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:

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.

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.

A few of the mysteries in my Math Mystery range are structured differently by following a 5 W's Case File Format. These are particularly useful for younger students or special needs. In this post:

• I will be showing you the new little 'logo' marked on these packets so that you can easily identify that a particular math mystery packet follows this 5w's structure.
• A quick guide on grade levels and suitability.
• I will also outline how these math mysteries work and differ to the other math mysteries in my range..
• Plus, I will show you where you can download one for free to check out and try.

NEW 5 W's  LOGO LABEL ON COVERS
To enable you to quickly identify if a math mystery follows this 5 W's structure, I've added a new little logo somewhere on the covers. If this is the type of math mystery structure you would prefer to use with your kids, keep an eye out for this little image below:

GRADE LEVEL GUIDES

The grade levels are marked for recommended age ranges because of the math involved within the mystery packet. Unlike the regular math mystery range, because these tend to focus on early learning skills, they can be used across K-2 depending where your students are at. For example, in the Case of the Great Zoo Escape, the packet focuses on addition and subtraction within 20. This is a skill that would be useful for both first and second graders to practice and build fluency. The packets marked for Kindergarten, contain basic numeracy skills, and would be great for the early part of first grade too. Even with the grade guides, I still recommend checking the math skills required in the product description to determine suitability for your students since no class is the same. 

For some younger students, the elimination process in my regular math mystery range is a little bit too much. This is where these packets come in handy; if you still want the fun element of a mystery, but in a less stressful format for your little detectives. 

Instead of the usual list of suspects/locations/scenarios, in the 5 W's series, that page is replaced with a case file with five questions to be answered - Who, Where, When, What, and Why?  (see image below). 

Each clue requires some math work and some ELA work to solve which of the options at the bottom need to be cut/pasted to the Case File. 
​Below is an example from the Case of The Super Bad Superhero:

As you can see in the clue example page above, there are five options at the bottom of the page. Students must complete the math activity to figure out what is the super power of the super bad superhero. Once solved, the student must cut out the super power and paste it onto their Case file page in the 'What - Clue 2' box.

Reading and explaining the instructions at the top is recommended for the early years, especially if using with Kindergarten.
​
Tip: Guide them through each clue to keep the whole class at the same pace. 

CHECK OUT A FULL MATH MYSTERY IN THIS 5 W's FORMAT FREE!

I like to offer samples of my work to help you know whether it is something that you are interested in, or if it works for your class.
CLICK HERE to find where to download the 'Case of the Super Bad Superhero' for Kindergarten, using this 5 W's format. 
If you've found the other math mystery structures too difficult for your students, then you may prefer this alternative. 
​

Your feedback on this structure would be most appreciated. I will be making more using this 5 W structure for the early years too. If you prefer this format, keep an eye out for the little logo on the cover to know that it follows that format. 

What is a Math Quest?
It begins with a story, both video hook and written versions of the story included in all quest packets. Check out a video hook intro below for 'Raiders of the Lost Egg.' The Video Hook presents the start of the story, designed to set the stage to engage your students. When the video hook ends, is when students must continue the story on the paper part of the activity beginning at 'Chapter 1.'

Access the Video Library to find and freely view all Math Quest Video Hooks. Look for the Math Quests header and click through titles underneath to view.

The rest of the story is a paper and pencil activity that continues in 'chapters.' Each chapter reveals the next part of the story, posing a math task to complete. Once the math task is complete, students may progress to the next chapter. See a sample page below from 'Redbeard's Rebellion' - Chapter 2 - 'Medium' Level Version. 

Each chapter will pose a different type of math challenge, involving one or a mix of skills. I've tried my best to set these pages up to make checking answers quick and easy for the teacher. For example, in the image above, the teacher would need to check if the student chose the correct direction. Also, the added totals for each wheel will give a better indication whether the student just 'guessed' or did the calculations correctly.
PLEASE NOTE:

• Some puzzles are 'open-ended' and will just need to be checked by the student, teacher or a partner to see if it 'works.'
• Some puzzles require a final code or 'special number' that will give you a quick indication if the calculations are correct. 
• Other pages may require a 'visual' check, such as did they color the right path on the maze, or climb the correct rocks to reach the top. I've included another sample chapter page in the image below.

(Please note that there are answer pages included with all quest packets.)

Sample Page - CHAPTER 2 EASY LEVEL from
​'ESCAPE MONSTER MANSION'

There are lots of different ways these chapters are presented to keep students interested and challenged.

The final chapter of each Math Quest will present some choices for actions to take in the story. Students make their choice and then complete the math in that section, carrying out instructions to receive a 'special number.' If they do the math correctly, the special number will match up to their ending of the story on the final page. Four alternate endings to receive! See sample below:

Final Chapter from 'The Heartless Queen' HARD LEVEL 

The 'NUMBER TOTAL' in their box chosen is a special number that they will need to use on the next page to discover their story ending. If they cannot find their special number, then they know they've made an error and must go over their calculations again. 

You would need to keep the story ending page hidden until a student has their special number ready.
Suggestion: You could hide the endings page in an envelope and ask students only to go and check once they have a special number ready.

Sample Endings page from'The Terrible Turkey Take Over.'

As you can see in the sample endings page above, there are little images paired with each paragraph. Like in a game this is the 'item' they receive upon completing the quest (image only). 

If students want to go back to achieve a different ending, you could allow that as long as they complete the math in the box for it. 

There are early finisher worksheets included with each packet. Students can continue the quest fun with these simple extra activities while waiting for others to finish. Please see a sample below from 'School Jungle Jam.'

Math quests are great to use for:

• Enrichment
• Set one chapter at a time as a math warm-up activity
• Engaging work around holiday seasons - Most of these quests have a 'holiday' theme if you wish to incorporate into a certain day. However, they are designed to be able to use any time of the year in case you miss the chance around a certain period.
• Early finishers - Set this up as a booklet for your fast finishers to work on whenever there's time to spare.
• Extra math practice with a fun twist.
• Homework/assignment
• End of the Year work that is fun but still educational

• Print, photocopy and go. (Save paper by only printing the chapter pages that require writing on). 
• You could staple all of the chapters together and give to students all at once to work on, OR only give out one chapter at a time to complete. I recommend that students must show a completed chapter before receiving the next.  
• Set the (optional) video hook to the board ready for viewing when introducing the task.
• Hide the 'endings' page in an envelope or somewhere special (optional).
• Have your answer key ready for easy checking. 

You may have noticed that I marked the sample pages with 'EASY' 'MEDIUM' and 'HARD.' That is because each Math Quest is available in three modes of difficulty. The story is the same, but the math and puzzle difficulty changes.
You can differentiate this activity in your class by giving out different levels of the same quest. 
The chapters are interchangeable, which means you can adjust the difficulty for certain chapters.  
See example below from 'Reindeer Roundup - Chapter 1.'

There is nowhere marked on a student page easy, medium, or hard. So, unless you tell them, your students won't know what level they have. The pages are 'symbol' coded so that only teachers know what the level of difficulty is. 

If you own the differentiated bundle of a math quest, you will have all the levels available for that quest ready to pick and swap as you wish. Otherwise, individual levels are available for separate purchase. 

As promised at the start of this post, I'd make a full differentiated Math Quest FREE for ONE WEEK! Don't miss out on a chance to download 'OVER THE RAINBOW' and try a Math Quest out to see if you and your students like this type of activity. All three levels are included within the differentiated packet so that you can also try 'swapping' chapters. 

Because of the leprechaun and pot of gold theme, 'Over the Rainbow' can be incorporated with a St. Patrick's Day theme. However, this is still fine to use any time of the year, especially at the end of the year. So print, copy, and there's a fun activity you can do with your class tomorrow. 

Your feedback on this resource would be appreciated.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS RESOURCE. 
Please note: After one week, the price of this product will return to $7.95

If you like this product, you may wish to bundle and save with the COMPLETE MATH QUEST BUNDLE below. All levels are included at a super discounted price.