King of the Dump!

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In this game, students will practice writing in a variety of forms and styles, both creative and informative.

Poor Man's Poetry - Players compose short poems to be read aloud on topics such as "dangerous street crossings" and "urban park rangers"

Emergency Management - Players will write short paragraphs to be shared about how the animal character they are playing as would survive common emergencies beleaguering  both animals and New York such as "A hurricane causes your home to flood" and "Your regular food source has been depleted"

Headline News - Players will write mock headlines and short article-like paragraphs based on actual news stories including "An owl has been broken out of the zoo" and "The city creates a tax on driving to discourage car use"

Clean Up This Dump - In the final challenge, players will write creative solutions to common urban problems from the small - "Your cafeteria is creating a large amount of food waste" to the not so small - "Heavy traffic on the BQE is causing air pollution and health problems"

Speech

In addition to reading their writing aloud, players will be tasked with several improvisational speaking opportunities and verbal comprehension questions. 

Merry Melodies - Players are tasked with improvising a song about topics like Rat Colonies, Cats, and Pollution

King of Comedy - Players attempt to please the crowd by giving an improvised stand-up set about the trials and tribulations of animals such as "A feral cat being trapped, neutered, & released" or "Cockroaches deciding on an apartment to infest"

Love It & List It - This challenge tests player's knowledge of the city around them with questions like "List 5 NYC Parks" or "10 animals found in New York City" while also linking players to resources via QR codes with answers. Unfortunately, printer quality led the QR codes to becoming non-functional. Links can instead be found here.  

What's the Word? - A "Taboo" inspired challenge where players describe common urban ecology terms such as "Evolution" and "Ecology" without using the word itself, inspiring lateral thinking and deeper vocabulary comprehension.

Them's the Facts - Your classico multiple-choice urban ecology trivia. I tried not to rely too heavily on multiple choice questions because I think that would have been boring as hell. 

Sound

Players will recreate the sonic world around them in the challenge "City Soundscapes" where they will imitate man made sounds - like "A traffic jam" or "A crowded beach" and animal made - like the classic hissing of an "Angry goose"

Object

Players will mold common objects from the city around them using play-doh in the challenge "public sculpture". Objects range from the concrete - such as "rat droppings" to the conceptual such as "recycling".

Body

Through the charades challenge "silent star", players use their bodies to convey common animal behaviors and ecological actions such as "a pigeon wooing a mate" and "picking up trash in the park"