Riverbend Elementary School - Mobile Escape Room Artist-In-Residence
What a great week we had at Riverbend Elementary School!
Mobile Escape was the Artist-In-Residence, working with the Grade 6 students to create an Ancient-Greece themed escape room. The students were proud to showcase all that they had learned in the previous weeks.
When we arrived on the first day, we took stock of the situation and were so thrilled to see how the school administration had prepared an area for the design and construction to take place. They were also very open-handed with the school’s resources, which included some large tri-folds that had not been used for a few years. Happy to see them get put to good use, an idea was born: why not create a parthenon?
But before we could set to work creating anything, the students all had to have some fun ;)
Day 1 was a combination of Acclimation (with every student doing 4 of our escape games) and Brainstorming (working with peers to develop some early ideas). At the end of this flurry of ideation we had a plan to work off of. With some visual cues to help prep our teams for their various projects, we were ready for Day 2.
The first build day is sometimes a bit… rough? While the job always gets done, the first bit oftentimes results in some errors, but Riverbend was up to the task!
This is what a hard-working group of motivated students can do in only 1 morning:
We were floored with the progress!
The next two days were spent finishing off the parthenon, solidifying puzzles, building the Agora marketplace (shops) and adding decor.
Friday featured a showcase with the Grade 4s and 5s, who were so excited to come and try the room they had witnessed being built throughout the week. (We were in a very high-traffic spot in the school and turned a lot of heads!)
I think it’s safe to say this is the first free-standing structure we’ve built with students where adults could walk underneath unencumbered! Cool, eh? Here’s what the finished product looked like.
One of the things we love most about Mobile Escape residencies is when we hear stories like the one I heard about a student we will call Seamus.
The Assistant Principal approached us at one point in the process and let us know about how Seamus struggles in class. For the sake of anonymity we won’t disclose the particulars, but let’s just say there were many obstacles to this student’s success.
Well, during this residency, Seamus noticed that our puzzle team was having trouble and so, without being asked, they stepped up to the plate and helped to create one of the most challenging and innovative puzzles in the room - and perhaps by any Grade 6 student we’ve ever seen. Seamus saw that it got done from start to finish and was fully engaged the entire week.
What a success!
The spark of wonder was lit in Seamus and they now have more confidence to continue on their learning journey.
This is just another reason why we love the Mobile Escape room residency program.
Thank you Riverbend Elementary for having us for such a great week together!