Christmas Close Reading Digital Inference Mystery - Who Destroyed the Snowman?
This Christmas close reading activity is a fun and engaging way to challenge students to look for text evidence, make inferences, and read more closely. Through a mystery-style format, students analyze realistic documents, collaborate with classmates, and apply critical reading strategies to solve the case. The resource includes everything you need to facilitate the activity in your classroom with minimal prep. While it works perfectly as a festive holiday lesson, the resource does not specifically mention Christmas, so it can also be used as a winter-themed activity anytime between November and April.
Students will read the backstory to learn that Mia and her father spend all day building a huge snowman for the winter carnival in hopes of winning one of the three snowmobile prizes. When they wake up the next morning, however, their creation has been destroyed. Someone has sabotaged them, and it’s up to your students to figure out 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.
Included In This Digital Christmas Close Reading Activity:
➡️ Google Slides Presentation: This 15-slide Google Slides guides the entire mystery from start to finish. It introduces the backstory, presents each piece of evidence in an organized sequence, walks students through suspect analysis, and reveals the culprit. The final slides clearly explain why each suspect is innocent and why the guilty party is responsible.
➡️ “Who Destroyed the Snowman?” Digital Poster: Use this eye-catching digital poster on your projector to hook students the moment they walk in. It sets the tone for the Who Destroyed the Snowman activity and immediately sparks curiosity about the mystery they are about to solve.
➡️ Original Narrative Backstory: This engaging story introduces students to Mia and her father, who work hard to build a snowman for a winter carnival competition, only to discover it destroyed the next morning. The narrative establishes the problem, introduces the suspects, and provides important context students will use throughout the investigation.
➡️ A Variety of Close Reading Clues: Students analyze multiple realistic documents that require close reading, inference, and evidence-based reasoning. These include an email, a text message, a solar light repair work order, a list, a community bulletin board, and a senior citizen online message board. Each clue provides subtle details that help students eliminate suspects and build a strong case.
➡️ "Who Destroyed The Snowman" Digital Graphic Organizer: Students use this organizer to record evidence for and against each suspect. This helps them organize their thinking, track key details, and support their final conclusions with specific text evidence.
➡️ Teacher Answer Key: A detailed answer key is included in the slideshow. It includes clear reasoning and evidence references, making whole-class review simple and effective after students solve the mystery.
How The Digital Christmas Close Reading Activity Works:
- As students enter, place them into small groups so they can collaborate and begin working together to solve the mystery.
- Use the Google slides to guide you through the close reading activity. The slides help you set up the backstory before they begin analyzing the evidence.
- Distribute the digital evidence to each group, giving students time to read carefully, analyze the details, make inferences, and locate specific text evidence that supports or refutes each suspect. Encourage discussion within groups as they compare ideas and build their case.
- Once each group has made a final prediction, use the presentation slides to reveal the culprit. Review each suspect one by one, walking through the evidence that proves their innocence or guilt so students can clearly see how strong text evidence leads to a logical conclusion.
What Teachers Are Saying About This Christmas Close Reading Activity:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is the perfect resource to use in the holiday season. Students have to use so many reading strategies that we talk about in class, but hey are so engaged in the mystery that they do not grumble about it. It is so helpful to have this on hand to help fill that class time when you do not want to start a new unit.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ As usual, the variety of documents students have to read and the strategies they come up with to solve the mystery are great! VERY engaging resource like all your mysteries! Used it before the Christmas break : perfect! Keep them coming!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I love using these mystery inferencing activities with my 7th-grade ELA classes! We set up each of the pages in different stations around our large group instruction room, and students are always interested in getting to the answer! They are set up in a fun and engaging way!
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If you like this resource, you'll also like this one:
→ Who Put Up the Holiday Lights? Reading Mystery
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