I wanted to share my newest compilation of Amazing Race ideas, with
applications to all grade levels. Thanks to all of the generous people who
have shared their ideas. For those of you who saved the first HIT, the new
items were added to the end of that original HIT. Have fun with the Amazing
Race applied to our libraries!
Amazing Race ideas:
I have created an atlas lesson using the theme "The amazing race" for my 3rd
and 4th grade students. It keys in on using coordinates, reading map keys,
understanding the question, compass roses, etc. Each student team starts
with a clue (all have the same one) and when they have correctly answered it
they receive the next clue There are 10 total. The first team to bring me
clue #10 with the correct answer wins a small prize(pencil, bookmark or
sticker). Each team is given an atlas and almanac to help them with the
answers.
Sandra Doehler (working on her MLIS through the distance education program
of the University of South Carolina)
Wentworth Intermediate School, Scarborough, Maine.
Steep Falls, Maine 04085
sandydoehler@adelphia.net
Hello,
Our librarian, Debra Williams from Smiths Station Intermediate School in Al
forwarded me your email. I have created a "Read Around the World" Unit for
my students. I received a grant for next school year to improve on what I
currently do and build up my resources. It is not set up like the Amazing
Race, but we do "travel" around the world with passports and journals. I
bring in guest speakers from the community and we read literature from
Around the World. I will expand on this concept for the next school year.
Let me know if you would like me share ideas further. Are you in the
process of creating a program for your school? I would love to share ideas.
Thanks so much,
Jessica Pine
Smiths Station Intermediate School, Lee County (AL) ISD
Smiths Station, AL.
I created "The Amazing Race" program based on the program of a high school
media specialist and geared it for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students.
They come to the Media Center to register to participate and they can work
with a partner or by themselves. The program lasts 4 weeks and each week
they answer 4 questions about the world. They use various resources such as
the encyclopedia, atlas, maps, etc. to answer the questions. I print the
questions on yellow paper, fold them like clues, and the students pick them
up when they move on to the following week. Teams that complete all four
weeks earn a certificate of completion and one of the teams is randomly
selected to win a Barnes and Noble gift certificate. I take each team's
picture and put it on a bulletin board with a caption "AHA's Amazing Race
Teams." They LOVE it! See below the week 2 activity for this program.
http://www.ahacademy.com/mediacenter/Events_and_News_ie.htm
Malena Bisanti-Wall, Media Specialist
mbisantiwall@ahacademy.com
THE AMAZING
RACE
Congratulations! You've made it to
Week #2
1. Travel from your last destination to Costa Rica in Central America.
Find this country's capital. ____________________
(name of capital)
2. From there, travel to Argentina. What is the official language of this
country? ____________------_____
(name of language)
3. Fly from Argentina to Africa. What is the name of the ocean you flew
over? ___________________
(name of ocean)
4. Once in Africa, travel to the country of Libya. What large desert
covers most of Libya? ___________________
(name of desert)
Team Members __________________ and _______________________
Your Teachers _________________ _____ and
_______________________
Bring your answers to the pit stop (Media Center)
by Friday, January 26.
Program Spotlight
From
<http://www.rpls.ws/Links/yasfnewsletter.pdf>
http://www.rpls.ws/Links/yasfnewsletter.pdf
The Amazing Riverside Race
Riverside Public Library
August 2006
The highlight of the Riverside Public Library's 2006 young adult programming
was "The Amazing Riverside Race," held at the end of our young adult summer
reading program. Four teams of two young adults each participated in this
all-day event, which was inspired by the popular reality television show The
Amazing Race. Teams raced to locations around our small town and within the
Library to complete tasks that required strength, smarts, and sometimes just
plain luck. The team that finished first received Best Buy gift cards.
The Village of Riverside's small size made it easy to include locations
outside the Library as part of the program. We encouraged local participants
to host tasks of their own design, which worked out very well. For example,
the Riverside Police Department had the YAs complete the rookie fitness
test, and Aunt Diana's, a local candy shop, had teams mark 100 folded candy
boxes. Parents had to sign a release form, and we provided all of the racers
with a map and Library phone numbers (they were allowed to carry a cell
phone in case they got lost). At the Library, teams completed tasks such as:
digging through a huge pile of board books to find ten specific barcodes,
identifying the mysterious "red" librarian on the Library staff, and using
reference books and atlases to identify flags of the world.
I would encourage libraries to host their own "Amazing Race" because it was
a lot of fun and attracted new young adults to our programs. The key to the
program's success was advanced planning. Kim Zahrobsky, the Library's Young
Adult Assistant, began designing tasks and creating the schedule several
months in advance. Kim also raced with the young adults, arriving at the
location of the next task slightly ahead of the team in first place (she got
to ride her bike!). Another tip is to make it as easy as possible for the
businesses and organizations that want to participate. A Library staff
member was on site to supervise each of these outside tasks. Finally, I
think being a fan of the television show is a huge help. Kim and I love the
show and had a great time creating our own scaled-down version. We would be
happy to answer questions or provide more details - please e-mail us at
youthservices@riversidelibrary.org.
Kelly Proudfit, Youth Services Manager
Riverside Public Library, Riverside, IL
The Meade Public Library (Meade, KS) also had an Amazing Race program in
2006:
http://www.meadelibrary.info/survivor.htm
New Orleans Public Library:
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1179342604137520.xml
<http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1179342604137520.xml&co
ll=1> &coll=1
St. Tammany Parish Libraries:
http://www.sttammany.lib.la.us/kidssrp2007.htm
You are more than welcome to use my ideas. My Amazing Race wasn't a reading
program, but a research-based contest. You could take the idea though and
make it fit your needs. Each week there was a new set of questions the
students had to research the answers to. Just like the television show the
answers built on one another. Only those students who answered the
questions correctly were able to advance to the next round of questions.
The contest lasted four weeks and our prize was a gift certificate to the
local Chinese restaurant (the last question had something to do with China).
We have also done a Numbers contest (math based), CSI (science based),
Grey's Anatomy (science based), Back in the Day (history based) and most
recently Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader (I used CRCT questions). I've
attached an example of our Amazing Race questions. I'm sure you could
incorporate reading nonfiction into the contest with specific books in your
media center as opposed to allowing them to research the answers online.
Here are questions from her first week:
Week One
1. To begin the race, teams must meet in the capital city of the "Beehive
State."
2. Once in the capital city, teams must race to hear the city's most famous
choir where you will receive your clue.
3. Teams will then travel north to the Alberta, Canada city known as the
home of the World's Largest Dinosaur!
4. Teams travel 279 km to the capital city of Alberta, Canada where they
will take a cab ride to "The Greatest Indoor Show on Earth" located in the
_____________________________, where teams will take a pit stop.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Jennifer Newton, Ed.S.
Media Specialist
Thomson High School
P.O. Box 1077
1160 Whiteoak Road
Thomson, GA 30824
newtonj@mcduffie.k12.ga.us
Shirley Lukenbill, Librarian
Wooldridge Elementary, Austin (TX) ISD
and Lecturer, School of Information
University of Texas at Austin
sluken@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
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