The Seven Treasure Hunts, by Betsy Byars, to get the students excited. We mix up the clue sheets and then hand them out randomly. Each child follows clues to find a treasure. At the end of the year, my students create special artwork specifically for our annual art auction. Each piece is matted and displayed in the hallway.
Students preview the art and decide which pieces they want to bid on with our classroom currency.
I auction off one piece at a time, and students bid with raised hands. The students choose the categories from subjects we've covered, such as state capitals, Abraham Lincoln, or the Gold Rush. My students work in teams. Each team researches and writes the answers for one of the categories. We do bubble experiments, test different-size bubble blowers, try different soap mixtures, talk about the rainbow colors in a bubble, and make beautiful bubble art.