When teaching students about the prefix, root and suffix of a word, create a scavenger hunt word game. Break the children up into three groups and give each group different parts to various words. Have them search for the items throughout the classroom by working together to discover what the words actually are. For example, "re" is the prefix, "play" is the root word and "ing" is the suffix for "replaying." When studying vowel sounds, hide items in the classroom that begin with that sound. For the short "a" sound, children will find an apple, a cap, addition problems and an attendance sheet, for example.
If a report is written on Christopher Columbus, for example, have the child bring in an Italian flag, small ships and a map, and hide them in the classroom. After the student reads the report out loud, his classmates go on a hunt and, trying to remember pertinent information in the report, search for relevant objects in the classroom. Create a city council Internet scavenger hunt (see "Resources" for an example). Pair the students into groups and have them search for important city council information and later give short speeches on city happenings.
Practice spelling and pronunciation by sending students with their parents on a scavenger hunt for groceries. Supply children with pictures of grocery store items and see if they can find the items on the list and spell them correctly. Or give students clues that represent items in a store and have them find those things. For example, clues to an orange are "something you peel," "perfectly round" and "used in a common breakfast juice." Students will use their phonics skills to sound out the spellings of the words.
Reading poetry to the class is one way to disguise clues to a scavenger hunt. Children need to use listening skills to figure out what the clues are and then search for items that represent the poem's meaning. Or try an Author Scavenger Hunt, where students select an author they like and are instructed to find out more information about the person in a limited amount of time. Help the students navigate the Internet and search in the school library for additional information to share with the class.