By Josh Pilcher, Laney Bonaventure, Mason Hollis, and Bear Hays

After finishing their novel unit on Lord of The Flies, Mrs. Wales’ eighth grade English class participated in a group breakout box assignment in partnership with Mrs. Liner, the middle school librarian. A breakout box activity is one that requires both teamwork and content knowledge. The students had to use all their prior knowledge from the novel to solve several different puzzle-like tasks based on content knowledge from the book. Team members had to work together to unlock a series of locks to access a special prize, if they didn’t work as a team, they would be penalized and lose valuable time. This activity was a great way to bridge the gap between learning and fun.