Wednesday Made It - Mystery Box

I am finally joining the crew of creative teachers on Tara's blog at Fourth Grade Frolics who have posted about nifty little items they've made for their classrooms.  About two weeks ago I came across a box at the Hallmark store that was marked down to $2.50 because of small nick on the top.  Back in late June I had discovered some polka-dot packing tape on the clearance rack at JoAnn Fabrics for about $0.80!  When I saw the box, I got a brainstorm about decorating it with the packing tape.

I often use a "mystery box" to introduce a new unit or concept to my students.  For example, when we start a unit on Maps, I put a map in the box, and the students have to ask me questions to find out what's in the box.  It's sort of like 20 questions, but I don't always limit the number of questions to 20.  The directions I give to the students for this activity are:

     1. The questions they ask me must have a yes or no answer, like - Do you use it inside a house?

     2. They must listen to each others' questions and answers to find out what's in the box.

     3. I suggest they try to find out properties of the item, rather than just guessing about it being specific items like - Is it a pencil?

     4. The person who guesses correctly gets to keep the item on their desk for the rest of the day.

At times, the students have become frustrated, and I remember someone asking once if I would just tell them what it was, but I always review what they've learned so far from the answers to the questions.  And you might want to "veer" them in the right direction with a little clue if needed.

I've put a thermometer in the box when beginning a study on weather, or chopsticks when  studying Japan - anything with a link to the unit would be suitable.  The students are very engaged and interested with this kind of kick-off to a unit.

Anyway - here is how my new Mystery Box turned out.  I added some letter stickers that I had to the side: