Mystery is an exciting genre for young readers to investigate. The plots are so intriguing! Here is a series of lessons featuring Sherlock Holmes stories that invite learners to enter the world of the mystery genre.  Based on what they have learned about the genre after a close reading of several of Sir Arthur Canon Doyle's tales, pupils create their own detective stories and publish them in a book format. They must also try their hand at solving mysteries by using inductive reasoning skills. A highly recommended series of plans that are sure to be a hit!

Concepts

sherlock holmes, sir arthur conan doyle, mysteries

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Additional Tags

mystery, sherlock holmes, detective stories, math

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Instructional Ideas

• Invite your school safety officer or a police detective to speak about Police Academy training

Classroom Considerations

• Requires a class set of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, individual copies of "The Red-Headed League" and "The Speckled Band," or Internet access to the stories which are available online

Pros

• The eight-lesson unit includes activities that have class members investigate fingerprinting and chromatography

Cons

• None