Last week I wrote a post explaining 'What are Once Upon a Crime Reading Mysteries?' In this post, I aim to give you some implementation ideas and suggestions for using these reading mystery resources in your classroom.

The Reading Mysteries - Once Upon a Crime™ series are a unique design I created to encourage and develop skills in:

• reading, 
• finding text evidence,
• vocabulary,
• spelling,
• comprehension, and
• critical thinking skills.

The stories in these packets are my original work, set in a place called Tale Town. I've drawn inspiration from fictional characters found in children's literature, with my own twists and quirks added along the way. For example, a popular character you might see popping up in these mysteries from time to time is Bert, the Big Bad Wolf. In the 
​Forest Grime packet, we find out that Bert, is the boss of the Wolf Manufacturing Co. on Tall Street. See sample snippet below from the start of the reading passage in Clue 4:

All of the cookies are gone!

Use this mystery prompt to see what ideas your students come up with about 'what could have happened?' This particular prompt will make for a great writing center activity during the Christmas season.

Prep: Print and laminate the image below into a card to use as an early finisher task or writing center activity.
OR
​Display on the board for a whole class writing activity. 

There are plenty of ways you may wish to use this prompt. If you would like some ideas, keep on reading.

Whether the top of the class or not, rich or poor, the answer to the mystery of success and happiness lies within an attitude of gratitude. If there is one thing that I desire more than for my kids to achieve high grades  is to instill the importance of being thankful for everything in their lives, no matter how big or small. 

In this post, you will find some ideas to help teach  kids, of all ages, about being grateful for things in the hope that one day they will also develop this mindset that will lead to true happiness in their life. 

​What a great time of the year to be thankful for all the great things in our lives. This week, we want to say THANK YOU for all you do for students every day! In honor of you, we have teamed up to give some lucky educators a chance to win THREE $50 Gift Cards. Entry is easy, and you can increase your chances of winning by gaining entry points.

How to enter this giveaway is explained at the end of this resource roundup post which highlights some educational resources that you may be interested in using in your classroom or home school. 

It's no secret that lots of practice makes perfect, but sometimes repetition can become boring. That's why games are such an awesome way to make learning fun. Whenever my kids are engaged, they learn so much more, as opposed to being forced to do that plain black and white drill to s-'kill' worksheet. Apart from creating resources, I am also constantly sourcing out other educational activities that are readily available and easily accessible on the Internet. There is an abundance of educational games that are free to play, ready to click and go. However, sometimes in the rush of the crazy teacher life, sourcing games of such educational value can be a stretch when time and stress levels reach high points. That's why, this week, I'm sharing with you a fun collection of free to play multiplication games that you can bookmark and have ready at your fingertips to assign to a student or your class. I'm pretty picky at the games I choose, there's lots of free stuff on the web, but I've weeded through them to share with you some of the best!