Technology: The Breakout

Hi guys! It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Anyway, now I’m in Sixth Grade Technology. I just started the class in the beginning of last week and it’s been really fun! A few days a ago, we did this really cool breakout.

Apparently, the custodians locked the keys to the safety glasses box in one of the breakout cases and we had to get them out. We had a certain amount of time to do this. In addition to the three locks that we had to open, there was also a separate tiny box that wasn’t necessary but could make our lives easier. The class split up into two teams to solve the breakout. Luckily, each team had a different box in which the key might be in, so we didn’t get in each others’ ways.

The first clue was a piece of paper that showed a story about a kid who broke a bunch of technology rules. We were also given a sheet showing which number these rules were. Using this sheet, we counted the rules that were broken and used their numbers to open the lock.

For the second lock, we found a sheet of paper that had some good rules and bad rules. The good rules made a path and we used this path to get to safety. The directions that this path took were the answer for the second lock. We got the right combination immediately but my team didn’t pull the lock properly so we took a while to open the lock.

Right before we opened the final lock, my friend came up to the team and said that she had opened the box with the hint inside of it. The team that I was in crowded around my friend and took out the hint. It said to go to the sign that said ‘Safety always comes first.‘ In addition, there was a flashlight inside the box. We shined the flashlight at the sign and saw that there was marker written over the sign. This writing was only visible if you flashed the light on it. The word safety was boxed with the marker. Seeing this, we realized that the last lock, a word lock, was using the word ‘safety’ as its password.

We opened the lock and found that the key had been placed in our box! Even though the other team had opened their box first, we had both opened it in less than the time given, so technically, both teams won.

This activity taught us how to work together and showed us that you have to listen to everyone’s ideas. Even though it was hard, it was a great start to the tech class!