Shakespeare Scavenger Hunt

The students will use the internet to learn basic biographical facts about Shakespeare in the form of an internet scavenger hunt. This acitivity is a great introduction to a Shakespearean unit of study.

The students should use research skills and demonstrate a basic understanding of the biography of Shakespeare.

Internet, handouts, pens/pencils, and a prize (candy).

1. For the firt three minutes, have the students think/pair/share a brainstormed list of what they know about Shakespeare and Elizabethan England. Spend the next few minutes discussing as a class some of the information presented in the sharing experience.

2. Explain to the students that they will have 33 minutes to complete the scavenger hunt. The group that gets the most correct answers wins a prize. Remind them that the final product is homework.

3. Distribute the handout and divide the students into pairs of groups of threes.

Handout:

Complete the following internet scavenger hunt. Use the guide questions to help you create the final product. For the final product, create a graphic organizer, poster, or cube that presents the information that you learned in the scavenger hunt.

Use the following website for your scavenger hunt:

www.shakespeare.com 1. What was life like in Renaissance London?

2. How was the life that the people lived similar and different to our lives today?

3. How many plays did Shakespeare write?

4. How are his plays classified?

5. How was the globe theater different from today’s theaters?

6. How much did folklore influence Shakespeare?

7. Describe Shakespeare’s language.

8. How does Shakespeare use word play?

9. Why do the sentence sound funny?

10. Is there a similar theme that runs through his plays?

11. Should he be one of “the best” writers based on what you’ve read? Why?

4. At the end of the time period, go over the questions and reward the winning group or groups.

5. Assign the final product as homework.

6. Use the final product as review activity during another class.

Grade by participation or accuracy using school/district procedures and grading policies. Do not penalize students who have worked dilegently but were unable to complete the hunt. Those students who were off task and unable to complete the hunt should be penalized.