This funny Christmas Readers’ Theater mystery script partner play will give grade 3, 4 and 5 students practice in reading fluency, comprehension and writing, while having lots of 'whodunnit' fun.
This 2 person, 2 characters mystery partner play will increase your students’ reading fluency AND give their critical thinking skills a work-out!
Team work and classroom community will flourish as your students solve "The Mystery of the Missing Christmas Puppy" together. All of this, without any prep (beyond photocopying) required of you!
ALSO INCLUDED: a Christmas word search, a spot-the-differences activity & a coloring page.

PLOT
The plot of the play is about a Christmas puppy gift that friends Max and Dakota think is stolen- but is it really? They won't rest until they find the missing pooch! At the start of the play Max declares that this is the worst Christmas Eve in the history of the universe. By the end of the script, he reverses this decision.

HOW TO USE THIS ACTIVITY

These partner plays are ideal for reading centers or stations, partner work, and daily fluency practice. Partner plays require more reading aloud and sustained engagement than readers' theater, as each student reads every second part in the script. For reading fluency and development of reading strategies, partner plays are incomparable!
Most students will not require any teacher support while reading the script, or completing the comprehension questions and writing assignments.

ROLES

The two characters, Max and Dakota, have deliberately been given gender neutral names. (Think Max in Stranger Things!) They can be performed as whatever sexes your students choose. Sometimes the friends get the same brainwave or experience the same reaction, so when your students see the tag BOTH, they will read the same word or words (often an exclamation like Wow!) together.

MYSTERY SOLUTION

The answer to the mystery follows the students question page. You might want to separate this page and leave a few copies of the answer sheet on your desk so they can look at the solution AFTER they have filled out their best guess.
If you use the included Easel Activity, none of the answers to questions or activities are included in the student package - only the teacher has the answers.
I hope that your students have lots of fun and festive spirit!

This plot is very loosely based on a part of Readers' Theater Christmas Mystery Grades 5-8. If you have a gifted and talented grade 4 class they will appreciate the greater challenge and complexity of this grades 5-8 script.

Need more Christmas cheer? Christmas Partner Play: 'Twas The Night Before Christmas
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Want 2 weeks of ELA grades 3-4 festive merriment? Christmas & winter GRADES 3-4 ELA Happiness: 2 Weeks of Fun!
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Try Mystery Script GRADES 3-4

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