Teacher’s Brain

SPY CLASSROOM THEMED DAY

 

It’s the end of the year and you want to make a classroom theme day for your students that will leave a lasting impression. A spy-themed educational day may be just the perfect day for you to plan with your students! You can motivate and reward students while sneaking in some academics. This is a great theme for any elementary grade level.  My kindergarten students said, “This is the best day of my life!” Scroll to the bottom to see ALL the photos from our day.

SPY DAY PROCEDURE

Once they accept the mission, they will make their id badge. Place red or white streamers or yarn across a doorway or other area for them to prove they can make it through the “lasers” without setting off the alarm before their mission begins. They step over the yarn. Then, give them each a Top Secret Journal, a pencil, flashlight and a passport before they start their centers.

Secret Spy ID for Kids

I created all the resources I needed in my classroom and uploaded them the following year to bring you something you can easily use with your students.  I like the idea of having centers with some parent volunteers, so I created six centers for students to complete in any order during the day.  Food is also important to our themed day.  Parents brought in a spy cake, water bottles with truth serum labels, juice packs labeled Adrenaline Pack, and other “classified” munchies!

THE CENTERS

  1. Create Your Own Secret Agent ID Badge
  2. The Secret Agent Fingerprint LAB
  3. Pick Your Alias and Memorization Station
  4. The Photo Booth with Disguises
  5. Write the DARK Room
  6. I SPY Sight Words Using a Magnifying Glass

spy day

SPY DAY PROCEDURE

Students arrive dressed in black or a suit to mimic a spy.  There is James Bond music playing in the background as the enter the room. Lights are dim. I tell the students they will be asked to accept an important mission that is impossible.  They need to recover a stolen item that you know they will miss. They need to work as a team to recover it by creating a new identity, finding clues and being very quiet.

Once they accept the mission, they will make their id badge. Place red or white streamers or yarn across a doorway or other area for them to prove they can make it through the “lasers” without setting off the alarm before their mission begins. They step over the yarn. Then, give them each a Top Secret Journal, a pencil, flashlight and a passport before they start their centers.

Students will travel to the different centers while the spy music plays. Parents assist students in their fingerprint dusting lab, finding words around the room with their flashlight, taking pictures of them in the photo prop booth, picking an alias to memorize and the teacher’s job is quizzing them on their new identity to see if they can memorize their alias. I bought each child their own small flashlight and let them keep it.

Write Around the DARK ROOM

For the Write Around the DARK Room activity, I pick a phase that tells them to come to me and do something silly like jump up and down or tell me a secret code word like BANANA HANDS. Then, they get a clue envelope that they can’t OPEN until everyone finishes their centers.  If student finish early, they can do puzzles while they wait for others to finish. Then, they open their envelopes together and realize they must put the words in order to solve the mystery that tells them where to find the stolen item.

Students who complete all the centers get a Spy Certificate for completing the training. I let students watch a spy video and invite parents to celebrate with the snacks at the end of the day.

Spy Day will be a day students will remember forever!

Looking for MORE fun end-of-the-year themed days? Try a May the Fourth Star Wars Day.

Fingerprint Lab Center Spy Day
Fingerprint Lab
Truth Serum Spy Bottle Labels
I had these made for the class with the extra PTA money I had in my account.
Write the DARK ROOM Activity
SPY Disguise Booth

Write the Dark Room Spy Day
Find Spy Clues in the Classroom
Find CLUES around the room that tell you a secret phrase to get your clue.
Student finds the Missing Item for SPY DAY
They found the missing bunny.

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Engaging Students in Themed Days

There is no denying that the easiest way to keep students engaged is to have themed days in your classroom. Typical days I participate in through the school year are Polar Express Days, Snowed-In Days, May the 4th Be With You, The Ocean Festivals, The Thankful Festivals, and a Fall Festivals. The Fall Festival is where our team teaches the same fall lesson with a craftivity to the entire kindergarten as they rotate to each room.  There is always 100% engagement when themed days are utilized in the academic setting.

ESCAPE ROOMS

Escape rooms for elementary students are the latest educational themed day craze.  It is amazing to see kids working together to problem solve, find clues and the excitement it brings when they actually “escape the room.”  Most escape rooms use a video as a hook.  Here are the escape room themes I use in the primary classroom:

Sight Word Mystery

Numbers 1- 10

Comprehension

Save the Turtles

DINOSAUR Themed

Alphabet Mystery

Veterans Day

SPY DAY

Another great day which involves math, science, reading, writing and critical thinking skills is a SPY Day. This themed day motivates and rewards your students while sneaking in learning. Students dress up like secret agents, are given a mission to find a stolen object, walk through lasers, learn how to lift fingerprints, memorize a new alias and work as a team to discover clues to solve the mystery. Allowing the kids to dress like secret agents, really gets them engaged.

I keep the lights off and have them do their work with flashlights. I also invite parents to participate in the fun. When students see their parents having fun, they can’t help but be more positive about learning. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have extra help these days too! I’ve never had one themed day where there was a child not participating. It’s a lot of prep work for the teacher, but well worth the work. So, if you want your students engaged in learning, try to make learning fun by introducing a themed day. Click the picture below to find the printables for this themed day.


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