Class activity: Expedition Log Unscramble
Deep-sea exploration and mining
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🌊 Deep-Sea Expedition Log Unscramble
Make strong sentences with So & Such
1. Rules of the Game
Activity Briefing
- 1 Divide the class into small teams of 3 to 4 students as expedition loggers.
- 2 Hand out one full set of 6 scrambled cards and log sheets to each team.
- 3 Tell teams that every sentence needs the verb before the subject, except Card 5.
- 4 Keep time strictly using the 20-minute plan and circulate to facilitate peer discussion.
- 5 Have teams swap log sheets for peer marking using the provided Teacher Key.
Expedition Instructions
- 1 Your goal is to unscramble deep-sea expedition log cards into dramatic inverted sentences.
- 2 Rearrange the scrambled word tiles on each card and write the final log on your log sheet.
- 3 Card 5 keeps normal word order. "Little" is the subject, so it does not swap places.
- 4 Earn 2 points for the exact sentence, or 1 if just two tiles are swapped, plus 1 bonus point for each Unit word.
- 5 The team with the highest final log score wins the Deep-Sea Expedition Badge!
2. Timed Plan (20 Minutes Total)
Hand out the cards and log sheets. Name a score keeper in each team.
Read rules aloud & highlight inversion patterns.
Teams unscramble Cards 1-6 onto log sheet.
Swap log sheets with partner team for marking.
Reveal Teacher Key & calculate final scores.
Wrap up with closing questions & announce winner.
3. Expedition Log Tile Cards
4. Log Sheet
📝 Write your sentences in the table and list the Unit words you used (seabed, trench, sediment, uncharted, submersible, sonar, vessel, mineral, ore, mining):
| Card | Your sentence | Unit words used | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | ________________________________________ | ______________ | __ / 2 |
| #2 | ________________________________________ | ______________ | __ / 2 |
| #3 | ________________________________________ | ______________ | __ / 2 |
| #4 | ________________________________________ | ______________ | __ / 2 |
| #5 | ________________________________________ | ______________ | __ / 2 |
| #6 | ________________________________________ | ______________ | __ / 2 |
5. Scoring Rules
Exact Sentence
Award 2 points for the exact sentence, with every tile in the right place.
Minor Swap
Award 1 point if the sentence is correct except for just two swapped tiles.
Unit Word Bonus
Award +1 bonus point for every valid Unit word correctly embedded in the log sentence.
6. Inversion Sentence Starters
Finish each sentence out loud or on paper. Use the same word order and a Unit word:
7. Teacher Answer Key
The six sentences, and a mistake to listen for:
Incorrect S-V order: "so deep the trench is that..."
The verb has to come before the subject: "so deep is the trench that..."
8. Activity Variations & Differentiation
Anchor Words
Provide the starter word (So / Such) and the main verb pre-anchored on the whiteboard to guide struggling loggers.
Standard Unscramble
Run the standard activity as printed: all tiles shuffled on cards; teams construct complete inverted sentences independently.
No Word Tiles
Remove word tiles entirely! Give teams only prompt keywords (sonar, faint, miss) to construct full inverted logs from scratch.
Extra Log Creation
Challenge fast teams to write 2 additional original log entries using target Unit words (uncharted, vessel, ore) with inversion.
9. Reflection & Closing Questions
1. Why do writers use inversion with "So" and "Such" in expedition logs and formal report writing?
2. Which log card was the trickiest to unscramble, and why is Card 5 different from the others?
3. How does changing the word order change the feeling of a log sentence about a deep-sea discovery?
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