St Patrick's Day Reading Comprehension, Spelling, & more - Reading Mystery

This St Patrick's Day Reading Comprehension Activity is a Reading Mystery where students have a fun way to incorporate a range of ELA skills.

Easy prep! Just Print & Solve! Or go paperless with the new Google Slides option provided within your download.

☘️Video Hook included too for optional use (can now be viewed in the preview thumbnail section OR CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO HOOK.

☘️An ending video clip is included to wrap up the case.

⭐NEW: Fun Visual Suspect Character Cards Included.

Distance Learning: There's a Word Document within the folder that contains a Google Slides 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 you will need to make a copy of the Google Slides to your drive before you can edit.

>>To play this mystery in a digital graphic game mode <please click here>

• 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. (Differentiation Option included B-Edition Structure, which requires full answers, but a teacher to check. Word Banks are provided to make the word puzzles easier.)
• Reading is required to solve the missing letters in words, sentences, and statements to answer the questions/solve the vocabulary puzzles.
• Each clue requires students to think critically and use deductive reasoning to decide which suspects they can eliminate from their suspect list. The last suspect remaining is the culprit!

Preparation

Everything you need for this activity is downloaded, including the reading passages. Just print, copy for your students, and solve!

Implementation suggestion: Depending on your student's 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.

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

- Spelling

- Definitions

- Character Traits

- Vocabulary

- 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 is responsible for the Fool's Gold, plus outline the clues discovered along with their elimination reasoning for each.

☘️Fun printable awards in an article format are included too! (Shhh.... keep these a secret as they reveal the mystery answer in the newspaper article your little star detective features in.)

☘️Instructions, answer sheets, and an elimination guide is included.

Differentiation Options included with this Resource

• A 'B-Edition' Alternative Structure is included for differentiation purposes. This alternative copy of Fool's Gold 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 them 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 to make this activity easier for some students.
• Check out the 'Read me' file in the folder download first.

Your feedback on this resource would be appreciated.

Thank you, and enjoy!

You may also be interested in the following:

☘️St Patrick's Day Math Mystery: Case of The Misplaced Pot of Gold

☘️Reading Mystery - Once upon a Crime: Stolen Time

☘️DIGITAL CSI Math Quest Game: Over the Rainbow (Three levels in One)

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Increase student motivation and Download the Mystery Record & Rank Chart FREEBIE HERE

I appreciate your support.

☘️Happy St Patrick's Day! ☘️