Inspired by all the mysteries we read this term, and with the help of Ms. Liu, students took a turn at writing their own who-dunnits. Solving a mystery can be difficult, but we discovered that writing a mystery comes with its own challenges. First, students uncovered the various elements of the mystery genre such as, detectives, suspects, motive, opportunity, clues and red herrings, just to name a few. Then, they used organizers to plan their story outlines. Mini-lessons on writing techniques like, “show don’t tell” and incorporating dialogue helped students tell their story in interesting ways. Next came drafts and re-drafts and finally peer editing, self-editing and publishing.
Can you figure out who committed the crime?