Inference Activity Solve This Mystery - Back to School Team Building Digital

This engaging digital back-to-school team-building activity gives students the chance to work together to solve a real-life mystery about a buried ship discovered in the middle of downtown San Francisco! Start the lesson by hooking students with a hand-drawn video created by the talented John Spencer that introduces the backstory, sparks curiosity, and prepares students to dive into the inference activity. Watch the preview video to get a sneak peek at what’s included, and download the preview to explore all of the ready-to-use materials—an introductory hand-drawn video, digital graphic organizers, reference slides, digital checklists, rubrics, and more. Best of all, there is absolutely no prep required to implement this digital lesson and inference activity!

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

How This Digital Back to School Mystery Inference Activity Works:

• Students watch a hand-drawn video that introduces the inference activity in a highly engaging way. The true story immediately captures their attention and sets the stage for inquiry, collaboration, and critical thinking.

• Use the eye-catching Google Slides presentation to walk students through the activity step-by-step. The slides guide discussion, clarify expectations, and eventually reveal the true story behind the buried ship.

• Distribute the included instructions, digital graphic organizers, checklists, reference slides, and rubric to support students as they work together to analyze clues, make inferences, and develop theories.
  
  

What's Included in This Digital Back to School Inference Activity:

➡️ Introductory Video: Use this highly engaging, hand-drawn video to introduce the mystery to your students. The video explains the true story of a construction crew who discovered a buried ship underground in downtown San Francisco. Students are challenged to theorize and infer how and why the ship ended up there, sparking curiosity and discussion right away.

➡️ Teacher Instructions: Clear, detailed teacher instructions walk you through each step of the lesson so you feel confident implementing the activity. From setup to facilitation to assessment, everything is explained so the lesson runs smoothly with no guesswork.

➡️ Teacher Google Slides Presentation: A visually appealing Google Slides presentation guides you through all elements of the lesson. The slides introduce the mystery, support group discussion, and ultimately reveal the true story behind the buried ship—keeping students engaged from start to finish.

➡️ Buried Ship Mystery Student Reference Slide: Share this digital reference slide to students after they watch the video. The slide includes all the information from the video, so they can reference the story while they complete the inference activity.

➡️ Inferring Information Brainstorming Slide: Students work in groups to complete this structured brainstorming slide. The prompts guide them to examine clues, think critically, and generate possible explanations for how the ship ended up underground.

➡️ Our Final Theory Digital Graphic Organizer: Students use this digital organizer to present their final theory, supported by reasoning and evidence. It helps them clearly explain their thinking and defend their conclusions using information from the mystery.

What Teachers Are Saying About This Back to School Inference Activity:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This created much discussion with my students. They had some imaginative ideas about how the ship came to be buried in downtown San Francisco. Students needed to work collaboratively and use inquiry skills. I will definitely be using this next year.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We loved this team building and critical thinking activity! The kids were engaged and it's something they continue to talk about!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My students really enjoyed digging into the mystery. They really took advantage of the anything goes approach to solving the mystery and came up with some wacky solutions. I used this as a team building activity to also reintroduce us back into the classroom and it worked like a charm.

If you like this, you'll love our inference mysteries:
→ Reading Mysteries Program

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