{"product_id":"thanksgiving-close-reading-digital-inference-mystery-who-kidnapped-the-turkey","title":"Thanksgiving Close Reading Digital Inference Mystery – Who Kidnapped the Turkey?","description":"\u003cp\u003eEngage your students with a captivating Thanksgiving close reading digital inference activity that challenges them to find text evidence, make inferences, and read more closely. This resource includes everything you need to facilitate a fun and creative Thanksgiving mystery in a digital format. Students can work collaboratively or independently as they strengthen their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills while unraveling the mystery together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClyde Bartlett is hosting the family Thanksgiving dinner, and this year he has been bragging nonstop about serving his prized turkey, Titan—the biggest turkey in all of Maple Hollow. But two days before the holiday, Titan mysteriously disappears. Someone has kidnapped Titan, and it’s up to your students to determine who is the most likely culprit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a \u003cstrong\u003eGoogle-compatible activity where students complete all their work on the computer\u003c\/strong\u003e. It works well for distance learning, 1:1 classrooms, remote teaching, Google Classroom, or online education.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIncluded in This Digital Thanksgiving Close Reading Inference Mystery:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e➡️ \u003cstrong\u003eInference Mystery Google Slides:\u003c\/strong\u003e This 15-slide Google Slides presentation serves as the guide for the activity, leading students through the mystery with a captivating backstory, detailed evidence, and clear explanations for each suspect’s innocence or guilt. The slides are crafted to engage students and encourage critical thinking as they analyze the clues and support their ideas with text evidence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e➡️ \u003cstrong\u003eDigital Poster:\u003c\/strong\u003e Introduce the mystery with a visually appealing digital poster designed to grab students’ attention. Use it to set the stage, establish the stakes, and draw students into the investigation ahead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e➡️ \u003cstrong\u003eOriginal Digital Narrative Backstory:\u003c\/strong\u003e Use this short story to launch the mystery. Hidden within the narrative are clues and subtle hints that invite students to read closely, make inferences, and begin forming predictions about who might have taken Titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e➡️ \u003cstrong\u003eA Variety of Digital Clues and Evidence:\u003c\/strong\u003e Students examine a wide range of digital texts that contain important clues. They must read each one closely and use their inference skills to analyze the information. The evidence set includes a social media group chat, a poster, a newspaper article, an animal control incident report, an email conversation, a text message thread, a set of therapist notes, and a social media profile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e➡️ \u003cstrong\u003eText Evidence Digital Graphic Organizer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Students use the digital graphic organizer to track their findings and evaluate the guilt or innocence of each suspect. This tool helps them organize their thinking and encourages them to back up every conclusion with clear text evidence from the investigation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e➡️ \u003cstrong\u003eTeacher Answer Key:\u003c\/strong\u003e Use the detailed answer key, available both in slide format and embedded within the teacher version of the presentation, to quickly review students’ work. The key explains the reasoning behind each suspect’s innocence or guilt, making whole-class discussion and debriefing easy and effective.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow the Digital Thanksgiving Close Reading Inference Mystery Works:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePut students in small groups so they can collaborate and work together to solve the mystery.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUse the Google Slides presentation to guide you through each part of the Thanksgiving activity. The slides will help you introduce the backstory and each piece of evidence to the class or to individual groups.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShare the student slides with all the digital evidence and give students time to make predictions, analyze clues, and use inference skills to determine who kidnapped Titan.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOnce each group has made their final prediction, use the Google Slides to reveal the culprit and walk through each suspect, showing the text evidence that proves their innocence or guilt.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIf you like this, you’ll love this resource:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u0026gt; \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.shop.prestoplans.com\/products\/reading-mysteries-full-year-ela-reading-program-print\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eThe Reading Mysteries Program\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© Presto Plans\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e➡️ Want 10 free ELA resources sent to your inbox? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/prestoplans.com\/10-days-of-english-teacher-giveaways\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eClick here!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Presto Plans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50681412518173,"sku":null,"price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0266\/9641\/7352\/files\/1WhoKidnappedtheTurkeyThanksgivingMysteryDigital.jpg?v=1764707358","url":"https:\/\/www.shop.prestoplans.com\/products\/thanksgiving-close-reading-digital-inference-mystery-who-kidnapped-the-turkey","provider":"Presto Plans","version":"1.0","type":"link"}