Mysteries in Mrs. Coop's Class

So we started a mystery unit last week....I began by reading 

Nate the Great Hungry Book Club...to get us in the mood!  

Then, each child took a mystery pre-test to show what they

already know about mysteries.....then we came together to

create a chart about what we knew!

Then, I put the students in groups for a mystery book club 

unit of study!  We have been trying to tie in math and other

topics in language arts to keep us ready for the big test 

while still making the topics fun!

Each child has a detective case file which holds their book,

post-it's, and important detective notes pages.  We chose books 

That are below their just right reading level to make this new

type of reading more successful....Nate the Great (for the lowbies),

Jigsaw Jones, and ABC Mysteries.  

Each day the book clubs read the assigned pages, marks clues and 

suspects with post it notes, and keeps track of the timeline of events.

Every couple days the groups meet and discuss the reading...

We tied in some work around the mystery of Harris burdick...by

Chris van allsburg....

The students first read the introduction and responded to it with questions....

then we read the book with the pictures projected using the doc camera...

The kids were so riveted....it was awesome!  Finally, they each chose a 

picture and wrote their own mystery!

Planning sheet came from Amanda Nickerson at 

One Extra Degree.....you can find the entire unit on her TPT store...

We have been reading another mystery as a class during read aloud....

My kids are loving it....but it takes huge dedication as it is over 300 

pages long....we will finish by the end of the year!  And it is so cool

That I found some awesome end of year candy awards.....as well as

A fun pop rocks writing activity to tie it all together!

So for now....

Just 27 days left!