Are you looking for beginning of the year reading activities or 7th grade back to school teambuilding activities middle school students will love? The First Day Rumor, a crack the code back to school escape room, includes 7th grade reading comprehension passages with 18 standards-aligned multiple choice questions and 4 text-dependent logic puzzles designed to help students practice key 7th grade reading skills while solving a school mystery.
Get students engaged in this fiction and nonfiction reading comprehension activity that centers around a first-day rumor at Bayou View Middle School. When Principal Parker announces a surprise assembly that will “change how the school operates,” students immediately start guessing. It isn’t long until rumors begin swirling and rapidly turn the first day into chaos and confusion. Students must read carefully, separate facts from assumptions, evaluate evidence, and solve each challenge. Will students uncover the truth behind the mysterious crate before the first day spirals completely out of control?
Students will practice plot elements + characters, claims and evidence, author’s purpose, point of view, central idea and supporting details, citing textual evidence, and making inferences in the first part of each challenge. They must then use their multiple choice answers to solve the puzzle and unlock the next clue.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Resource:
✅ Teacher Guide with Clear Directions & Setup Tips
✅ Print + Digital Options Included
✅ Built-In Collaboration, Problem Solving, & Reading Comprehension Practice
✅ Standards-Aligned 7th Grade Reading Practice
✅ Fiction + Nonfiction Texts Connected to One Engaging Storyline
✅ No Prep and Editable Challenges
✍ What’s Included:
1. Teacher Tips and Suggestions Guide + Set-Up Instructions
- Teaching Ideas + FAQs
- Print, Digital, and Hybrid Setup Options
- Escape Room Breakdown
- Storyline Advancement Pages
- Challenge Breakdowns with Answer Keys
- Student Grouping Cards
- Challenge Hint Cards
- Google Slides + Forms Breakdown + Links
2. The First Day Rumor: 7th Grade Edition Escape Room Materials
- Student Directions + Escape Room Mission
- Challenge #1: Homeroom: The First Spark
- Skill Focus: Plot + Characters
- Text: Fiction Story — “The Day the Crate Arrived” by Kai Parker
- 4 multiple choice questions
- Polybius puzzle
- Challenge #2: The Rumor Spreads…
- Skill Focus: Claims + Evidence
- Text: Campus Connect Discussion Thread
- 2- Part A / Part B multiple choice questions
- Alpha Count puzzle
- Challenge #3: The Article Drops…
- Skill Focus: Author’s Purpose + Point of View
- Text: Student Newspaper Article — “What is Principal Parker Hiding?”
- 4 multiple choice questions
- Word Scramble Puzzle
- Challenge #4: Surprise…Safety Hold Mode!
- Skill Focus: Central Idea + Supporting Details
- Text: Daily Report — “How to Stop Misinformation Before It Spreads”
- 3- Part A/Part B multiple choice questions
- The Final Challenge
- Students must use clues from all four challenges to escape.
- Print Materials + Google Slides and Google Forms Materials
- Final Reveal Storyline
✋ How Can You Use ELA Test Prep Escape Room?
- First Day of School Activity
- First Week of School Activity
- Back to School ELA Activity
- Beginning of the Year ELA Review
- Middle School ELA Team-Building
- 7th Grade Reading Skills Review
- Informal Reading Pre-Assessment
- Reading Comprehension Practice
- Middle School Sub Plans
- Early Finishers Activities for Middle School
