5-Week Mystery Genre Study for Fourth and Fifth Grades

Five weeks of detective-themed ELA activities engage fourth and fifth grade students. The mystery bundle includes reading, critical thinking, and writing projects; two novel studies; a simulation; and book report templates. A complete 25-day schedule guides instruction.

To support classroom and distance learning, resources are now available as printable PDFs, as well as TpT Digital Activities or Google Slides.

• Read Like a Detective – Inference activities and short stories let kids practice prerequisite skills for this genre: close reading, drawing conclusions, and using flow charts to map mysteries.

• Think Like a Detective – A variety of activities give kids CSI experience. They learn to be more observant, break codes, analyze fingerprints, experiment with invisible ink, and use logic to solve puzzles.

• Write Like a Detective – Three different activities get kids writing short and/or long mysteries. They’re also great for differentiation.

• The Maze of Bones (610L) – This novel is appropriate for most fourth and fifth grade students. For each set of chapters, students respond in their detective’s journals and explore questions in literature groups. They can even create character trading cards.

• The Westing Game (750L) – This complex puzzle-piece mystery challenges top readers in fourth and fifth grades. Like The Maze of Bones, the resource provides detective’s journals, questions, and character cards. Both novel studies are broken into ten sections, which allows you to teach both groups simultaneously - stress free.

• Act Like a Detective – A CSI-style simulation lets kids act like detectives. They study photos of the crime scene and suspects’ desks, take notes, read interviews, analyze fingerprints, and participate in two science labs: mystery powders and chromatography.

• Mystery Book Reports - Choose from a template or puzzle-piece craft.

• Mystery Banners - Decorate your classroom - and teach mystery terms!

Take a look at the preview to see all of the pieces.

Enjoy Teaching!

Brenda Kovich

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