TERMINUS - Digital Escape Room Series - Making Inferences - End of Year Activity

How do you make reading more engaging? With a cross between an escape room and an adventure book! Terminus is a four-part digital adventure series geared towards 8th and 9th grade students who read below level. You can use this in ELA, Science, and Reading Intervention.

This story is a dystopian found-text adventure. Students play as Rania, a teenager who’s just woken up from cryosleep. She begins to learn more about MILSA, a pandemic her mother was researching. Rania must follow her mother’s clues to find the cure and save herself.

Students find clues in:

• Letters and notes
• Memos and manuals
• Emails

Imagine your reluctant readers emerging as leaders and heroes! Seriously, there's something about these games that makes those hard-to-reach students feel confident and successful in reading.

Each game has puzzles and riddles that engage students in collaboration and critical thinking. Students practice making inferences, sequencing, and prioritizing information. You also get thematically-related nonfiction readings, creative writing, vocabulary, and research activities at the target grade level.

Each chapter has been designed to take 8th & 9th grade below-level students 45-60 minutes.

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TEACHERS LIKE YOU ARE LOVING TERMINUS...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "This is such an engaging way to get students thinking deeply about a text! Even some of my readers who may struggle reading in a more "traditional" format felt confident in working through this series because it felt more like solving a mystery than straightforwardly analyzing a text." -Stormy D.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "My kids are begging for me to release the next chapter!"-Amanda D.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "This is a high-quality, high-interest, high-engagement product. The escape room reads like a graphic novel and the illustrations are fantastic. The escape room material is challenging enough to provide interest, but not too difficult to frustrate. My students were able to solve each portion of the escape room in about 40 minutes." -Christan R.

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Each Resource Includes:

1. A link and password to a web-based interactive adventure game.

2. A full Teacher’s Guide

• An introduction to the digital interface
• A step-by-step guide to solving the puzzles
• A "quick reference" sheet for you to use the "day of"

3. Close Reading Activities

• Chapter 1: "Dr. Thomas' Resignation Letter" (RI.8.5)
• Chapter 2: Opposing Viewpoints (RI.8.6)
• Chapter 4: Analyzing the Model Text (RI.8.5)

4. Thematic extension activities – written at a 9th grade level

• Chapter 1: "What is the CDC?" Fact Sheet & Interview Activity
• Chapter 2: "How Long Does Your Data Last?" - Magazine Article & Persuasive Speaking
• Chapter 3: "Fact vs. Fiction: How Pandemics are Portrayed in Literature" - Magazine Article & Vocabulary in context
• Chapter 4: "Portrait of a Researcher: Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett" - Informational Writing (RI.8.3)
• Related sources

5. Optional (and editable!) Written Extension activities

• Analysis prompt & rubric
• Creative writing prompt & rubric
• Game reflection

Check out the preview for the full Common Core alignment!

A note about COVID-19 and TERMINUS: We started working on this game in July of 2019 and had no idea that its publication would coincide with a global pandemic. We guarantee that Rania gets a happy ending, AND that players will learn about the difference between pandemic fiction and the real science behind contagion, containment, and cure.

About Timing:

Each game alone has been designed to take students 45-60 minutes. If you have them complete any of the accompanying assignments, you could make this last several days. The game is meant to act as a 'bridge' to the on-level assignments.

About Your Resource:

Your resource is a .zip file. Each game includes a .PDF Teacher’s Guide and a .PPT with the editable extension activities. Within the Teacher’s Guide, you’ll find a link to the game website and a password. You'll also get Google Drive links for the extension activities. This will allow you and your students to open the game. This game is best played on computers and iPads – it has not been optimized for phones. As with any escape game, we recommend that you play through it yourself before presenting it to students.

Please let me know if you have any questions! You can always email me at nouvelle.ela@gmail.com. :)

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-Danielle @ Nouvelle ELA

nouvelle.ela@gmail.com

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Blog: Danielle @ Nouvelle ELA