So, I posted recently that my sixth graders were writing a mystery that was going to take place in the library. I took two of the best mysteries that were submitted and combined them! Here's how our mystery looked: The Problem: Mrs. Svarda got to school on Monday morning and saw the mess. At first she was just mad that all of the books were out, then she saw that all the books were missing their endings. She picked up a book and noticed that the barcode was missing, too. She looked around and found that several books were missing their endings and barcodes. The scanners were also missing so no one could check out books! Then Mrs. Svarda was scared and mad. Who could've done such a thing? What happened here? How could this happen? She needed help. Starbelly Sneetch Alibi: It was 5:00 and I heard a knock on my door. It was Fox in Socks. He came in and I turned off my music and put away my IPod. We played at my house until we got bored. We decided it would be fun to go to the movies. We texted Hop On Pop and Yertle the Turtle to see if they wanted to come, too. Everyone came to the movie except Hop on Pop. After the movie we couldn't think of what to do so we walked around. We thought we might stop by the library to visit Hop On Pop. It started to rain as we walked so we stopped at Fox in Sock's house to pick up some blankets to keep dry on our walk. Hop On Pop Alibi: It was 5:00 and I was looking at my clock when the doorbell rang. It was Yertle the Turtle. He had brought me some homemade bread. He asked if I wanted to go to the mall. My mom said, "No. I had to work on my homework at the library." Yertle the Turtle got a text right after that asking if we wanted to go and see the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. Bummer. I really wanted to see a movie and hated that I had to go to the library instead. Yertle the Turtle left to meet everyone for the movie. I headed to the library with my homework. My animal report was due on Monday and mom said I couldn't do anything fun until I was finished with the report. The fun thing was that everyone came by the library after the movie and told me all about it. They had a great time. At 8:00, everyone had to head home. I had about thirty minutes left of homework, so I told them I'd have to stay around just a bit longer... Yertle the Turtle Alibi: It was 4:00 and I was cooking some homemade bread. When it was done I wanted to have some fun so I took some bread over to my friend Hop On Pop. I asked if he wanted to go to the mall, but then I got a text from Fox in Socks and Starbelly Sneetch asking if I wanted to go to the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. My mom said I could go to the movie, but his mom said he had to do homework. He tried not to show it, but boy, was he mad. I had to leave Hop On Pop to make it to the movie on time. I told him if we had time, we'd stop by the library after the movie to hang out with him. Fox in Socks' Alibi: I was sitting in my room when my mom came in and said when I finished my chores I could play. I decided to go over to Starbelly Sneetch's house to play. We thought it would be fun to go to see a movie and texted our friends to see if they could come, too. When the movie was over we went by my house to get some blankets because it was raining and we didn't want to get wet. Then, we headed to the library to visit Hop On Pop because he was doing homework there. At the library, I looked for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. I really liked the movie so I thought I would like the book. What the students do: When the students entered the library, they each grabbed a clipboard with a pencil, ingredients of a mystery checklist, alibis, map of the crime scene, and suspect list attached to it. They also grabbed a highlighter. I had the problem and alibis typed up on my SMART board including pictures of the characters. I read the problem and each alibi to the students. We walked through the ingredients of a mystery and checked off all of the mystery elements that our mystery had on the list. Then, I separated the students into two groups. One team surveyed the crime scene and drew the map of the evidence in the crime scene first. The second team worked in teams to read through the alibis and highlight evidence they found in the text that made them believe a character or characters might be guilty. After ten minutes, the teams swapped stations. We returned together as a group to discuss all of the evidence the students had found in the crime scene as well as the alibis that led them to believe that specific characters could be guilty of the crime. We completed the suspect list together. Students work in teams to highlight evidence in the alibis. Students sketched the crime scene. We taped off the crime scene with caution tape. The crime scene included Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, barcodes with fur on them (from characters), endings ripped out of the end of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books (these were really just copies I ripped), a blanket, movie ticketes (3), and a book about bumblebees (this was the book Hop On Pop was using to do his research for homework). I found the copies for the ingredients of a mystery checklist and suspect list from Beth Newingham's Scholastic post about the mystery unit she teaches in her classroom. The Solution The students really thought like detectives in this lesson! I did catch a few of them off guard with my red herrings, though. The fuzz on the barcodes made some of them immediately suspect Fox in Socks and the Starbelly Sneetch. One of the kids said, "This is the best lesson we've had in the library all year!" So, you can make whoever you want responsible for the crime. I decided that Hop On Pop was guilty. He was mad that he did not get to go to the movie with his friends. He was working on his report about bumblebees (since bears love honey) and had to stay later than his friends in the library to finish up. All of the other characters visited the library to visit Hop On Pop and they did not say anything about something being wrong in the library. Hop On Pop tore the endings out of the books when his friends left. To excite the kids about checking out mysteries in our library, we created a mystery display. All of the books were sealed in brown paper bags with the barcodes on the outside so we could check the books out without opening the bags. Each bag had a different mystery inside. This was a fun way for our students to try reading something new in the library and practice their detective skills we learned in our lesson together! Mystery books in mystery bags!

Teaching growth mindset can be done with read-alouds! Rosie's Glasses is a great book for this. Get ideas for using this book to teach being positive.

Read aloud is a great addition to any homeschool. You don't have to do all the reading yourself, but use audiobooks instead.

When done well, co-teaching offers benefits for both students and teachers. When not done well, it can be confusing or downright frustrating for all involved.

Phoenix Area Family Photography

Looking for the BEST 2nd Grade Reading List? This second grade book list is arranged by reading level, with free printable for the library.

Reading response journals are the perfect way to make sure your students are on track when doing independent reading- whether in class or at home. However, you may have many questions when setting up your journals for the first time. How will you come up with the prompts? How will students know how […]

Reading fluency activities to help you focus on fluency in your classroom. Weekly fluency activities that can be completed in class or at home!

The conscience works by telling us how to discriminate between right and wrong. The conscience is said to develop around the age of 3 years.

A Bullet Journal is one of the best planning systems out there and it pairs well with the productivity system Getting Things Done (GTD). Change your life by learning how to use a bullet journal to get things done using GTD.

If you wonder how to stop toddler hitting using a gentle parenting approach these proven tips will help you without having to use the punishment.

The simplest ideas are always the most fun. Today I have two posts to share with you that feature some simple Olympic field events. We're sharing these posts as part of Camp Mom 2012 and

Free printable reading logs make reading fun and rewarding for your child. That's why I created this new

If you’ve ever wondered what the top things to sell on Etsy are and how to dramatically increase your sales, this is the guide for you.

Here are 10 beautiful and original DIY projects to make with your leftover tiles. Read our blog article!

This printable worksheet can be used as desired or paired with the book "Duck For President". I read this story to my students and had them design their own Vote For...Poster. They wrote their name and added a drawing of why someone should vote for them. When done, we hung them around the library fo...

Perfect for kids in kindergarten through middle school, these reading comprehension strategies and activities for struggling readers will not disappoint!

Free & funny readers' theater scripts by T. P. Jagger. Use readers' theater (readers' theatre) scripts to improve students' reading fluency.

In this blog post, we'll walk through the steps of how to apply contact paper to cabinets quickly and easily. Discover how simple it can be for...

DIY Ikea window seat with storage. This is an Ikea Nordli hack for building bench seat with storage. This Ikea window seat built-ins uses Nordli dressers and whole project costs less than $400!

Task initiation is a powerful skill. The ability to tell oneself that a project or job needs to be started is a big part of getting anything done. A bigger part of that is actually starting. How many of us have to-do lists that are a mile long? Knowing a job needs done is part ... Read more

I am all done with parent conferences and it feels great! I had the most terrific year and I’m so happy to share my students’ progress with their parents. During parent conference time, I always love to have lots of student work to display. I absolutely love to incorporate student pictures into student work. This ... Read More about Silhouette Autobiographies and Read Across America

This worksheet consists of the text with some facts about London and the tasks tobe done after it.It is the additional text to the topic "London". For (pre) intermediate level. - ESL worksheets

Start Getting Things Done (GTD) by using these templates for OneNote from Auscomp.com. Manage your time and be more productive to save money.

I love this activity, and it's one of my best sellers! This cut and sort activity is great for all ages, and can be done individually or as a group. I typically completed this activity with my second graders after a read aloud at the beginning of the year (such as "Do Unto Otters" by Laurie Keller). It's such a great activity to build classroom community, and even build cut and paste skills! It's a great activity to encourage being a good citizen during Social Studies, also! While I mentioned second grade, I've had other grade levels purchase and use this item also. It's never too early (or too late!!) to review and discuss being a good citizen! :) Simply download and print!

Here's my favorite pic I took at the Louvre a few years ago. I call it "freaked out lion is getting his nails done." It's really not a lion getting…

Almost all thyroid conditions stem from an underlying cause of auto-immunity. Here are 5 things your doctor won't tell you about your thyroid. Plus, how to improve your thyroid health and answers your common questions about thyroid.

Do you ever read your students' writing and go, "Ummm... I wonder what language this is written in, because it's sure not English." I ...

I did learned this technique from my co-worker Jayne, who taught it during summer school last year. I think drawing on tin foil is a unique experience for kids that can be done using a variety of themes! My third and fourth graders had a great time making these abstract drawings using Sharpie markers on tin foil. To prepare the surface, pull out a sheet of tin foil and carefully flatten it on to a piece of cardboard or matboard. … Read more... →

Make a Dodecahedron: print out a dodecahedron template.

Whether you're teaching place value to kindergarteners, 1st or 2nd graders, there are some important and critical points you should know. Do I use pre-grouped or ungrouped manipulatives? What place value activities should be done? What's the progression in learning about place value? Read more about place value on my blog post. SIgn up for the newsletter and get a FREE place value game activity! Read it now! #twoboysandadad #commoncoremath #math #placevalue #firstgrade #secondgrade #kindergarten

Let’s talk about three changes I made to my mindset about teaching Benchmark Advance in my classroom that made a huge difference.

We LOVE activities to go with books! This Free Printable Mouse and Cookie Hat is a fun activity for your kids to recall and retell the story.

With this tutorial you will be guided step by step how to attach a hook and eye closure in a proper way on your project or garment that needs a new closure