Do You Have Your Library Card?

Oh no! 

It’s Mateo’s first day at a brand new school, and he’s already lost his library card. 

Lucky for Mateo, the school librarian has crafted a clever way he can recover his card number and borrow his books.

Help Mateo Find His Library Card by Solving the Clues

This escape room makes for an ideal rainy day activity, library exploration exercise, and even a lead-up to Read Across America Day (March 2)! 

Divide students into pairs or teams and provide each with a Study Book. Each book contains four challenges that reveal a shape and a number that students will use in the final maze to retrieve Mateo’s student number.

Whatever the reason you incorporate it in your lesson, students will use teamwork and problem-solving skills to develop their vocabulary and language. 

Interactive Final Clue

This resource also includes an interactive PowerPoint intended to be used as the final part of the mystery.

1. Display the PowerPoint on a screen in the classroom or library as the students complete the clues.
2. Once students have completed all four clues and think they have Mateo’s correct student number, they can attempt to enter it into the keypad to see if it is a success.
3. The PowerPoint easily resets to allow multiple students to take turns seeing if their code is correct.

Scaffolding + Extension Tips 

We’ve designed this activity with differentiated versions of the Study Books to accommodate individual students’ abilities. Shapes on the front cover identify the three versions as follows:

• circle version—literal comprehension
• triangle version—inferential comprehension, halving single-digit numbers
• hexagon version—inferential comprehension, basic math operations.

Note: all versions of the Book Shelves activity require students to sort books into fiction and nonfiction based on their titles.

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF, PowerPoint, or Google Slides versions of this resource. Print on cardstock for durability. 

Suitable for Remote Learning

The interactive Google Slides version of this resource means that no student has to miss out on the fun! Simply share the appropriately leveled Google Slide version with your students so they can help Mateo find his lost library card from the comfort of their home learning area! 

Sustainability Tips

• Print the Study Books double-sided, flipping on the short edge to save paper and keep students from losing pages. 
• Print Study Books on cardstock and slip them into dry-erase sleeves. Students can record their answers with a dry-erase marker, then erase and reuse.

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