Bring Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue fully within reach for your students with this complete unit! Designed for middle and advanced learners, these resources guide students from pre-reading predictions to detective-style analysis and advanced reasoning, all while making Poe’s challenging language accessible and engaging. Perfect for classrooms that want to combine close reading, critical thinking, collaboration, and a bit of fun detective work.

What’s Included in the Bundle:

🖤 Pre-Reading & Close Reading Introduction Activity

• Hook students from the very first slide with a high-interest mystery investigation activity that builds curiosity and engagement before reading.

• Students analyze an interactive investigation board, develop evidence-based predictions, and explore key background information about Edgar Allan Poe and C. Auguste Dupin.

• They then move into a structured close reading of the exposition, using guided supports to track understanding, determine vocabulary using context clues, and generate meaningful questions as they read.

👉 Strengthens inference, prediction, reading comprehension, and close reading skills while helping students confidently approach a complex text

🖤 Text with Footnotes & Comprehension Quiz

• Carefully annotated version of the story with 49 footnotes providing vocabulary definitions, cultural references/allusions, and clarifications.
• Divided into three sections to facilitate discussion, reflection, and prediction.
• Includes a short-answer and essay-style comprehension quiz for after reading.
  

🖤 Investigation Slides

• Interactive 12-slide collaborative slideshow turning students into detectives.
• Track crime scene details, suspects, and Dupin’s analysis.
• Encourages annotation, prediction, and discussion with a visually engaging investigation board theme.
  

🖤 Think Like Dupin Extension Activity

• Advanced learners retrace Dupin’s chain of reasoning through a “chain reaction” activity.
• Includes a Google Doc passage with 10 teacher-created footnotes for scaffolding comprehension.
• Features a guided activity sheet, answer key, digital puzzle game, and opportunities for close reading and collaborative problem-solving.
  

🖤 Complete Set of Instructional Slides

• All slides from start to finish in proper order with transitions and teacher notes.
• Ensures smooth, cohesive instruction even if using multiple resources in sequence.
  

Why Teachers Love This Bundle:

• Scaffolds Poe’s complex text so students can focus on analysis, not just decoding.
  
• Combines prediction, annotation, discussion, and problem-solving in a full-class detective experience.
  
• Supports a wide range of learners—from those needing extra guidance to advanced students ready for challenge.
  
• Makes teaching Poe manageable, engaging, and fun while fostering critical thinking and collaboration.
  

This bundle is perfect for:

• Launching a mystery genre unit
  
• Building close reading, inference, and analytical skills
  
• Engaging students in collaborative, puzzle-like detective work
  
• Giving advanced learners a challenge while supporting all students with scaffolds

⭐ Looking for a complete Edgar Allan Poe curriculum?

The Poe Mega Bundle includes The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and a creative skill-transfer task—designed to work together as a full unit.

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