Eighth grade students in Kristin Fusaro’s Past, Present and Future class at Grand Avenue Middle School are taking a unique approach to learning about Black History Month.

Students researched notable figures and craft biographies, followed with a collaborative poster project.Once the unit was nearly completed, students attempted an escape room planned that highlights the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Migration, which was part of the students’ eighth grade social studies curriculum.

Utilizing Breakout EDU kits, Fusaro generated an escape room using reading passages, photos and poems as content for clues. Students worked in teams to decode and decipher information to unlock a series of padlocks.

Fusaro noted that students would not only be graded on the quickest time completed, but also “by your work ethic, by your teamwork and by your effort.”

The kits can be utilized for any subject matter and teachers can work with school library media specialists to create engaging games.

“The Breakout EDU kits are a great way to facilitate group work and collaboration as well as revisiting content learned,” explained Principal Carlo Conte, who sat in on the activity and monitored finish times for teams.

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Date Added: 2/26/2024