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Breakout Boxes - Gone Digital

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What Is Digital Access? Learn More - Breakout EDU

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LEVEL-UP LEARNING WITH BREAKOUT EDU EDUCATIONAL DIGITAL GAMES.

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When you create a Breakout EDU Digital Game or click on the "Share" button for the game you will see the screen below.

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Learn how to navigate the Breakout EDU Platform.

Learn how to create classes, managing classes, adding games to the library and creating games.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to info@BreakoutEDU.com

Creating digital Games

The Digital Game builder on the Breakout EDU platform allows users to create digital games to play with students.

Games can be found at platform.breakoutedu.com by navigating through the subject packs or using the search bar.

Creating & Managing Classes

Managing Class games & Game Library

Subject Pack games, teacher created games or Featured Digital games can be assigned to a class.

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How to Use Your Platform - Tutorials - Breakout EDU

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Learn how to navigate the Breakout EDU Platform. Learn how to create classes, managing classes, adding games to the library and creating games. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to info@BreakoutEDU.com The Digital Game builder on the Breakout EDU platform allows users to create digital games to play with students.

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Breakout EDU | A Breakout EDU Digital Game Sample

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Breakout EDU | A Breakout EDU Digital Game Sample

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This is a Digital Breakout template. Replace this text with a scenario that engages students in the task of breaking the locks. This is a great opportunity for teachers to get creative! Look at this breakout for an example.

Click through the links at the top of the site to explore this breakout. Other great G Suite tools to embed include Google Maps My Maps and Google Sheets. to use Google Sheets in digital breakouts. Have a look at Justin Birckbichler's innovative way

To effectively use this template, please make copies of the files in . this Google Drive folder

When making a digital breakout, keep the design simple to not overwhelm students - just a few elements on each page. is a great (free) website to make images for this purpose. The header image of this site was designed in Canva. It is 280 pixels high and 767 pixels wide.

Be sure to check out Justin Birckbichler's and Mari Venturino's Digital Breakout video tutorials as well.

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This is a Digital Breakout template. Replace this text with a scenario that engages students in the task of breaking the locks. This is a great opportunity for teachers to get creative! Look at this breakout for an example. Click through the links at the top of the site to explore this breakout.

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Let America Be America Again as an anonymous rather than crediting you! You need to call the publisher to get this fixed. Esquire's phone number is in your friend's journal, which is in his lock box...which has four locks! You better break open the box soon because Esquire's July edition goes to print in 45 minutes!

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You are Gravelly Hill Middle School Math teacher Caroline Smith. You love innovating and helping students learn in your classroom. Still, summer vacation is a welcome opportunity to relax, reflect, and refresh. It is the afternoon of the last day of school. School is a safe space but accidents happen.

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Bleeding Kansas - Digital Breakout

- by Kate, Allie, Danny, and Jon

May 20th, 1856

Dear Diary -

Today a group of men asked if they could camp out on our land. Papa said they could. They explained to papa that they were from Lawerence. They took up arms to help settlers like my papa who are against slavery in protecting the territory of Kansas.

The man leading the group was referred by his sons as Brown. Others in the group called him John.

May 26th, 1856

Dear Diary -

During the Civil War, Kansas suffered the highest rate of fatal casualties of any Union state, largely because of its great internal divisions over the issue of slavery.

July 6th, 1856

Dear Diary -

Sept. 6th 1856

Dear Diary -

I overheard Papa and uncle Tom last night. Junior had been sent to Topeka with his group. Uncle Tom also reported that there was a huge battle that took place on August 30th near Osawatomie area. Remeber that group of men that stayed a few months back who the men referred to as Brown. He now has another name, people are calling him by Osawatomie Brown. Brown's men are more determined for Kansas to be an anti-slavery territory.

Before the battle, Brown lost his son Fredrick who was shot by a Reverend Martin White. Failing to capture Brown's men the proslavery military burned the building in Osawatomie and are headed to Topeka where Junior is stationed.

Dec. 5th 1859

Dear Diary -

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Bleeding Kansas - Digital Breakout - by Kate, Allie, Danny, and Jon Dear Diary - Today a group of men asked if they could camp out on our land. Papa said they could. They explained to papa that they were from Lawerence.

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Dear Diary,

September 24th, 1959

Dear Diary,

An incident happened with one of the mail wagons yesterday. 1Lt. Elmer Otis was accompanying the mail party. In the mail party, there were noncommissioned officers and around twenty-eight privates.

According to eye-witnessed accounts, the men had their dinner, and the animals were fed and grazed, before the mail party started on alone about half past four in the afternoon. A little over five miles along the road about 15 mounted Kiowas galloped at full tilt out of a ravine which the mail wagon had just passed. The Indians, when they came up to the wagon, appeared to be friendly, asking for sugar and crackers, which they were given as a matter of custom. But when they demanded more and more with increasing insolence, the members of the mail party, outnumbered as they were five to one, went on the alert.

One of the Kiowas suddenly seized hold of my buddy William Cole, but the mail company employee broke away. For this resistance, the Indians began shooting their guns; Cole was wounded in the head and left arm, and Lawrence Smith, sitting on the driver's seat with reins in hand, was shot through the heart. This was followed by a barrage from 10 or 20 guns, but, amazingly enough, neither Cole nor Conductor Michael Smith was hit. Cole quickly dragged Lawrence Smith's body back into the wagon, jumped on the driver's seat, and frantically urged the mules to top speed back towards Pawnee fork. Conductor Smith was on a mule riding alongside, whipping up the team, and it was sometime before the Kiowas overtook them.

Cole made it to the camp a little after 1 a.m. After he has rested we will head a party to the scene and bury the men that didn't make it.

Dear Diary,

December 10th, 1859

Dear Diary,

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln visited the Planters Hotel in Leavenworth a few days back? The Planters hotel is known as the gathering place for pro-slavery forces. Lincoln I guess thought that it was a good idea to stop there during his campaign and bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. president. Lincoln stood on the steps of the hotel and urged the voters not to use violence but t use their vote at the ballot box to keep slavery from expanding int the territory.

I have a feeling that Lincoln will become president some day. I support his views about slavery.

May 10th, 1860

Dear Diary,

We have been ordered to relocate and build buildings that are more stable than the sod building located at the camp. We will be moving about two and a half miles west of the camp. In honor of Colonel B.F. Larned who is currently the paymaster-general of the United States Army, they will name the fort " Fort Larned".

I overheard Franklin discussing possible building materials. I believe we will try to construct the new buildings out of mud bricks.

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Dear Diary, Dear Diary, An incident happened with one of the mail wagons yesterday. 1Lt. Elmer Otis was accompanying the mail party. In the mail party, there were noncommissioned officers and around twenty-eight privates. According to eye-witnessed accounts, the men had their dinner, and the animals were fed and grazed, before the mail party started on alone about half past four in the afternoon.

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Build your website, build your success

From tech hurdles big and small to business growth tips, help from our Customer Success team is just an email, chat, or phone call away. Begin with Weebly's free website builder and lean on us for help along the way.

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Weebly is the easiest way to create a website, store or blog

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Weebly's free website builder makes it easy to build a website, blog, or online store. Find customizable designs, domains, and eCommerce tools for any type of business using our website builder.

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Your website, your business, your future｜Wix.com

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It starts with a website. Build on a platform that gives you the freedom to create, design, and grow online exactly the way you want.

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Smore | Communicate effectively with interactive school newsletters

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Cut through the noise and communicate effectively with Smore. Create interactive newsletters that parents and staff actually read. Get started with free school newsletter templates.

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Open Canvas

Create, organize, and move freely on an open canvas. Create seamless presentations without the restrictions of linear slides.

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Choose from millions of images, stickers, GIFs, and icons from Unsplash and Giphy.

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Presentations and videos with engaging visuals for hybrid teams | Prezi Present

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Welcome to Prezi, the presentation software that uses motion, zoom, and spatial relationships to bring your ideas to life and make you a great presenter.

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ThingLink: Create unique experiences with interactive images, videos & 360° media

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Easily create interactive and immersive visual experiences for online communication and learning. Start a free trial!

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How to Create a Google Form with Validation

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How to Create a Google Form with Validation

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Voki | Speaking Characters For Education

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Creating Your Breakout Website & Your Digital Lock
You can likely use any website creator to make a digital breakout, but Google Sites is probably the best option and it is what I use. It's free, you have access to it if you have a Gmail account, it's straightforward and simple to use, and you'll easily be able to integrate a Google Form, which acts as the digital "lock" for the breakout.

Your Google Form can have as many "locks" in it as you'd like. A "lock" is a field where students will enter a code. The code can be numbers, letters, or some combination of both.

You can find a video tutorial about how to create a Google site here, how to embed items from Google Drive into your Google Site here, and how to create a "locked" Google Form here.

Planning Out Your Breakout
Think about the information you want to include in your breakout. What do topics do you want students to learn about? What skills would you like them to practice? Do you want them to read an article about an author's life? Do you want them to review Greek and Latin roots and their meanings? Once you have some ideas of what you want students to do, you can start to think about how you will lead students to those pieces of information and/or tasks.

In a digital breakout, you usually want to lead students to one of three places.
1. You can lead them directly to a code that will open a lock.
2. You can lead them directly to a clue that will help them figure out the code to open a lock.
3. You can lead them to another URL that will give them a clue to help them figure out the code to open a lock.
There are a few different ways to lead students to these three things.
Using Text
One way to lead students to information or a task is by using text. You can put text directly on the main page of your Google Site or create a Google Doc and link that to the main page. Be sure to make the sharing permissions of any Google Doc "View Only" so students don't accidentally edit it. You can also create a link that forces students to make a copy of the Doc which they can then edit.

You can also create fake emails, fake text message conversations, fake concert tickets or airplane tickets, fake store receipts, fake newspaper articles, or fake, signs, ransom notes, or diplomas. You can then embed an image your fake item on your Google Site.

Some ideas for manipulating text to spell out a URL, clue, or code:
1. Use capital letters
2. Use bolded text or a different color text
3. Underline certain letters
4. If it is a shorter piece of text, omit letters
5. Use the first letters of every paragraph, sentence, or line of a poem

Using Articles, Video, or Songs
Another way to lead students to information is by using resources that already exist on the internet, like articles, videos, songs, etc. Find articles, videos, or songs that relate to the topic or skill your breakout is focused on. In an article, find a key word or important number to use as a code to unlock one of the locks. In a video or song, look or listen for a key word or important number to use as a code.

Since articles, videos, and songs are all things you cannot edit, you need to include a link to these types of resources somewhere on your breakout site. You can link text or images on Google Sites. This video shows you how to embed a link in text and the process for linking an image is similar.

If you are sharing a link to a video, you may want to run it through SafeShare.TV to remove any advertisements and comments to prevent your students from being exposed to inappropriate content. You can also edit the description of the video with SafeShare.TV to include a clue or code. Just be sure that your district does not block the site.

Using Questions
You can also lead students to information by having them answer questions about information they've read, watched, or listened to or by having them answer questions that allow them to practice a skill.

Some ideas for using questions to lead to a URL, clue, or code:
1. Have a series of multiple choice questions in a Google Doc with the answers spelling out a code (i.e. ACDBA).
2. Create a letter/number code to accompany several questions. Beneath each letter of the answer, have a corresponding number. I create a table with two rows in a Google Doc with students spelling out the answer in the top row and the corresponding numbers below. You can then give a series of numbers at the bottom of the Google Doc that will spell out a word that has no question accompanying it. Students will have to use the letter/number combinations from their other answers to figure it out.
3. Create a quiz using Google Forms. Once students have correctly answered all of the questions, you can give URLS, clues, or codes in the feedback when they view their scores.

Using Visuals
You can get creative with images and other visuals to give students a URL, clue, or code. Here's a few ways to do that:

1. Hide words in a mandala or a snote.
2. Select an image to turn into a puzzle using Jigsaw Planet or using Google Drawings (here's an example)
3. Link parts of an image in Google Drawings or using ThingLink
4. Have students look for something using the street view of Google Maps

There's tons of other ideas and resources shared here on the Breakout EDU site. Good luck planning and creating your own breakout!

You can find all of my breakout resources here. I'm also happy to take requests or collaborate on creating one; just send me an email.

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The Literary Maven: Resources For Creating Digital Breakouts: Ideas For Making Your Own Activities

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Looking for a new and creative way of having your students learn a new topic or reinforce skills? Breakouts are a great way to make content more engaging and encourage cooperation among students.

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Google Forms - create and analyze surveys, for free.

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Google Forms - create and analyze surveys, for free.

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List of assessment and rubric information

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Learn how to create digital breakouts for your students!

What is a Digital Breakout?

A digital breakout uses the same concept of solving a series of clues to unlock locks as the physcial breakout does. However, with a digital breakout, there is no need for the equipment. All that is necessary is a device connected to the Internet. Most digital breakouts will function better on a notebook computer rather than a phone. The best thing about digital breakouts? There is relatively NO cost to putting one together!

Digital Breakout Resources

Tom Mullaney's How to Video

Lynne Herr's Video on Creating Clues for Beginners

Jana G. Dixon, LMS, NBCT

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Learn how to create digital breakouts for your students! A digital breakout uses the same concept of solving a series of clues to unlock locks as the physcial breakout does. However, with a digital breakout, there is no need for the equipment. All that is necessary is a device connected to the Internet.

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Thanks to Tanya Coffey, and her holiday themed digital breakouts, I was inspired to create my own set of digital breakout games. Give it a go and keep checking back for all 50.

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Get started with digital breakouts for education. Sample breakouts, tutorials, and tools for easy creation.

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Breakouts are huge right now, but they are also a bit intimidating for teachers to create and implement. Just programing the locks for each kit has caused me anxiety. How would I find the time and patience to set all the locks? How would I reset everything in time for the next class? A digital breakout with Google Forms is the perfect solution. Read on for ideas and resources to create clues, and step-by-step instructions on how to set up a Google Form with locks and different pages.

I started to write this out as part of the blog post, but it was too difficult to explain in words. Instead I made a 10-minute video that walks you through each step from start to finish to create your locked Google Form.

Click the image below to check it out at YouTube.

Breakouts are really fun, but I also wanted to make sure mine was relevant to a subject beyond just team building. I created one for Macbeth (click here to check it out at my TpT store) and the first step was deciding what content to focus on. I finally settled on iambic pentameter, the Globe, Gunpowder Plot, theme, and Shakespearean insults. I had a few more ideas, but I couldn't figure out how to make the clues work.

In the end I only went with five topics since I expect students to spend about 10 minutes on each topic. I suggest having a few extra ideas from the start so you can easily drop the ones that are too difficult to turn into clues.

Click here for a one-stop-shop list of FREE websites and apps to creatively make clues for your Breakout. This is where I found the ticket and text message generator listed below. Lots of ideas and resources and they're all free!

Fake Concert Tickets

I used fake concert tickets to help teach about the Globe. I made theater tickets for a handful of Shakespeare's plays and included as much factual detail as I could: the name of Shakespeare's theater group (both groups!), correct dates for the plays, admission fee for the pit versus bench, and even location of the theater and Hampton Court Palace for their performance for King James I. As students analyze the tickets for clues, they can't help but learn all of these details about the Globe and the plays.

I turned them into clues by hiding directions in quotes from the plays. Students need the right set of directions to open the lock. You could also have clues hidden in event codes, the names of events, or additional comments on the tickets. Click here to make up your own.

Fake Text Messages

When I saw the text message generator, I knew I wanted to use that for Shakespearean insults. I sorted through to find a few dozen insults from various plays - ones I knew the students would enjoy. I looked for a common theme in some of the insults and created a clue from there. I also like the idea of having students manipulate the clues, so I cut out all the comments and have the students reorganize them in the correct order. The correct order will give them the answer to the clue. Here's an example of what it looks like when the students first begin the Breakout.

You can use this to have students order events or quotes for a text, identify different characters by the quote, or you can hide a message in a text message that students need to sort through. For mine, I included letters on each text that spell a word when correctly lined up. The word is the key for the digital lock. Click here to make up your own.

Podcasts

The website 5minutehistory.com is perfect to introduce students to a topic and have them pull information for a clue. As the title implies, it is not in-depth and can be heard in just five minutes. I used this for the Gunpowder Plot and had students get various names as the key to the digital lock. To give it the feel of a puzzle, I used the same letter for each name I wanted: the mark, the mole, the mastermind, and so on. It took some extra time, but I did not want this to feel like a worksheet in any way.

I also like this website because you can listen, read the transcript, or both. The more choice the students have the better.

Posters

Have you tried Canva.com yet? You need to if you haven't. It's free and you can easily create engaging posters to display around the room as clues. I used this with theme to create something similar to movie posters. I used three different stories that all have the same theme as Macbeth in order to introduce the theme.

You can hide clues in posters or create a handful of posters that all have some sort of similarity that is the clue.

Rebus Clues

Made easy using www.myrebus.com. Here is an example of what you can do with rebus clues.

Could you figure it out? It says "Look under the teacher's chair for a clue." And then I would have an envelope with a clue taped under my chair. Going this route you would want to do a different location for each group so they don't catch on to what is happening.

Number Clues

Want to incorporate some math into your clues? Try this website (click here) where I was able to quickly make the worksheet below. You could designate certain answers as the key for the lock.

Regardless of the subject you are teaching, this is a good option if you are short for clues. In groups of students, it's likely one or a few enjoy number problems like this one!

I've seen a few different ways to do this. I like to include a certificate for an ice cream from the cafeteria for each Breakout winner, but I also like to document their success for a more intrinsic motivator. I'm attaching here a few free Breakout celebration posters students can pose with for pictures. You can post the photos on a bulletin board, include them on a school web page or Instagram account, or just let students take selfies to document their awesomeness.

Creating activities like this one has actually helped me evade the elusive teacher burnout. Sure, it's more work for me than creating a worksheet or even a gallery walk. But I enjoyed unleashing my creativity, and my students had a blast while they were learning and collaborating! An awesome lesson never fails in helping me out of a slump.

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How to Create a Digital Breakout for the Classroom - Engaging and Effective Teaching

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Ideas and resources to create digital breakout clues and a link to a how-to video for step-by-step instructions on how to make locked pages in Google Forms.