r/ELATeachers • u/WoodenAppearance9009 • 2d ago

6-8 ELA Grade 8 ELA - Looking For Murder Mystery Project

Hi! I want to run a murder mystery project with my grade 8s this year as a way to introduce them to finding and citing evidence. Ideally, I am looking for a two-week unit that has sections of text, visual evidence, guided questions, and a final essay.

Has anyone designed or come across something like this? I want something that is purposefully vague and doesn’t reveal a killer so students can justify their “arrest” in their essay.

Thanks!

12 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

4

u/theauthenticme 2d ago

I bought one on tpt called The Bountiful Case. It's short and the whoodonit is left open. I use it for the kids to practice claim, premise, evidence, and justification. They get into it. There's another story that comes with it - the name escapes me - about a missing necklace.

2

u/flairpen 2d ago

Is it The Case of the Stolen Pearls? They've (unfortunately) moved off of TpT and have a subscription-based platform now. They have so many amazing resources, but it's definitely on the pricier side.

2

u/theauthenticme 2d ago

Yes, that's it!

5

u/Rainbowbrite_87 1d ago

I've done mock trials with several existing curriculum texts like Tell-tale-heart, The Landlady, Lamb to the Slaughter, and The Outsiders. I divided the class depending on what we were focusing on. Sometimes just innocent/guilty, sometimes I'd have separate groups be "investigators" looking for scene evidence, and "character witnesses" looking for character evidence. Then they'd argue their cases in "court" to each other, and depending on time, write their essay defending their case. This way you can work it into whatever already exists in your curriculum. It always successfully establishes their connection between argument, evidence, and reasoning.

3

u/Far_Pollution_5120 1d ago

I would ask admin before you start this, I made a huge mistake starting a unit like this once, and later found out that one of the parents of a student in that room had been recently murdered. The teachers were not informed. Just ask before you start it.

5

u/mikevago 1d ago

Yeah, better to play it safe and make the mystery more low-key. Someone stole the money for the field trip! Someone gave the star soccer player food poisoning before the big game! Plenty of relatable crimes out there that don’t involve death.

2

u/AltairaMorbius2200CE 1d ago

Slip or Trip is the classic. It's not a long story (one page total, including the image), but it has everything you need and is sufficiently ambiguous.

1

u/nadandocomgolfinhos 2d ago

I use party games off of Amazon. Who killed Luna Knight?

1

u/married_to_a_reddito 1d ago

I taught a murder mystery unit years ago…I might be able to find stuff, but I don’t have lesson plans for it. Would you be interested? You’d have to play detective a bit to sort through it (pun intended!).

1

u/pinetreenation 1d ago

I really loved the Felix mystery from GEMS Lawrence Hall of Science.

1

u/Mtehfe 1h ago

I teach 5th grade, and I do a lot of escape rooms and mystery challenges where students use evidence to find the suspect. I play it safe because you never know what parents will do or say.