#2841. Muppet Treasure Island

, level: Middle
Posted Mon Apr 7 14:28:56 PDT 2003 by SE Santos (ssantos@sau16.org).
CMS, Stratham, NH USA
Materials Required: VCR, copy of Muppet Treasure Island, map of region to be studied, Question Sheet
Activity Time: 3 days
Concepts Taught: Comprehension, vocabulary, geography

Day 1
Watch Muppet Treasure Island (approx 100 minutes.)
Day 2 and 3
Complete movie, then divide students into groups of 3
Each group, armed with a question sheet, will take on the characters of:
Captain Smollet
Long John Silver
Jim Hawkins

The task:
To figure out how to find the treasure without the map.

Teacher should first decide where the treasure is to be hiddent. Jim Hawkins will have a compass (know the directions to follow), Captain Smollet will navigate (via Longitude and Latitude), and Long John Silver will attempt to throw them off the trail.

Using Longitute and Latitude, student's question sheets should include questions like these:

Is it north or south of the equator?
Is it in the western or eastern hemisphere?
How many degrees is it from the equator?

etc....

Questions should be based on concepts learned in other core classes (use math or word puzzles).

The students really enjoy this activity, and they love to play Long John Silver! (This student either intentionally gets questions incorrect, or is given a question sheet that has purposeful mistakes)