Detective Club

Mysteries for Young Thinkers (Grades 2-4)

Judy Leimbach, Sharon Eckert

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781000491579
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

Looking for a fast, easy way to turn your students into advanced problem solvers?

Young students become members of the Detective Club by solving a series of short introductory puzzles. Primary students love working along with the young detectives in the book to solve six different mysteries. While solving the mysteries, students will gather information through decoding the message, sorting information, solving logic puzzles, and using inferential thinking. In order to reach conclusions, students will practice the following skills: organizing clues, combining and analyzing the information presented, using deductive reasoning, and using the process of elimination. Each of the six mysteries includes a teacher's guide with complete instructions for the teacher and answers to the puzzles. All mysteries are presented on attractive reproducible worksheets that include entertaining dialogue and clues needed to solve the mystery. This is a motivating format for teaching thinking while working on reading comprehension.

Have your students solve even more mysteries with Mystery Disease, Mystery Science, Crime Scene Detective, and The Great Chocolate Caper.

Grades 2-4

DOI: 10.4324/9781003234098-6

The Missing Ribbon

The Case

It was a warm spring day when the call from Mrs. Costello came in. She seemed quite upset, so even though we were in the middle of mixing up a batch of lemonade, Sam and I responded right away.

At the Sunnybrook School we found Mrs. Costello. She explained that all the boys in her class wanted to be the best at everything they did. This had caused many problems.

"But this last trick," she said as she shook her head, "is the worst thing that has happened so far. Lately, Jimmy seems to be winning at everything. The other boys are very jealous of Jimmy and all the attention he is getting."

"But this is no crime," we responded. "What is it you want us to do?"

"Well," she continued, "Jimmy's dog won first place in a dog show over the weekend. Jimmy brought in a picture of his dog and the first-place ribbon he won. I pinned the ribbon and picture up on the bulletin board. After recess, Jimmy discovered the ribbon was missing! He knew the other boys were jealous, and he thought one of them took the ribbon."

"Now we have a mystery," I whispered to Sam.

"Have no fear," I assured Mrs. Costello. "The Detective Club is on the trail of the ribbon robber. We'll have Jimmy's ribbon back in no time at all."

The Missing Ribbon

Making a Chart

Once we were alone, Sam and I decided that we should make a chart to keep track of all the information on the eight suspects Mrs. Costello had given us. I didn't know what information we would find, so I just made three columns. We decided we would fill in information as we uncovered clues.

Alex	__________	__________	__________
Tyler	__________	__________	__________
Matt	__________	__________	__________
Brett	__________	__________	__________
Jack	__________	__________	__________
Rahul	__________	__________	__________
Miguel	__________	__________	__________
Lee	__________	__________	__________

Save this chart. As you do the puzzles, fill in the clues about each person. When you have all the clues, complete these sentences.

The person who took the missing ribbon is_____________________________________________

He is the best suspect because_________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

The Missing Ribbon

Clues about Pets

Our first job was to talk to Jimmy. He told us that the missing ribbon said "First Place Dog Show." He thought maybe the person who took it also had a dog. That was at least a place to start. I put Sam on the pet detail while I went to investigate the crime scene. He quickly asked around and found clues about what pet each boy had. This is what he found out.

1. Jack's pet was an amphibian.
2. Tyler and Miguel had the same pet, but none of the other boys had that pet.
3. Matt's pet hopped.

Record the type of pet each person owned in the first column of the chart on page 35.

The Missing Ribbon

Rec...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Using a Grid to Solve Logic Puzzles
• The Case of the Mystery Valentine
• The Case of the Lost Backpack
• The Case of the Missing Ribbon
• The Case of Willie's Wallet
• The Case of the Boys Only Club
• The Case of Santa's Gift List
• Certificate