How do Treasure Hunt Books help children improve their reading comprehension?
Even students who are in the habit of “just reading the words” almost always focus on meaning when they read a Treasure Hunt Book because: (1) students want to solve the clues and win the game, and they can’t do it without focusing on meaning. (2) When students read a Treasure Hunt Book, they must solve the clue on the current page to find the next page to read. They can’t “just read the words” and turn the pages the way they can with other books.
One important part of reading comprehension is the ability to draw inferences from text. Students practice drawing inferences when they read Treasure Hunt Books because they can’t solve the clues without drawing inferences. And, if students have trouble solving a clue after the first reading, they have no choice but to re-read the clue. Rereading text builds fluency and comprehension, and it’s often essential to understanding challenging passages—not just in elementary school, but throughout life. Reading Treasure Hunt Books helps students build the important habit of rereading, as needed, at an early age.
What is “executive function” and how do Treasure Hunt Books help develop it?
“Executive function” refers to a set of skills that support the ability to plan ahead, follow multiple-step directions even if interrupted, stay focused despite distractions, and display self-control, among others. Hence, executive function is critical to academic, professional and personal success.
Learning and repeatedly executing the 3-step treasure hunt process supports the development of executive function. When children get interrupted or distracted while reading a Treasure Hunt Book, they must recall or figure out where they were in the process in order to resume. This too, helps them build executive function.
When children read other kinds of books, they can just “read the words” and keep turning the pages even if they aren’t focusing on or understanding the meaning of the words. Treasure Hunt Books motivate children to focus their attention on reading, and on the meaning of the words, because they can’t solve the clues without doing so. If they fail to solve the clue, they must re-read the clue with focus because, otherwise, they can’t find the next page to read. This, too, helps children develop executive function.
How does reading Treasure Hunt Books lift children’s self-confidence?
When children learn the treasure hunt process, they quickly realize that these books aren’t ordinary readers: they have a game-like design that requires not only reading text, but solving clues and more. Most children like a “gaming challenge” and, of course, they want to win the game.
The clues in the Level A Treasure Hunt Books are designed to be relatively easy to read and solve. Consequently, most children who can read these simple, short clues (with moderate or better fluency) solve them fairly easily, and each time they solve a clue, they get that “zing” of pleasure, satisfaction and excitement that comes with success. Many children are able to move on to the Level B Treasure Hunt Books, and this “promotion” to the next level increases their confidence, too.
How do Treasure Hunt Books inspire the joy of reading?
Many beginning readers who were not read to as children have yet to experience reading as a fun activity because learning to read can be frustrating and early reading materials tend to be boring due to the need to restrict the word usage. Most children love the game-like nature of Treasure Hunt Books and because the clues in Level A are short, use simple words, and are generally easy to solve, children with just a moderate level of reading fluency can usually succeed. Children get considerable pleasure and satisfaction every time they solve a clue—and they solve one clue after another in fairly quick succession. Consequently, even children who “don’t like to read” will sometimes love reading Treasure Hunt Books.
At what grade level are children ready to read Treasure Hunt Books?
Children learn to read at a wide variety of ages, so there is no specific age or grade at which children are ready to read Treasure Hunt Books. In field testing at an accomplished inner-city school toward the end of the school year, most of the students in a first-grade class were able to read Level A Treasure Hunt Books, and a few were able to move on to Level B. However, in field testing at another inner-city school, a large group of second and third graders struggled with the same Level A books.
Children are ready to read Treasure Hunt Books when they can read the clues with a moderate level of fluency, meaning they can read most of the words easily. In field testing, some exceptional Kindergarteners could read the Level A Treasure Hunt Books! However, it is far more typical for children to be ready sometime during the 2nd grade. English language learners and children who are reading-delayed (due to dyslexia or some other reason) are usually ready later, sometimes as late as the 5th or 6th grade.
Why aren’t the books sold separately?
Treasure Hunt Books are read in a completely different way from other books, so it’s critical for children to learn the hunt process by doing the hunts in Your First Treasure Hunt with adult support before reading other Treasure Hunt Books on their own. The Treasure Hunt Handbook for Teachers and Parents provides guidance for teaching the process as well as Answer Keys and other helpful information. Therefore, if you’re new to Treasure Hunt Books, it doesn’t make sense to buy just one without the above books.
If you already have the training book and Handbook, and you want to order books individually, just contact us. We’ll be happy to sell whatever books you want.
Is it realistic to teach an entire class of students the hunt process in one session?
Yes. During field testing, entire classes successfully learned the hunt process together. However, it’s best to have one copy of Your First Treasure Hunt for each student, so that each student can practice the process. If you have only a small number of copies, it’s better to teach the process in small groups. If absolutely necessary, pair up students to share a copy of the book.
How long does it take children to learn the treasure hunt process?
Typically, children complete the hunts in Your First Treasure Hunt in 15-30 minutes. Small groups tend to do it faster than large groups, and most children will master the process before they finish those hunts. Nonetheless, it’s best to have children complete both of the practice hunts with adult support before they read other Treasure Hunt Books on their own.
Why does the hunt process include writing down answers?
If you’re a parent or tutor reading a treasure hunt book with a child, one-on-one, then writing the answers isn’t necessary. But, if you want a child to read treasure hunt books on their own, then the answer sheets are an integral part of the “game,” and each completed answer sheet provides proof of success. Ideally, children trade each completed answer sheet for a small prize—the treasure—but prizes aren’t essential. Children get considerable satisfaction from filling in all the blanks on the answer sheet and thereby “winning the game.”
In a classroom, writing down answers is essential because it allows the teacher to quickly and easily see who’s succeeding and who needs help. In addition, learning and repeatedly executing the 3-step hunt process helps children build executive function. If children don’t write down their answers, it’s a shorter process and, therefore, less helpful in developing executive function.
How are the Treasure Hunt Book levels different from one another?
The Level A books are the easiest, Level B is more challenging, and so on. The primary differences are:
- Number of hunts per book: Level A books have just one hunt and, therefore, just one topic per book. The first two Level B books have two hunts; the third and fourth Level B books have three hunts. The Level C books have three longer hunts.
- Clue length: Most of the clues in Level A consist of two-stanza poems or a similar amount of prose; most of the clues in Level B consist of 3 stanzas; the clues in Level C consist of 3 or 4 stanzas or paragraphs of prose.
- Words used in clues: The word types in the clues are restricted by level, with word selection roughly based on the Orton-Gillingham scope and sequence. For example, the most advanced word family used in Level A is the “silent-e” family (game, like, Pete). Level B adds word families such as basic multi-syllable words (until, contest, Sunday) and “r” controlled syllables (barn, Bert, under). Level C adds word families such as ow-words (grow, below, snow) and ue-words (clue, blue, glue).
- Background knowledge needed: Children need to be familiar with the clue answers in order to be able to solve the clues. Hence, the clue answers in Level A books are things or actions that most very young children are familiar with: cat, dog, cup, toy, run, sing, etc. Some of the background knowledge needed for Level B is a bit more advanced, and so on.