Curated OER
Classic Short Stories - Locked Room Settings
Students read "The Problem of Cell 13" by Jacques Futrelle and explore the mystery genre. In this mystery genre instructional activity, students read the short story and discuss the author's inclusion of locked room settings. Students...
Curated OER
Mystery of the Maya
Students research the Mayan civilization and complete an artifact dig. In this archeology lesson, students watch an IMAX video about the Mayan civilization. Students discuss archaeology related vocabulary and then work in teams to...
Curated OER
Picture the Process!
Students read "Chasing Vermeer," and then study the author's writing process. They make connections between the book and the author's real life experiences. They then write an original mystery story, following the writing process.
Curated OER
Solving Mysteries!
Students solve a mystery. In this lesson on journalism, students learn how writing an article is like solving a mystery by answering the 5 "W" questions. Students solve a mystery provided to them on an attached worksheet.
Curated OER
Become a Detective
Students participate in a simulation where they act as detectives to locate a missing item using questioning and prediction techniques. Then they read a portion of a story, write a prediciton paragraph, and then finish reading the story.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 1
"True-crime stories, murder mysteries, up-to-the-minute online news reports, and (as always) rumor and innuendo grab our attention faster than any call for justice, human rights, or ceasefires." Or so says Walter Mosley in his Newsweek...
Curated OER
A Map Mystery
Second graders solve a map mystery. In this technology lesson plan, 2nd graders develop an awareness of maps and the symbols associated with maps as they the "Neighborhood Map Machine."
Curated OER
The Mystery Seed
Second graders create a short descriptive story describing a mystery seed they have planted. They incorporate needs that must be met in their story for a seed to grow. They create an original picture using the Kid Pix software program.
Curated OER
Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride Lesson Plan
Students study Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt. For this biographical lesson, students read Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride. Students write their own biography, create a timeline of events from the book, and write a story based on...
Curated OER
Forensic Examination of Artifacts: The Mystery of Meriwether Lewis' Death
Students role play the position of a scientist to gather information on Meriwether Lewis' death. They discover what he did after the famous expedition and how centuries affect the study of a body. They share their information with the...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast
Fourth graders read two books In this compare and contrast instructional activity, 4th graders read a science fiction or fantasy story and compare it to the story, "Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library." Students also have the...
Curated OER
A Day at the Ancient Olympics
Students examine how athletes from various ancient Greek city-states behaved at the Olympic Games. They conduct Internet research, take notes on a worksheet, and write a screenplay for a television drama about the Olympic Games in...
Curated OER
Cuentos
Students revise Spanish mystery stories. They sequence the events from a group's mystery story and suggest revisions for the setting. They revise their stories using the suggestions from classmates and describe characters in folktales....
Curated OER
Classic Short Stories- Locked Room Settings
Students read the short story "The Problem of Cell 13" and examine the plot devices that build suspense. In this lesson students create their own short story using the same locked room setting.
Curated OER
Regarding the Fountain: Questioning Strategy—Cubing
Look deeper into the text with a reading strategy based on asking critical thinking questions. While reading Reading the Fountain by Kate Klise, learners think of questions that help them describe, compare, associate, analyze,...
Curated OER
Text Structures in Science Writing
Young scholars recognize that science writing is organized in identifiable patterns called text structures. Understanding and using these different text structures help refine students' abilities to read and write in science.
Curated OER
Understanding the Elements of Fiction
Inform your class on the elements of fiction: themes, settings, characters, plots, dialogue, narration, flashback, clues, climax, resolution. They write the definitions of the terms on the worksheet provided.l Tip: Have them write a...
Curated OER
Art Mystery
Young scholars explore famous artists in order to write mystery stories incorporating their life and works. They write their own based on their research of a particular artist.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Tales of the Supernatural
Scary stuff! Whether approached as the first horror story or a "serious imaginative exploration of the human condition," Frankenstein continues to engage readers. Here's a packet of activities that uses Mary Shelley's gothic...
University of Pennsylvania
Using Comic Strips to Teach Multiple Perspectives
Scholars view comics from two different perspectives; one paints the Alfred Dreyfus as innocent, while the other portrays the exact opposite. They solve the mystery of what happened by analyzing the source, working in groups, and...
Macmillan Education
The Tell-Tale Heart
Rather than who done it, the mystery literary detectives have to solve as they examine the evidence found in Edgar Allan Poe's famous "The Tell-Tale Heart" is why did he do it?
Curated OER
You Decide: Roanoke the Lost Colony
Students develop an idea about what happened at the Lost Colony of Roanoke. In this Roanoke Colony lesson, students examine associated vocabulary before listening to Roanoke The Lost Colony, An Unsolved Mystery from History by Jane...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: Images of Faulkner and the South
Learners research one aspect of the life of Faulkner and the culture of the South. For this As I Lay Dying instructional activity, learners explore a webpage on Faulkner and write a summary. Learners analyze the images...
Curated OER
Harriet The Spy
Fourth graders investigate the style of diary writing as its own genre of literature. They read Harriet The Spy in order to have a text for this literature study. Students use the skill of prediction to preview the story, and then...