Emergency Sub Plan Activity – Who Stole the Sub Lesson? Close Reading Mystery
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In this emergency sub plan, your students will solve this close reading mystery as they analyze text evidence, make inferences, and think critically to uncover the culprit! This is a fun way to challenge students to look for text evidence, infer information, and read more closely as they attempt to determine who stole the substitute teacher’s lesson plan. The resource includes everything you need to facilitate the activity in your classroom. It works great as an emergency sub plan, but can also be used within the classroom at any point!
On her first full day as a substitute teacher, Mrs. Angela Harper arrives at Room 13, eager yet nervous. However, her plans for a smooth day are shattered when she realizes the lesson plan has mysteriously vanished from Mrs. Johnson’s desk. With a classroom spiraling into disorder and a growing list of suspicious behavior from staff and students alike, Mrs. Harper must uncover the truth before the day completely falls apart. Who stole the substitute’s lesson plan?
Included In This Emergency Sub Plan Reading Mystery Activity:
➡️ Substitute Teacher Mystery Presentation: A 19-slide PowerPoint presentation that guides students through the backstory, key evidence, the final reveal, and detailed explanations of why each suspect is innocent or guilty.
➡️ Substitute Teacher Mystery Classroom Poster: Put this poster up on your classroom door or somewhere visible so that when students come in, they are hooked into the activity.
➡️ Original Narrative Backstory: Use this short story to set up and initiate the mystery, with clues hidden within the text!
➡️ A Variety of Clues and Evidence: Students must analyze and infer from multiple forms of evidence, including an attendance record, an email, a sticky note, a text message conversation, the school schedule, an artistic drawing, a faculty memo, a suspicious paper airplane, a lesson excerpt, and even a student petition.
➡️ Mystery Graphic Organizer: A structured space for students to track their findings, organize their reasoning, and eliminate suspects based on evidence.
➡️ Teacher Answer Key: Provided in both single-slide format and within the slideshow, making it easy to review students’ reasoning and conclusions.
How This Emergency Sub Plan Reading Mystery Activity Works:
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Start by putting up the poster on your door to build anticipation when students enter the room. When students enter, put them in small groups, so they can work together to try to solve the mystery.
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Use the presentation slides to guide you through each element of the activity. The slides will help you introduce the story and evidence to each of the groups.
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Hand out all the evidence to students and allow them time to make their predictions and inferences and solve the mystery.
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Once each group has made their final prediction, use the presentation slides to reveal the culprit and go through each of the suspects to show the evidence of their innocence or guilt.
What Teachers Are Saying About This Emergency Sub Plan Reading Mystery Activity:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ These are my students favorite activities! They are always asking for more!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you for giving us another fun unit that the students love!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was the perfect resource to leave for my sub to do with my students on a sick day.
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