BRAIN TEASERS MYSTERY STORIES GRADES 5-8 Making inferences

Mystery short stories are not only fun brain teaser activities, but also practice inference making skills. Grades 5-8 students practice close reading and critical thinking as they search the passages for text evidence and context clues to make predictions, draw conclusions, and solve the mysteries. These 15 mini-mysteries are carrots for the end of the day, warm ups, bell ringers or even for fast finishers. Alternatively, you could assign them as high interest home study tasks for students who typically grumble about homework.

How to use this resource
When reading the tales as a whole class, the most obvious methods of using these mystery whodunnits are to read each one out loud OR to show them on your screen. The students then guess the solutions. They can also be read in small literacy groups using the Easel Activity mode. If you want the students to work a bit harder, they could record and explain their guesses on the included worksheet, and write their own story, using the guidelines. The solutions are on a different page from the story and its question, so that students cannot see them accidentally; that would really spoil the fun!

Story Content
The stories are humorous, succinct tales, many of them about Middle School students. A few stories are ‘one offs,’ but some characters like riddlers Matt and Sophie, and Mr and Mrs Orange and their twins Pip and Peel, appear in more than one tale. The stories vary in length. Some are half a page, whereas others are a full page.

Included in this mystery resource

15 vividly illustrated mini mysteries.

An optional tips page, explaining the most common mystery/ riddle clue types.

An optional working page, so students can write down their guesses, and keep a tally of how many mysteries they got right.

A mini-mystery writing advice sheet, to guide students in writing one of their own.

A simple teacher rubric to mark the students’ own mini-mysteries.

This resource is part of a 50% off reading comprehension bundle: 50% OFF READING COMPREHENSION BIG BARGAIN BUNDLE.

There is also a volume #2 of these mini-mysteries, with a mystery writing assignment included: 15 Brain Teaser Mystery Short Stories + mystery writing assignment .

If your students liked story stars Matt and Sophie, they have a long mystery of their own: Brain teaser mystery fun inferential skills practice
They also have their own Readers' Theater scripts: Readers' Theater - Mystery of the Stolen Laptop and READERS' THEATER- MYSTERY OF THE DRAMA CAMP THIEF
If you want a mystery resource that demands more writing from your students, try Reading Comprehension Mysteries & Questions

There are 5 more mystery stories in ELA Games Grades 5-8
For a unique mystery to challenge inference making skills, try this fusion between a mystery and Mad Libs:
Mystery Mad Libs Inference Making Story

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