CLOSE READING DIGITAL INFERENCE MYSTERY: WHO FILLED THE SCHOOL HALLWAYS WITH BALLOONS?

$4.99
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This digital April Fools’ Day close reading inference mystery is a fun way to engage your students and challenge them to look for text evidence, infer information, and read more closely.

April Fools' Day is here, and a school principal warned his students and staff against pulling any pranks. However, upon walking into school this morning, they see that the hallways have been filled with balloons. Someone went against the principal's wishes and pulled off a massive April Fools' Day prank, and your students need to determine who did it.

This is a Google-compatible activity, and students complete all the work on the computer. This works well with distance learning, 1:1 classrooms, remote teaching, Google Classroom, or for online education.

This works well around April Fools’ Day; however, it can also be used at any point in the year.

Included in your purchase:

A Google Slides teacher presentation that guides the mystery with the backstory, evidence, the culprit reveal, and detailed explanations for why each suspect is innocent and why the culprit is guilty.
An original narrative backstory that sets up and initiates the mystery.
A variety of digital clues that require students to close read and use their inference skills. There is a static electricity lab instructions sheet, a student suspension notice, a weekly school memo, a school budget, an email, a balloon artist poster, text messages, and a school staff award.
Two different slide options are provided. One more challenging option has two pieces of evidence per slide, and the other has one piece of evidence with a section for students to take notes along the side.
A final digital response slide where students can keep track of their findings that support or refute different suspects in the mystery.
A detailed teacher answer key in slide format for students and within the Google Slides presentation slideshow for whole-class review.

How it works:

Decide whether you want students to work in partners, groups, or independently for the activity.
Use the Google Slides presentation to guide you through each element of the lesson. The slides will help you introduce the story and evidence to students.
Share the digital file with students and allow them time to make their predictions and inferences and solve the mystery.
Once students have made their final prediction, use the Google Slides presentation to reveal the culprit and go through each of the suspects to show the evidence of their innocence or guilt.