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 for an early finisher 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, please keep reading below the image prompt.
Lesson Suggestions:
Present the image above to your class. Either show on the Interactive Whiteboard, or print and hang somewhere. If using as an early finisher activity, print and laminate these images as cards.
Either brainstorm as a class or instruct students to think about what could have happened in the image scene. 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:
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 crime scene.
Now, I think it is only fair for students to find out what actually happened.
The below video is my original story that goes with this prompt. This is in no way a ‘correct’ answer, just an example of a possible story that works with this prompt.
You may wish to skip this option.
Further extend this mystery activity by instructing students to rewrite their mystery story using the ideas from the video.
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! Where are the gremlins hiding with all of the graduation items?
If you are interested in extending this mystery activity by integrating it with your math lesson and giving your students lots of math practice and review, click on your grade level below to find the file case on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Each of the five math pages will require students to complete math i to unlock clues. Be sure to check out the product description to see the specific math skills covered in that grade version.
Not sure what a math mystery is? Do you want to know more about how to use them? Check out the video below.
‘Five Easy Ways to Use Math Mysteries in your Classroom.’
Still not sure if a math mystery is something you want? Try a full FREE math mystery available to download from my TPT Shop. The link will redirect you to where you can download the multi-grade bundle. It is free to register if you don’t have a login with TPT.
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