Tag: school

Mini Series: Let’s Be Detectives! 🕵️ Mystery #2

The Red Marker

This story is more open ended, with multiple possible answers! Make sure to have a clear argument or reason.

🔍 Read the Story

The teacher has a red marker.
After class, the marker is gone.
Now, the marker is on the floor.
Three students are in the classroom: Emma, Ryan, and Lily.

🧩 Look at the Clues
  • Emma is standing near the teacher’s desk.
  • Ryan says, “I did not touch the marker.”
  • Lily has a notebook with red marks inside.

Question:

👉What happened?

👉I think __________ moved the marker because __________________________.

Bonus:

👉

Can you think of a different idea?
Maybe ______________ because ______________.

Copy of Little Detectives – Mystery 2.pdfDownload

Scroll down for the answer!

Answer:

The criminal could be anyone!

It could be Emma- she is suspiciously close to the teacher’s desk and may have touched the marker. However, she isn’t holding it at the moment.

It could be Lily because she has marker in her book. It may or may not be the teacher’s marker!

Ryan denies that he touched it, but doesn’t everyone when they are going to get in trouble? Maybe if we check his desk…

Again, there is no correct answer here!

…Did you solve the mystery? 😉

Link to Mystery #1:

Mini Series: Let’s Be Detectives! 🕵️ Mystery #1

Mini Series: Let’s Be Detectives! 🕵️ Mystery #1

The Dirty Classroom

🔍 Read the Story

The classroom is clean in the morning.
After lunch, the floor is very dirty.
There is paper and trash on the floor.
Three students are in the classroom: Mia, Jake, and Leo.

🧩 Look at the Clues
  • Mia says, “I cleaned my desk after lunch.”
  • Jake has paper in his hands.
  • Leo is putting trash in the trash can now.

Question:

👉What happened?

👉I think __________ made the classroom dirty because __________________________.

Bonus:

👉 Why is it NOT the other 2 students?

I think __________ did not do it because __________________________.

_Little Detectives – Mystery 1Download

Scroll down for the answer!

Answer:

The criminal is Jake!

Don’t be fooled by Leo, who is holding the trash–he is trying to clean up the mess Jake made!

It can’t be Mia, since she cleaned her desk after lunch.

Jake has been caught in the middle of throwing paper everywhere!

…Did you solve the mystery? 😉

Link to Mystery #2:

Mini Series: Let’s Be Detectives! 🕵️ Mystery #2

Mini Series Introduction: Let’s Be Detectives! 🕵️

Note to Parents:

I am going to try something new with my blog: creating mini-lessons that are designed to be fun and less academic. Learning should be fun!

Each Mini-Series will have a theme. This time, we willl be focusing on “Crime”. Don’t worry- it won’t be real! Students will become detectives to solve small mysteries, and there will be accompanying writing/speaking prompts to let kids practice explaining their ideas in detail. Again, these lessons are for fun, and shouldn’t feel like homework!

My hope is that students will find the later mysteries more challenging, which will in turn require deeper thinking skills.

It is very important to ask students why—not just the answer. The goal is to practice either–or both–writing or speaking outputs.

Here is a simple example mystery:

Mystery: Who Took the Cookie?

Story:
Mom made 3 cookies.
Now, 1 cookie is gone.
Tom, Anna, and Ben are in the room.

Clues:

  • Tom has chocolate on his hands.
  • Anna says, “I don’t like cookies.”
  • Ben is sleeping.

Question:
👉 Who took the cookie?

Answer Frame:
👉 “I think ___ took the cookie because ___.”

(The answer is pretty obvious here, I hope!)

Here is an example worksheet that will be used for each mystery:

Little Detectives – WorksheetDownload

Again, the goal is to have kids explaining their ideas in detail. I really recommend having your child use as many of the words in the word bank as possible, so that they can get used to having to think a little more deeply about their sentences.

Links to each mystery lesson:

Mystery #1:
Mini Series: Let’s Be Detectives! 🕵️ Mystery #1
Mystery #2:
Mini Series: Let’s Be Detectives! 🕵️ Mystery #2
Mystery #3:

Good Luck, Detectives! 🤪 

Advanced Vocabulary Lesson (3)

Vocabulary Word List (3)Download

Advanced Vocabulary Lesson (2)

Vocabulary Word List (2)Download

Advanced Vocabulary Lesson (1)

Vocabulary Word List (1)Download

Grammar: Adverbs of Emphasis/Degree (Difficulty: Easy)

What are Adverbs of Emphasis?

Adverbs of Emphasis (also called Adverbs of Degree) tell us TO WHAT EXTENT or HOW MUCH.

They don’t describe the action itself; they modify (or “power up” / “power down”) an adjective or another adverb.

  • Intensifiers (Stronger):very, extremely, really, absolutely
    • “It is cold.” (normal)
    • “It is very cold.” (stronger)
    • “It is extremely cold.” (even stronger!)
  • Downtoners (Weaker):a little, slightly, somewhat, quite, fairly
    • “I am hungry.” (normal)
    • “I am a little hungry.” (weaker)

Note: They go BEFORE the adjective or adverb they modify.

Worksheet 1: Choose the Right Word

blog adverbs worksheets (10)Download

Worksheet 2: Power Up or Power Down

blog adverbs worksheets (11)Download

Grammar: Adverbs of Manner (Difficulty: Easy)

What are Adverbs of Manner?

Adverbs of Manner tell us HOW an action happens. They describe the way or manner someone does something.

  • Did he run quickly or slowly?
  • Did she speak loudly or quietly?

Most adverbs of manner are formed by adding -ly to an adjective.

  • quick (adjective) -> quickly (adverb)
  • careful (adjective) -> carefully (adverb)

Irregular Adverbs: Some are tricky!

  • good (adjective) -> well (adverb)
  • fast (adjective) -> fast (adverb)
  • hard (adjective) -> hard (adverb)

Worksheet 1: Adjective to Adverb

blog adverbs worksheets (8)Download

Worksheet 2: Fill in the Blank (Manner)

blog adverbs worksheets (9)Download

Grammar: Adverbs of Place (Difficulty: Easy)

What are Adverbs of Place?

Adverbs of Place tell us WHERE an action happens. They answer the question “Where?”

They can show:

  • Location: (Where something is)
    • Examples: here, there, outside, inside, upstairs.
    • Sentence: “The cat is inside.”
  • Direction: (Where something is going)
    • Examples: up, down, away, forward, backwards.
    • Sentence: “He fell down.”

Common Placement: Adverbs of place usually go at the end of the sentence.

  • “I looked for my book everywhere.”
  • “The children are playing outside.”

📖 Worksheet 1: Find the Adverbs

blog adverbs worksheets (6)Download

📖 Worksheet 2: Fill in the Blank

blog adverbs worksheets (7)Download

Grammar: Adverbs of Frequency (Difficulty: Easy)

What are Adverbs of Frequency?

Adverbs of Frequency are a specific type of time adverb. They answer the question “How often?“

They show a scale from 100% of the time (always) to 0% of the time (never).

Scale:

  • 100% – always
  • 90% – usually, normally
  • 70% – often, frequently
  • 50% – sometimes
  • 30% – occasionally
  • 10% – seldom, rarely
  • 5% – hardly ever
  • 0% – never

(There are lots of words, but it’s good to be familiar with a few of them!)

Important Rule: Placement

  1. They can go BEFORE the main verb:
    • “He often plays tennis.”
  2. Or, they can go AFTER the ‘be’ verb (am, is, are, was, were):
    • “She is always late.”

📖 Worksheet 1: Sentence Unscramble

blog adverbs worksheets (4)Download

📖 Worksheet 2: Write About Yourself (There is no answer key for this activity; the sheet can be brought to me to be checked.)

blog adverbs worksheets (5)Download