Geocaching Curricular Ideas

Primary Grades First Activity – teach students to use the devices Caches – Plastic container with candy, stickers, erasers or other small objects – Notes “see you homeroom teacher for a treat”, “Homework pass”, “extra 5 minutes of recess”

Upper Elementary/Middle Examples Culminating Activity for a unit of study – Lisa Foy, FHES, Pirate Unit – integrating all subject areas Student read Teach’s Light or Mystery of Blackbeard Each cache contains a question related to the books or a math question with a pirate theme

Note: Differentiated Instruction

Upper Elementary/Middle Examples Culminating Activity for a unit of study – Lisa Foy, FHES, Pirate Unit – integrating all subject areas Student read Teach’s Light or Mystery of Blackbeard Each cache contains a question related to the books or a math question with a pirate theme – After the activity, students write a reflection of what they have learned/experienced.

Geocaching Reflection device technology cachemischief bootyloot

Upper Elementary/Middle Examples Review material – Erin Buchanan, FHES, Landform Review Each cache contains a picture and description of a landform Students identify the landform on a log sheet

Student Log Sheet - Example

Upper Elementary/Middle Examples Discuss a book – Cindy Roscoe, Salem, Book discussion Each cache contains a photo or image of something significant in a book students have read Students identify the photo and tell how it relates to the book on their log sheet – For a second geocaching activity, students worked in groups to create the caches

Upper Elementary/Middle Examples Unit of study - History of the school/ community/county – 4 th Grade Hallyburton At each cache, students learned about history of the area (traveled around the Drexel community) – To Protect and to Serve – stop at Drexel Fire Department – Whoo! Whoo! Crash! – famous train trash in Drexel – Brown Mountain Lights – video at Drexel Elementary – Tall, Tall Tree – story of Frankie Silver

Upper Elementary/Middle Examples Where Am I?* – Jason Parker, Salem – Geometry Review Students were given a list of geometry terms and bingo cards – They were to go out and identify as many of the terms as they could, » MARK the location on their GPS device, » record the coordinates on their log sheet, » check their bingo card, » photograph the example they found *Google Earth & GPS Elementary Classroom Activities Grades 2-6 by Jim Holland & Susan Anderson

Upper Elementary/Middle Examples Where Am I? – Jason Parker, Salem – Geometry Review Students were given a list of geometry terms and bingo cards – They were to go out and identify as many of the terms as they could, » MARK the location on their GPS device, » record the coordinates on their log sheet, » check their bingo card, (prizes awarded for BINGO) » photograph the example they found Students used Photostory to import and label their photos, and share with their peers

Other Examples of Curricular Tie-ins – Name 5 three-dimensional shapes you see – Find 5 examples of the following angles – equilateral, acute, obtuse, – Name 3 landforms you see – Find a habitat, tell why it is a habitat – Something related to the school campus Sum of the digits of a sign – what is the relevance of the sign – Baseball trivia question requiring math – taped to bench on the baseball field

School Clubs Girl Scout Troop – Crystal Smith, Salem Girl Scout troop earned a badge by geocaching – Each cache related to the girl scouts » Recite the pledge » Talk about good citizenship with your partner

Technology Integration Students use Digital Cameras / Video Cameras – Create product of learning

Helpful Tips and How Tos: or things we learned the hard way Small groups are a must – each group should have a different route or order of caches to follow. It is best to minimize contact with other groups. *An alternative is to have double the caches (say 10) and each group do even or odd numbered caches only Have students work in pairs

TIPS – things we learned the hard way Cheat notes for group leaders This is especially helpful if you have volunteers new to geocaching – you want them to help you again!

Example of Group Leader’s Notes Group 1 Please search for caches in this order: Watson 1 Watson 2 Watson 3 Watson 4 Watson 5 (please bring this cache back to the classroom) Hints: #1 – metal key case, No Parking Fire Lane Sign in front of the school, near mobile units #2 – trash, far upper parking lot, center of the fence #3 – small plastic container – lower parking lot/walking track – metal drain pipe #4 – small picture taped to the back of the basketball goal #5 – fake doggy doo – light pole behind the Pre-K trailer

TIPS – things we learned the hard way If doing the activity on multiple days – take up your caches every day – they will get taken by others, even well-meaning custodians Swear your students to secrecy about caches and their location (this works in elementary)