In my Montessori elementary class, we study writing and
reading at weekly Literacy Workshops where students participate in small-group
themed activities. Recently, I shared with students a lesson called Parts of a
Mystery, identifying the main characteristics of this genre:
·
A question or problem
·
Something strange or unexpected
·
A secret
·
Something missing
·
A curious detective
·
Clues and predictions
·
Distractions
·
Suspense
·
Conclusion
The Parts of a Mystery were printed on white paper with a
black background, enclosed in a pouch from Out of Print, adorned with many
faces of author Edgar Allen Poe. I also had a basket of magnifying loops, a
raven finger puppet from Folkmanis, and a copy of Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Madness. We discussed the Parts of a Mystery,
then I asked older students (in my age 6-9 class) to select two younger
partners to read one of the following books:
·
The
Mystery by Maxwell Eaton
·
Hermelin,
the Detective Mouse by Mini Grey
·
Ginger and
the Mystery Visitor by Charlotte Voake
·
The
Strange Case of the Missing Sheep by Mircea Catusanu
·
Who Pushed
Humpty Dumpty? And Other Notorious Nursery Tale Mysteries by David
Levinthal
·
Fog Island
by Tomi Ungerer
·
Quest
by Aaron Becker
Each group had a grid sheet with the Parts of a Mystery on
it, and each student had a different role to play:
·
Reader (oldest child),
·
Detective (usually the youngest child – who got
to use the loop), and
·
Scribe (usually the middle child, if s/he was a
confident writer).
After fifteen to twenty minutes, the groups had
finished reading and worked on identifying the Parts of the Mystery grid sheet
about the book they had read. We then returned to circle, and each group had a
chance to share aloud about their Mystery. At the end of our lesson, I shared
an episode of The Simpsons where the cartoon family re-enacts Poe’s poem “The Raven”.
Students loved this multi-media and multi-sensory lesson, which allowed them to
understand this expansive and intriguing genre of popular literature!
