Spent this week in my daughter's grade four class helping them with mystery writing. What a treat that was. We started off with playing one of Masterpiece Mysterys Gumshoe Games as the 'hook' and then went on to discuss the elements of a mystery and how a mystery doesn't have to be a crime and how to plant clues, or in the case of an elementary project, a clue.
I was working as part of the Language Arts program but am thinking that mystery writing and solving would be better suited to a logics class or perhaps as a way to integrate information from a social or science unit. Probably grade seven would be the best age to take advantage of this process and I would love to work with a grade seven teacher to develop cirriculum units. Could be really exciting. I know ancient Egypt is part of the study program and the possibilities are unlimited.
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I used to teach a Forensic Science Unit in Grade 5/6. The children were required to create a crime scene. They were to put all the evidence in a box including sketches, photos, fabrics, hairs, fingerprints, writing samples, etc. The box had to include photos and descriptions of witnesses, suspects, and locations. From the information in the box they had to create a mystery story, scenario that included all of the information in the box. You would be amazed at the quality of some of the work and the extremes that some of the students went to.
That's sounds facinating. Lucky grade 5/6 classes. Are you a forensic scientist who went into the school or a teacher with a bend for forensic science?
The teacher here in Edgewater was lamenting the lack of 'mystery' resources available as a teaching tool and it sounds like you've got a gem there!
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