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THE MYSTERIES PAGE

Sept. 15th, 1890: It was on this day that the great mystery author Agatha Christie was born in Devon, England. At the time of her death in 1976, she had already achieved the status of being the best-selling English novelist ever. She authored "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Death on the Nile". "Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them." - Agatha Christie

WHAT'S IN A MYSTERY?
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Students will learn about story elements through an examination of the mystery genre. They will also identify the characteristics of the genre, outline a mystery story, and write their own mysteries. A mystery genre organizer handout is available at the 2nd link above.

THE INGREDIENTS OF A MYSTERY:
A Recommended Book List is available at this resource from Scholastic, where students will explore the mystery genre and learn all about its "ingredients". Students handouts include a Mystery Memory Game, a Detective's Dictionary, a Mystery Checklist, Detective's Case Report, and a Suspect List.

IT'S A MYSTERY!
E.L. Konisburg's "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" is the delightful book that this 5th grade lesson plan is based upon. Story elements are discussed, and students are paired off to role play the two main characters in the story. They'll be using the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website to take a virtual field trip and become a bit more familiar with the setting, all leading to writing their own mystery story with these characters.

THE ROANOKE MYSTERY:
Take a mystery right out of American history - one that's never been solved. This lesson plan for grades 5-8 has students role playing special task FBI agents. They will investigate both primary and secondary sources for clues as to what happened at Roanoke, coming up with hypotheses and possible conclusions, based on analysis and elimination. (Note: this lesson plan utilizes websites for research. Please ensure that all current content and links are appropriate before allowing unsupervised student access.)

WHAT IS A MYSTERY?
What is a mystery? And important to this lesson plan, how is doing research like being a detective? Brainstorming sessions will generate responses to enigmas, and the class will select a mystery to investigate - any kind of mystery can be submitted. The Bermuda Triangle is the topic used here to illustrate the process.

MYSTERY BOOKMARKS:
These printable mystery bookmarks can be used to help students identify the characteristics of the mystery genre, applying them to specific examples in an assigned mystery story.

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS CHART:
Tip-offs: which elements can help students to identify that the story they are reading is a mystery? What techniques does a mystery story employ? Look at the tools of the trade with this handout.

ROUND ROBIN SUSPENSE WRITING:
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Here's a great way to explore writing mysteries and the whole mystery genre without students worrying about having to do it all themselves. It will be a pass-around or group effort with this lesson plan; writing prompts are available at the 2nd link above.