Escape Room (Break out) the Early Presidents Historical Thinking Skills

Description

This escape room is so much fun! All of the clues are editable, so you can revise and make this perfect for your own classroom. This lesson has students practice decoding skills, close reading, and point of view. This lesson fits perfectly with a Unit about the early Presidents (George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe) and it’s great as an end of the year activity. There are no breakout boxes or locks required, just some big envelopes!

There are 5 clues they must solve to escape and 4 that involve decoding skills and historical thinking or reasoning skills.

Clue 1 – This clue just starts the students off on their journey with a little trivia. They need to know which of the five presidents didn’t own any slaves to go to the correct section of the library to find their first real clue.

Clue 2 – This clue tests students’ ability to find the main idea in the paragraphs of Washington’s “Farewell Address.” The students need to figure out the order of the statements and arrange them in the correct order.

Clue 3 – For this clue, students utilize a cipher (a simplified version of the cipher presented to Meriwether Lewis from Thomas Jefferson) to decode to clues. One leads to a location on the map, and the second leads them to the location for their next clue.

Clue 4– For this clue, students need to closely analyze a political cartoon. After picking the correct items, students will rearrange the letters to reveal their next location.

Clue 5– For this clue, students need to figure out the point of view of four documents. Then, they take the letters of the multiple choice answers and rearrange them to reveal their last location.

Topics Include:

The XYZ Affair | Washington’s Farewell Address | The Battle of Horseshoe Bend | The Louisiana Purchase | The Monroe Doctrine | Lewis and Clark | The Embargo Act | The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions/ The Alien and Sedition Acts | and of course… the First Five Presidents

Everything you need is included in this purchase! Just print and teach!

Included in this resource:

● A Google Slides Version of the clues (you just need to open and make your own copy. This is so you can edit the clues if needed) You can also download them as a PowerPoint file if you wish. These clues are full color .

● A Detailed 4-page Lesson Plan (see preview) that tells you how to set up and execute the escape room.

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