypto.aspx

In doing those you can then find "teaching moments" such as seeing grammar in action: What goes before a noun - and article, what are the articles? so this crypto word is likely an article and it is 3 letters so it is....?

It works on so many levels...

[carlita]

this looks so interesting....what grade level is this for??