As a student, Syllabus Day always filled me with delight and dread. On one hand, I loved receiving a new syllabus full of important details and information. The type A+ Ravenclaw in my soul would start highlighting, color-coding, and filling out my planner.
On the other hand, I hated when teachers took the time to read the syllabus to me. That infuriated me.
As a teacher, I want the syllabus to fill students with more delight than dread. However, I also want to pack as much information as possible into the syllabus because this is often one of the first times parents and students will communicate with me.
To make Syllabus Day as engaging as possible and to encourage students to read as much of the syllabus as possible, I started doing a Syllabus Scavenger Hunt on the first day of school.
This is a fun way to introduce students to the class and to the space, to build community, and to observe students as they complete a low-stakes task together.
My Syllabus Scavenger Hunt is the #1 best seller in my TPT shop. It’s fully editable and only $1.
However, you (like me) may be a designer at heart. Maybe you want to design your own Syllabus Scavenger Hunt but don’t know where to begin. That’s why I want to share these 5 easy steps to designing your own Syllabus Scavenger Hunt.
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Start with the Syllabus
Before you can create your Syllabus Scavenger Hunt, you need a syllabus. Maybe you have a tried-and-true document that you just update each year, or maybe your team or department has a standard boilerplate. Whatever you have, this is the place to begin.
Give your syllabus a once-over to decide if it includes all the important information. I’ve written about this before, but here are some syllabus basics to include:
- Contact information
- Course description and prerequisite
- Course goals or learning targets
- Grading categories and policies
- Needed supplies or fees
- A general course outline
- A signature page
There are plenty of other elements to include in your syllabus, but that’s my “starter pack.” One of my self-imposed “rules” for the syllabus is that it should be no longer than one page front and back. To make my syllabus memorable, I also prefer this brochure-style template that I designed in Canva.
Design the Scavenger Hunt Back-to-Front
As any curriculum creator will tell you, backwards design is the best way to match your intended instructional outcomes with methods of instruction.
The same is true when designing your Syllabus Scavenger Hunt.
Once you have designed your syllabus, decide what outcomes you want students to take from their Syllabus Scavenger Hunt.
- Do you want students to learn about important policies?
- Do you want to observe certain behaviors in your students?
- Do you want students to get to know one another or to get to know you?
- Do you want students to join a digital platform or create a specific account?
- Do you want students to move around the room and learn about the space?
Regardless of how you answer these questions, the answers should inform the decisions you make about what elements to include in your Syllabus Scavenger Hunt.
Choosing a Delivery Method
Once you have some goals in mind, it’s time to choose a delivery method. For example, this could be a digital activity, a paper-pencil activity, or a combination. Each method has its benefits.
I would love to complete this activity in a Google Form because then the responses would be easy to save, and I could collect “data” from student work.
However, my students rarely have their student devices on the first day of school. For this reason, my Syllabus Scavenger Hunt is often low-tech, and I print students copies of the scavenger hunt and the syllabus. (Pro tip: Print the syllabus on a special color of paper to make it stand out!)
When it works out, I like a digital and paper-pencil combination because then students can explore our digital classroom spaces as well as the physical space. Alas, that doesn’t always work out, so I just have to be flexible.
Add a Team-Building Element
From the start of the school year, I want my students to build a classroom community. It’s impossible to build classroom community if the teacher is the only one talking. For this reason, I emphasize student connection during the Syllabus Scavenger Hunt.
One way to do this is by putting students in random group and then giving each team one copy of the Syllabus Scavenger Hunt, one copy of the syllabus, and (if possible) one Chromebook. This means students have to share resources and work together to complete the task.
You can take this further by assigning each student a specific task: the reader, the writer, and the typist, for example.
In recent years, I have also asked students to come up with a fun team name, motto, and mascot and to introduce one another to the class. This can be as elaborate as you’d like, but it’s kind of an effortless and cheesy ice breaker to take some of the pressure off.
Incorporate Movement
To help students become acquainted with the classroom space, I often make the Syllabus Scavenger Hunt mobile. I’ll ask questions about the syllabus document, sure, but I will also ask questions about the classroom space. I may even challenge students to find different items around the room. Here are some classroom locations I ask students to identify or visit:
- Classroom library
- Turn-in tray
- Cleaning supplies
- May I Borrow Shelf (read about it here)
Classroom movement can also be a way for students to learn a little about you. Oftentimes, I throw some questions about myself onto the Syllabus Scavenger Hunt, and students have to wander around the room to find the answers.
- From photographs around the room, students can learn what kind of pets I have.
- The flags and decorations around the room let students know my favorite sports teams.
- Various items hanging on the wall let students know how long I have been teaching.
You can also throw something goofy into the Syllabus Scavenger Hunt. This promotes team building but also encourages students to move throughout the room and become familiar with the space. For example, you can hide puzzle pieces, and students have to solve the puzzle by visiting various locations. Alternatively, you can print a picture of your school mascot (or grab a stuffy) and hide that for students to find in their explorations.
Syllabus Scavenger Hunt Alternatives
If a Syllabus Scavenger Hunt isn’t for you, these three options still have plenty of benefits:
- Syllabus BINGO is a game I created during the pandemic when I wanted students to gain the benefits of a scavenger hunt while also limiting movement throughout the room. Plus, even big, burly seniors still love to play BINGO. It’s timeless.
- Syllabus Stations are another activity I’ve tried. When I have an odd shaped first week of school (only 2-3 days), stations can be a winner because I can stretch them out over a few days. When this happens, the Syllabus Scavenger Hunt is one of the stations.
- Finally, if you’re feeling adventurous, a Syllabus Escape Room is fun! I’ve dipped my toe into escape room design a few different times, and these are the lessons I have learned.
Back-to-school season can be stressful, so I’ve got you covered with my Back-to-School Bundle. It has everything you need to start the year off right (including your own Syllabus Scavenger Hunt).
