Mystery Prompt #2

Use the visual prompt provided in this post as a story starter for a fun creative writing activity. Lesson suggestions included. Read on for more!

SUGGESTION FOR USE

• Present the image above to your class. Either show on the Interactive Whiteboard, or print and hang somewhere.
• Instruct student to take a few minutes to come up with some creative ideas to explain what they think could have happened. Setting a timer for 'thinking time' is recommended. 
• Invite students to share their ideas with the rest of the class. Remind students that there are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers. This prompt is to invite creative thinking.
• Set a writing task to follow the discussion. Instruct students to pretend they are detectives and must write what they think happened. ​A simple print and go template for this writing task can be downloaded below. Otherwise you could just use plain lined paper or workbooks to carry out the writing activity. 

basic_crime_scene_theory_writing_template.pdf
File Size:	427 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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Remind everyone that there's no right and wrong, otherwise there would be no room for creative thinking in this task.

• To develop this as a writing activity, you could extend it by having your students work towards writing a full story around this scene. To do this, I would break sessions into 'creating characters - who disappeared?,' 'describing the setting - where has this taken place?' and what happened in the lead up to the crime scene (this opens up the story to a wide range of possibilities). ​

My version of what happened is in the 'Case of the Super Bad Superhero' story. The text story can be downloaded below:

slide5.jpg
File Size:	261 kb
File Type:	jpg

Download File

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My husband turned this story into a video hook to use for fun and to introduce the math part of this mystery activity (optional) should you wish to continue this activity.

• After viewing the video, discuss if anyone had any similar ideas in their stories. Do a compare and contrast session with the story above and what students wrote.
• Further extend this mystery activity by instructing students to rewrite their mystery story using the ideas from the video. Which superhero do they think has turned bad? 

You may have noticed the 'Math Mystery' tag in the video, and that is because this case can be further resolved and integrated with a math activity if you wish. 

Solve the case! Who is the Super Bad Superhero?
If you are interested in extending this mystery activity by integrating it with your math lesson, click on the link image below to find the file case  on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. This case file is a FREE download with multiple grade levels to choose from. 
​It is free to register if you don't have a login with TPT.

Click here to download for free from my TPT store

Not sure what a math mystery is? Do you want to know more about how to use them? Check out the video below.

You may also be interested in reading:
 'Five Easy Ways to Use Math Mysteries in the Classroom.'

I plan to make more mystery prompts available to use for free. They can be found HERE.

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