Reading Mystery - Once Upon a Crime, Twinkle's Lost Shine!
Reading Mystery Activity - Once Upon A Crime, Twinkle's Lost Shine!
Your students will have fun solving this mystery while learning skills in reading, comprehension, synonyms, antonyms, definitions, critical thinking, and deductive reasoning!
It's easy to prep! Just Print and solve! You can also go paperless with the new Google Slides option provided within your download.
Video hook and ending video included.
- The work involved to solve the clues covers skills such as comprehension, spelling, and vocabulary work/puzzles.
- Students must highlight the evidence in the reading to prove their answers.
- The discovery format requires a fill in the missing letter process to unlock clues in the original pdf file. The B-Edition structure found in the alternate folder allows you to set the mystery up like an escape room and requires full answers instead of missing letters.
- Reading is required to be able to solve the missing letters in words, sentences, and statements or to complete the answers in the B-Edition copy.
- Each clue requires students to critically think and use deductive reasoning to narrow down their list of locations and suspects. The last row remaining is the solution to the mystery of Twinkle's lost shine!
Video Hook included for optional use - view in the preview below:
The MP4 file is included within the compressed ZIP folder of the download. The video hook is designed to be used at the start of the activity to set the stage to engage.
This is a print and solve 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.
Read more about implementing this activity in your classroom HERE.
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.
What are Once Upon a Crime Reading Mysteries?
Learn more about what to expect in this blog post.
There are FIVE clues to crack!
SKILLS TARGETED
- Reading
- Comprehension
- Synonyms & Antonyms
- Definitions
- Spelling
- Finding Evidence in the text
- Critical Thinking
- Deductive Reasoning
- 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 mystery solution. On this declaration page, students report the solution to the mystery, plus outline the clues discovered along with their elimination reasoning for each.
Fun printable certificate in an article format included too! (Shhh.... keep these a secret as they reveal the mystery answer in the newspaper article your little star detective is also featured in.)
You will also receive instructions, answer sheets and an elimination guide.
Your feedback on this resource would be appreciated.
Differentiation Options included with this Resource
- A 'B-Edition' Alternative Structure is included for differentiation purposes. This alternative copy of Twinkle's Lost Shine removes the missing letter filling structure and requires full answers. If you choose to use the B-Edition copy, you will need to prep the clue cards into envelopes or boxes (or keep hidden) and students will need to check-in with you to gain access to each clue.
- Word Banks are included within a single file found in the alternate options. These are useful if you need to make this activity easier for some of your students.
- Check out the 'Read me' file included in the folder download first.
Thank you and enjoy!
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Distance Learning Update: I've added a Word Document in the folder containing a Google Doc link to share this resource with your students via Google Classroom or Drive. Parts of the pages are editable, so your students can complete them without printing them. Please note that you must make a copy of the Google Slides to your drive before editing.
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Distance Learning Update: I've added a Word Document within the folder that contains a Google Doc link to share this resource with your students via Google Classroom or Drive. Parts of the pages are editable so that your students can complete without having to print the pages. Please note, you will need to make a copy of the Google Slides to your drive before you can edit.
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Distance Learning Update: I've added a Word Document in the folder containing a Google Slides link to share this resource with your students via Google Classroom or Drive.
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(This varies depending on the reading ability of students. Some guidance may be required for younger students.)
Easy prep! Just Print & Solve! Or go paperless with the new Google Docs option provided within your download.
NEW - Distance Learning Update: I've added a Word Document within the folder that contains a Google Doc link to share this resource with your students via Google Classroom or Drive. Parts of the pages are editable so that your students can complete without having to print the pages. Please note, you will need to make a copy of the Google Slides to your drive before you can edit.
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(Teaching Resource - Worksheets pdf + Video Hook)
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(This varies depending on the reading ability of students. Some guidance may be required for younger students.)
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Easy prep! Just Print & Solve! Or go paperless with the new Google Slides option provided within your download.