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:

Here's a Mystery Cauldron Halloween center activity idea that can be easily differentiated from toddler to elementary school student! It may also be a fun theme to add to your classroom's calming corner if you have one.

This post will first outline the set up, and then list some adaptation suggestions to suit kids from toddler to fifth-grader!

After digging for hours, the pirate only found an old boot! 

​Use this mystery prompt to see what ideas your students come up with about 'what could have happened?' 

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.

​A wise teacher once told me that you need to have a 'bag of tricks' to deal with certain classes. So, in this post, I'd like to share with you one of my favorite tricks that you might want to add to your management bag if you wish. Free download included. This 'Secret Agents' strategy worked well for me when subbing in different classes.

This Mystery Farm bag idea is a fun lesson to add to a farm unit. The goal in this activity is to learn and test farm animal knowledge.