BreakoutEDU: The Run-On Renegade and Grammar Girl

One Tuesday, we walked in and we were told we had the chance to do a BreakoutEDU. This time it was themed with the Run-On Renegade and Grammar Girl….and The Run-On Renegade was actually in our classroom trying to play out one of her dastardly deeds.  The Run-On Renegade had actually captured Grammar Girl and stolen her utility belt which contained all her superpowers. Without Grammar Girl, the world wouldn’t have been able to communicate clearly. We had to try to breakout part of Grammar Girl’s belt before the world dissolved into chaos. The clock was ticking. We only had 45 minutes to save the world.

When we entered the room, we had a newspaper story laid on top of the Breakout EDU box. This news story was about Grammar Girl and how Run-On- Renegade wanted to take over the world. Throughout the story, letters were capitalized that shouldn't have been. The letters spelled out LOOK IT UP. We then thought about it and checked the dictionaries. We found a key to one of the locks! Attached to the key was a Mystery Word puzzle. This puzzle led us to find out the letter lock combination. The word was fiend (enemy). Somewhere in the room, we found a paragraph that we read; it was called The Paragraph Protector. We answered questions about the paragraph, and after many tries figured out that was the combination to the 4-number lock! That was our last lock!

We were so excited! We just knew that we had broken out. But inside the box, we found another box with a piece of paper. On the piece of paper was a summary of Schooled with some blanks in them. We had to fill them out using proper capitalization. We were allowed to look at the book. We were also given a UV flashlight. With the UV flashlight, we could see invisible ink where some of the letters were circled. There was a number code, but when we tried that that did not work. We tried using letters and it spelled out LINKS. This puzzle was full of red herrings. We then went to our links section on our class blog. We had to click on Are you COPS? to take a quiz on grammar. We were typing as fast as we possibly could (incorrect, correct). At the end it said,¨ Way TO go. High FIVES FOR everyone.¨ The code was 2, 5, 4 (the numbers in the sentence). We rushed over to the box and put in the code. It worked! We were very excited because we broke out first and we got a piece of Grammar Girl’s superpowered belt.

BreakoutEDU is so much fun! We wonder when we’ll get to do it again.

~ K.C., T. K., E.J.

Could you break out? Our first BreakoutEdu

Our class was so happy that we got to do a BreakoutEdu. You might be wondering what BreakoutEdu is? It is a series of different puzzles where you have clues, some easy, some not. With challenges around every corner. Do you think you could breakout?

 When we came into class on Tuesday, there were boxes on our tables with 3 different locks and 1 zip tie. Also, there was a letter on our desk that explained that Monday night the school was struck by lightning when our principal clicked on one of those scam links. So, it cursed the school to where every day was Monday. Our task was to save the other days of the week.

On the box, one lock was a letter lock, one needed a key, and one had numbers. There were clues hidden all around the room. As we read the letter, a few words were green. The words spelled out practice (practice is our homework; it's written on the front board). Our practice is to read every night. In our haste to solve the first puzzle, we almost missed the blacklight flashlights on the board's marker holder. So we grabbed the flash lights and went to Mrs. Ramsay's classroom library. On the checkout sheet, there was a number in the bottom left corner, but we could only see it with the special flash light. The number was 2016, and it unlocked the number lock. Yay! One lock down, two more (and a zip tie) to go.

On the closet door there was a picture of a text message. Some of the letters were larger than others. The letters spelled out LEARN. That unlocked the letter lock, and on the other paper on that door there was a failed test. It told us where to find the keys (it was in the the retake folder). The key was taped to a sheet of paper that had mixed up letters on it. It spelled out a website link. If you went to the link, the website it said lets make something. Which told us to look in our Makery.

In the Makery, there were four pencil pouches with combination locks on them. Next to the pencil pouches there were cards with four combinations on them. Only one of the combinations unlocked the pouch. We had to try all four to find the right one. When we finally got it opened, there was a pair of scissors. That took care of the zip tie.

YES! We  we broke out! We freed the other days of the week and received a small token of appreciation for each of the days of the week. It was so much fun!!!

We didn't all do it step by step in this order. It was a little chaotic!Only three of the four teams in our class broke out.We broke out but the steps were willy nilly. Over all the experience was incredible. We had tons of fun and by the end of it all we all learned Mrs.Ramsay will trick us any opportunity she gets. We can't wait for our next BreakoutEdu!

~GH &