Curated OER
Detective Fiction: Focus On Critical Thinking
Turn your 6th graders into detectives while growing their love of reading. Using critical thinking skills, they will be able to describe the five basic elements of detective fiction, read detective novels, make predictions, use the...
Curated OER
With Detective Fiction in the Urban Classroom
This abstract for an instructional unit using three-minute mysteries, stories by Sir Arthur Canon Doyle, and Edgar Allan Poe includes a short history of detective fiction, sample plans, and suggestions for exercises and activities...
Curated OER
How to Write a Mystery
Was it the teacher with the ruler in the supply closet? Find out when you read mystery stories inspired by this presentation. Show the slide show to your pupils to give them ideas that will help them get started with writing their own...
Curated OER
Sherlock Holmes: Teaching English Through Detective Fiction
Students read examples of mysteries and detective fiction. With a focus on Sherlock Holmes, they are introduced to the techniques for reading properly. In groups, they define new vocabulary, make predictions and summarize the stories. ...
Curated OER
Detective Game
In this book report worksheet, students answer questions about a book report asked in detective language. Students complete 5 questions.
Teacher Printables
Decorated Lined Paper
Spice up the writing process with some fun stationery! This particular page, which features a UFO, can inspire your pupils as they write science fiction. See the materials for more designs. You'll find everything from pirates to fairies...
Curated OER
American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins
Students research how early colonists lived. They investigate late 17th century colonist's lives from Massachusetts and Delaware. Using their research, students write historical fiction in the form of friendly letters between the two...
Curated OER
The Game is Afoot - A Study of Sherlock Holmes
Mystery is an exciting genre for young readers to investigate. The plots are so intriguing! Here is a series of lessons featuring Sherlock Holmes stories that invite learners to enter the world of the mystery genre. Based on what they...
Curated OER
With Detective Fiction in the Urban Classroom
Students listen to a verbal explanation of the function of deductive reasoning and problem solving. They read one of Donald Sobol's 'Two-Minute Mysteries' and complete a worksheet requiring them to write out the information which is...
Curated OER
Edgar Allan Poe and Anna Katherine Green
Young scholars analyze the genre of detective fiction through stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Anna Katherine Green. In this detective fiction instructional activity, students read "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Second Bullet." Young...
Curated OER
A Little Mystery and Intrigue in Writing Short Detective Stories
Students read and analyze the twelve short stories in the novel "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." They create their own detective that has to solve a new kind of crime, and write and edit a short story with their original detective as...
Scouts
The Deadly Picnic: A Lab on Deductive Reasoning
Whodunnit? Find out who killed Mr. Brooks through a logical examination of evidence. Class members fill out a couple of data tables to help them pin down the suspect. After they've figured out just who the culprit is, pupils compose...
Teach Engineering
Nanotechnology and Cancer Treatments
Information on the biomedical use of nanotechnology, specifically in the detection and treatment of cancer, is the focus of a lesson that seems like it is out of a science fiction novel. Pupils learn about electrophoresis, which is used...
Curated OER
Forensic Detectives: Mysteries and Solutions
Middle schoolers examine forensic science. For this video based lesson, students examine the tools and techniques of forensic science. They write a report about a fictional crime scene from the Discovery video.
Curated OER
Investigating Jack London's White Fang: Nature and Culture Detectives
Students explore images of the Klondike and read Jack London's White Fang to become culture and nature detectives. In this novel analysis lesson, students analyze the setting of the novel and the ways London portrays nature and culture....
Curated OER
Web Quest on "How to Write a Mystery."
Students complete a Web Quest on How to Write a Mystery. They listen to or read a short mystery story and discuss its elements. They write an outline of a mystery story using all of the elements.
Curated OER
Writing the Mystery with a Purpose
Students present the outline of the mystery story they are writing while working in reciprocal teaching groups. They respond to group members writing before they continue to finish revisions.
Curated OER
American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins
Students explore daily life and its influences in the late 1700s for two families in different colonies- Delaware and Massachusetts by becoming historical detectives. After gathering information from artifacts to make inferences about...
Lesson Plansos
Guided Reading Activities with Pizzazz
Get the most out of your guided reading lessons with this collection of literacy materials. Offering a system for using color-coded tags to mark pages while reading books, as well as an assortment of comprehension and grammar worksheets,...
Curated OER
WebQuest on Chester Himes
Students perform a WebQuest to find out why Chester Hime's detective books were so popular. Small groups perform the research together then report to the class.
Curated OER
House and Holmes: A Guide to Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Test your pupils' reasoning skills with several activities and a quick mystery to solve. Learners watch and analyze a few video clips that demonstrate reasoning in action, practice deduction with an interactive and collaborative...
California Education Partners
Animals of Rhomaar
Investigate the growth rates of alien animals. Pupils study fictional animals from another planet to determine how much they grow per year. The investigators plot the growth of their animals over a period of time and then compare them to...
Curated OER
Voice Trait: Who Is Talking?
Students recognize the difficulty of knowing who wrote a letter from the envelope. In this writing "voice" lesson, students understand the meaning of voice in writing and detect who the writers are in a worksheet.
Curated OER
History Detective: The Case of the Mysterious Trunk
Students role play as history detectives. In this historical inquiry lesson, students discuss what detectives do, analyze a trunk of "artifacts" and make conclusions about its fictional owner. Students complete six pages of related art,...