During a novel unit on The Lighting Thief by Rick Riordan, teachers Briana Massey and Kathryn Morrison decided to shake up their annual Capture the Flag contest by pitting their individual 7th grade Reading Language Arts. The classroom rivalries added a little bit of fuel to the fire and a full-on war was born. 

In the novel, the main character, Percy Jackson, competes in a camp-wide Capture the Flag battle before he finds out who his godly parent is. Massey and Morrison made the battle within the chapter come to life by splitting their classes into blue and red, just like the novel.  

Students spent weeks strategizing how to take the other teams down and devised battle plans before applying to be on the teams. Students then applied to be on the team and practiced their argumentative writing skills with reasoning as to why they should be on the team. 

Some of the classes took a civil approach to the contest. One class made a complete government system where there was an acting president in charge of the cabin team leaders. They had a full-on production line of bribes set up for recruiting “Allies”- aka other teachers- and started on an arsenal of weapons and armor made from cardboard. They made battle cries and chants for the sideline crews. 

Another class adopted the same government and elected a vice president. They also made plans to create a massive flag for their team, designed personalized shirts and created an order form and will collect and distribute merch.  

On the other hand, one class was all about psychological warfare and tricking the opposing side. They’ve made “WANTED” posters. They begged for their stolen gods back and were making punny mythological references.  

On the sunny afternoon of March 23, the battle took place. The students put all their preparation to work, pulling out all their learned war strategies and tactics. In the end, Team Massey the blue team, walked away with the victory.  

“The comradery of students and their passion for backing up their team until the end was heartwarming,” said Massey. 

This activity was 100% student led, student organized, student competition and they had an absolute blast.