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Once Upon a Crime
​TEACHER TOADS

Reading Mystery - Once Upon a Crime, TEACHER Toads     

Click here to find the print and go resource to solve the mystery!
​Product Description
Beginning of School Reading Mystery: Once Upon A Crime, TEACHER TOADS! A fun reading and comprehension activity to kick-start the new school year, however, can also be used any time of the year if you wish. NO PREP, just print and go! 
- The main goal in this mystery is to encourage reading. 
- The work involved to solve the clues covers skills such as comprehension, spelling, vocabulary and definitions, nouns and adjectives, that work with the reading passages. 
- Students must highlight the evidence in the reading text to prove their answers.
- The discovery format requires a fill in the missing letter process to unlock clues. 
- Reading the text is required to be able to solve the missing letters in words, sentences, and statements. 
- Each clue requires students to critically think to decide which suspects they can eliminate from their suspect list. The last suspect remaining is who turned the teachers into toads.

All of the reading passages are included in this original story that features your 'student detective' as the star throughout. 

Video Hook included for optional use (can now be viewed in the preview thumbnail section OR .....(link on its way)....

Preparation
This is a print and go activity. Everything that you need for this activity is in the download, including the reading passages. Just print, copy for your students and set up the (optional) video hook for viewing at the start! The video hook is designed to make students think 'what's going on?' This was done on purpose to encourage them to read.

Implementation suggestion: 
Depending on your students' reading abilities, the ease of this activity may vary. To keep everyone at the same pace, you could read the passages together as a class and then follow up with the activities to fill in the missing letters that will help unlock a clue. For independent work, set a timer for reading only, and then allow them time to answer the questions and re-read the text if they need. If your students find this too easy, I'd recommend the 'Private Eye CSI - Literacy Mysteries' range instead, which requires inferring and more skill to solve the mystery. 
If your students are trying to attempt the activity section without reading the passages, instruct them to highlight the evidence in the reading text to show you where they found the answers. 

How long will this activity take?
This varies depending on the age and reading level of your students. If you would like to keep your class at the same point, I recommend pacing the clues one by one. 

The same 'self-checking feature' included in this design as in my math mystery range. 

There are FIVE clues to crack!

SKILLS TARGETED
- Reading
- Comprehension
- Spelling
- Nouns, and Adjectives
- Definitions and vocabulary
- Character Traits 
- Critical Thinking
- Writing (optional on the mystery declaration sheet)

OPTIONAL: After finishing the five clue sheets, an optional mystery declaration sheet can be used to state the culprit. On this declaration page, students report WHO they think turned the teachers into toads, plus outline the clues discovered along with their elimination reasoning for each.

The end of the story is wrapped up in a one-page article certificate. (Shhh.... keep these a secret as they reveal the mystery answer in the newspaper article your little star detective features in.)
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    • Reading & Literacy Mysteries
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    • Free Resources
  • Shop
  • Video Library
    • Math Mystery Video Hooks >
      • Case of the 100 Missing Treats
      • Case of The Abducted Alien
      • Case of The Alien Apocalypse
      • Case of The Angry Adder
      • Case of The Bee Bandits
      • Case of the Christmas Chaos
      • Case of the Cursed Classrooms
      • Case of The Disappearing Donuts
      • Case of The Divided Dragon's Division Review
      • Case of The Dream Snatcher
      • Case of The Egg Thief
      • Case of The Forgetful Pharaoh
      • Case of The Furious Falls Winds
      • Case of the Giant Goblin
      • Case of The Gobbler's Curse
      • Case of The Graduation Gremlins
      • Case of The Greedy Gnome
      • Case of the Halloween Heist
      • Case of The Heartbreak Hitman
      • Case of the Heartbroken Heroes
      • Case of the Invisible Illusionist - Integers Math Mystery Activity
      • Case of the Jumpy Jack-O-Lanterns Halloween Math Mystery
      • Case of The Jungle Joker
      • Case of The Kidnapped Groundhog
      • Case of The Litterbug
      • Case of the Lost Leprechaun
      • Case of the Magnificent Growth Mindset
      • Case of The Mathattan Meltdown
      • Case of Mean Mountain
      • Case of The Millennium Bug
      • Case of the Mirror Madness
      • Case of The Misplaced Pot of Gold
      • Case of the Missing Macaw
      • Case of The Monster Mix-Up
      • Case of the Never-Ending Rain
      • Case of the Outback Outlaw
      • Case of The Phantom Phoenix
      • Case of the Pickpocketing Pirate
      • Case of The Poisonous Pizzas
      • Case of The Puzzled Pirate
      • Case of The Robot Robbery
      • Case of The Rogue Runner
      • Case Of The Rotten Eggs
      • Case of The School Invaders
      • Case of The Selfish Elf
      • Case of The Shogun's Sword
      • Case of The Snowman Army
      • Case of The Sticky Bank Burglary
      • Case of The Super Bad Superhero
      • Case of The Thankless Turkey
      • Case of The Time Traveling Troll
      • Case of The Tricking Treat
      • Case of The Vengeful Vampire
      • Case of The Zombie Elves
    • Reading Mystery Video Hooks >
      • Burrow Slime
      • EGGpocalypse
      • Fool's Gold Read Mystery
      • Forest Grime - Reading Mystery
      • Haunting Hat - Reading Mystery
      • Humpty's Fall Reading Mystery
      • Knight's Tail
      • Poisoned Valentine
      • Rescue Rudolph
      • Stolen Time
      • Teacher Toads - Reading Mystery
      • Turkey Trouble!
      • Twinkle's Lost Shine
      • Which Witch? - Reading Mystery
      • Wizard Blizzard
    • Math Quest Video Hooks >
      • Escape Monster Mansion
      • Over The Rainbow Math Quest
      • Raiders of The Lost Egg
      • Redbeard's Rebellion
      • Reindeer Roundup
      • School Jungle Jam
      • The Heartless Queen
      • The Terrible Turkey Takeover
    • A-Z Letter Detectives Video Hook >
      • The Case of the Alien's Apples
      • The Case of the Banana Bandit
      • The Case of the Cat's Cookies
      • The Case of the Dragon's Diamonds
      • The Case of the Eagle's Eggs
      • The Case of the Frog's Flowers
      • The Case of the Ghost's Gumballs
      • The Case of the Hippo's Hat
      • The Case of the Iguana's Ice Cream
      • The Case of the Jaguar's Jellybeans
      • The Case of the Kangaroo's Kite
      • The Case of the Lion's Lollipops
      • The Case of the Monster's Map
      • The Case of the Ninja's Necklace
      • The Case of the Octopus's Oar
      • The Case of the Pirate's Pizza
      • The Case of the Queen's Quiver
      • The Case of the Robot's Rocket
      • The Case of the Sloth's Skateboard
      • The Case of the Turtle's Toys
      • The Case of the Unicorn's Umbrella
      • The Case of the Vampire's Violin
      • The Case of the Wizard's Wand
      • The Case of the X-Hero's X-Ray
      • The Case of the Yeti's Yo-Yo
      • The Case of the Zebra's Zucchinnis
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