Solve a Mystery

Designed by:  Colette Dryden, Satchel Ford Elementary

1) Core Curriculum Objective:  Interpret and draw conclusions based upon text/selection and cite supporting evidence. 3-CM-9

Grade Level:  Three            Subject:  Reading

2) Overview:  Students will work together to collect evidence to solve a mystery on a web site.  They will then read chapters from Encyclopedia Brown and work in pairs to collect evidence to solve the mystery. 

3) Focus Question:  How can we use the text to solve a mystery?

4) Time Frame:  Two 50 minute class periods

5) Resources/Materials:

http://www.cyberkids.com

class set of Encyclopedia Brown

paper

pencil

assorted mystery novels

Aver Keys (optional)

6) Culminating Assessment:  Students will work in pairs to read         a chapter in Encyclopedia Brown.  They will write down their conclusion as to the solution of the mystery and cite the evidence that supports the conclusion.  The teacher will assess the evidence and conclusions using the rubric below.

7) Instructional Activities:

Activity One: The teacher will ask students if they have ever read a mystery.  Have they ever been involved in a mystery?  The teacher could relate a time when she was involved in a mystery. (For example: Tell about a time when she couldn’t find something and how she found it.)  What makes something a mystery? 

Next, gather the students around so everyone has an unobstructed view of the TV (if using Aver Keys) or computer monitor.  Go to the web site http://www.cyberkids.com and click on the Quick Solve story for that week.  The teacher should have previewed the story prior to class.  Read it together.  Have students volunteer evidence.  Record the evidence on chart paper.  Have students use the evidence to support any solution they come up with.  (Doing this at the beginning with the whole class gives support to the students that may have difficulty with this concept.)  If the class has several different solutions, the teacher may put them all on the chart paper under the evidence.  Have the class vote on which conclusion is the most logical.  Which conclusion is best supported with the evidence?  Why?  Discuss the importance of supporting the conclusion with appropriate evidence from the text.  Click on “Continue” at the web site for the correct response.  Post the class’ results on the page.  The teacher may want to visit other week’s mysteries to give students more practice in finding the evidence and using it to support the conclusion.

Refer back to the mysteries the students shared at the beginning of the class.  Ask them what evidence they used to solve the mystery.  Would they look for other clues now?

Activity Two:  The teacher will remind the students of the mystery they read together on the web page.  Review how they found evidence and used it to support any conclusions they came up with.  Tell them they are going to do the same thing today.

Have students choose a partner to work with.  Give each student a copy of Encyclopedia Brown.  Tell them to take turns reading the first chapter.  Tell them to read the entire chapter first before they collect any evidence.  After reading, they should discuss any evidence they think is important to determine the solution to the mystery.  The teacher should monitor the discussions and ask appropriate questions to lead the students to collect evidence and create a logical solution.  Write the evidence down.  Using the evidence they should then write down the solution they come up with in order to solve the mystery.

The pairs of students should share their solution and the evidence they believe leads them to this conclusion.  After everyone has shared, the students can then have the opportunity to revise their evidence and conclusions.  If they choose to make revisions, they should write down why they made the changes.  The teacher will collect these papers and use the rubric to score them.  After the papers are collected the students should look in the back of the book for the conclusion and evidence.  Discuss how close the groups came to the correct answer.  Discuss the evidence given. Ask students in what ways they can use this knowledge.  Lead them to see that good readers constantly ask themselves, “What is going to happen?” and “Why?”  while reading. If necessary, the teacher should do more chapters from the book in this manner.

Extensions:  Have students choose a mystery to read independently.  They should collect and record the evidence and the solution as they are reading. 

Have the students go back to the web site each week to try to solve the mystery and post their results on the page.  Can be done as a whole group also.