UPPER CANADA DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
Night at the Museum Brings Interactive EQAO Challenge to Grade 4 UCDSB Classrooms

The Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) is continuing to build momentum around its interactive EQAO Challenge Quest series with the launch of a new Grade 4 experience, Night at the Museum.

Following the success of December's Grade 3 Dino Dig Disaster and Grade 6 AI Gone Rogue, the board is expanding the initiative to include Grades 1, 2, 4 and 5. The newest addition invites Grade 4 students to become junior detectives tasked with restoring a museum after artifacts are misplaced, and a mysterious ancient key appears.

Inspired by the concept of escape rooms, the Challenge Quests combine interactive video elements with curriculum-aligned math and literacy questions. In Night at the Museum, students travel through themed exhibits including Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Inuit, West African and Inca displays solving nine EQAO-style questions that require mathematical reasoning, reading comprehension, inference and writing skills.

"After receiving lots of positive feedback about our Grade 3 and 6 Challenge Quests that were sent out in December, we wanted to build on that momentum as we created new Challenge Quests for Grades 1, 2, 4 and 5," said Rob Scott, Principal of EQAO and Student Success. "We try to link the topics to Social Studies where possible, while following the same format of including mostly math challenges with a handful of literacy challenges."

Designed to be classroom-ready and easy for teachers to implement, the quests encourage collaboration, problem-solving, and discussion of multiple strategies. Teachers pause the video between questions, allowing students to work individually or in teams before advancing to the next exhibit.

Nicole Mitchell, a Grade 4/5 teacher at Meadowview Public School, completed the Museum Challenge with her class and said students were highly engaged.

"The kids thought it was fun and they really enjoyed it. They're excited to try the next one," said Mitchell. "Activities like this expose students to the types of questions they'll see on EQAO, but in a way that makes math enjoyable. When students are having fun, they're more willing to participate and take risks in their learning."

The UCDSB plans to release another round of Challenge Quests for Grades 1 through 6 later this Spring, with a Grade 7 version also in development.

UCDSB's continued investment in innovative, interactive learning tools reflects its commitment to strengthening math and literacy achievement while fostering student engagement and confidence in the classroom.