Detectives

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Home : 2008 : June : 30

Detectives
By 1956BD

I teach the mystery genre at the beginning of the year to my third graders. I got a lot of ideas from Beth Newingham's website. I discuss with my students how many times a detective looks at the clues to sove the crime or
mystery. I use this analogy with the students all year when teaching them to read for information. It drives home the point of reading and rereading until you find the information you need in the text to answer the question. I say, "Remember to be a good detective! Keep searching for all the clues until you find them."

This year we ordered plastict fedora hats for the kids.(one class

set to share among 5 classes) We are going to allow them to use the science magnifying glasses and wear the hats during reading in the mystery unit. We also bought two used trench coats so we can take their pictures dressed as detectives for a BB. Hopefully a little drama will add to their excitment about reading.

Maybe you could make a dective dummy to sit and observe in your classroom with a fedora and trench coat. The kids could name him.

Footprints or fingerprints could be a cute BB border. There are actually four basic types of thumbprints. They each have a different name. Maybe you could use that to divide the class into groups. Or you call them by different detective agency names.

A Sherlock Holmes hat and pipe would be cute to use for your theme as well. You can usually find those hats around Halloween.

Maybe everyone needs a TOP SECRET file or notebook for some reason. You could get a TOP SECRET stamp to use.

Be sure to read them The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wiseniewski. It fits your theme and kids always love the humor. He has written a sequel as well. Try some non-fiction mysteries as well. Mary Celeste: The Unsolved Mystery from History by Jane Yolen is one that comes to mind. Also The Mysteries of Harris Burdick picture book has great mysterious pictures to use as writing prompts. It is by Chris Van Allsburg. It used to be available in a big book of posters that you could use to decorate your room.

Hope some of these ideas are useful. Good luck!