How to play Xello K-2

Navigating the map

Locations that students have not yet completed appear highlighted on the Career Town map. Locations that students have completed (i.e. have talked to the character, collected Ernestine’s note, and completed the quiz), are marked with a checkmark on the Career Town map.

Students can revisit a location they’ve completed at any time to replay the mini-game.

Career Town locations

As students complete the 6 location activities, you can ask them to list ways that occupations within the same career path are similar, or ways in which occupations in separate career paths are different. Comparing and contrasting occupations is an accessible way for young students to start thinking about the purpose and process of occupational classification systems.

Location sequence

The first time students visit a location, they are asked to help sort out some chaos caused by a missing worker. Information about the missing worker is stored as a case file in the People section of students’ Dpads.

Location quizzes

After completing a 3-minute mini-game, students receive a report of another missing worker and a second case file is recorded. The character then presents students with a clue left behind by Ernestine - a note! Before moving on to a new location, Detective Jill quizzes students about the workers at the location and their occupations. Students select the correct response from three possible answers.

After completing the quiz, students are rewarded with a badge, which his kept in the Badges app of their Dpad.

At the end of the location activities, students are returned to the Career Town map where they are either informed of new content to explore in their Dpad, or after completing the final location, are encouraged to return to Detective Jill at the Detective Academy to solve the mystery of the missing workers.

The clues

There are 6 sets of notes that direct students to 6 possible final locations at the end of the game. Each note offers a clue that teases Ernestine’s whereabouts. These clues are a fun way to introduce language arts content, such as puns and homonyms, into the classroom.

Notes are kept and can be reviewed anytime in the My Clues section of the Dpad.

About the finale

Throughout the game, students have collected notes left behind by Ernestine - clues that will lead them back to one of the locations they’ve visited, where Ernestine is hiding the missing workers. When students return to the location, they will see Ernestine and her spaceship preparing for launch. To stop Ernestine from leaving, students will have to click on the spaceship three times.

Detective Jill explains to Ernestine that people choose their jobs based on the things they like to do and are good at. This is a great concept to underscore with students who are just learning about their own interests and how workers find their jobs. Jill also remarks that Ernestine is good at building things, which could help her find a job in Career Town once she’s made amends for what she has done. It’s a good idea to use this opportunity to emphasize the link between a person’s interests and skills and future job options.

After completing the game, students can re-enter the Detective Academy and re-play the game with a new set of clues from Ernestine McNohire!

Additional resources