Overnight, there was a crime committed in kindergarten…the letter D was stolen! When students arrived at school today, they found crime scene tape covering the classroom door as well as displays of evidence around the classroom.

Detective Delwiche and Detective Barker were here to help the students crack the case!

On their desks were briefcases that had detective supplies inside as well as a special thinking cap…AKA fedoras…to help them get into their detective role for the day.

We gathered the evidence and worked together to identify six suspects. Students found bandaids, a red sweatband, a paintbrush, a boom wacker, a Dodgers pencil holder, the number 3 with multiplication facts on it, Clifford the Big Red Dog, a maraca, and a whistle. Who could the suspects be?!

After agreeing on the suspects, students had to engage in five different language arts learning activities. Once they completed each activity, they received a riddle to solve. The answer to each riddle provided students with the name of the suspect who did NOT steal the letter d.

Here’s a peek at the visual organizer I created to help students know which activity to complete and when:

Activity 1: Students chose a magnifying glass picture card and identified the beginning sounds in words. They recorded their answers.

Activity 2: Students colored a secret picture.

Activity 3: Students looked at pictures and spelled the CVC word using invisible ink.

Activity 4: Students used pattern blocks to build the letter d. They then tallied the number of blocks used.

Activity 5: Practicing alphabetical order, students walked around the room in search of hidden cards with missing letters of the alphabet. They had to record the letters that are missing.

After completing these activities, we came to the conclusion that Mrs. Green, our third-grade teacher, was the one who stole the letter D.

Why did she do it?

She even gave us a special treat that begins with the letter d!

Next up….putting all those letter sounds to good use when we begin blending and reading words!

When I arrived at school Friday morning, the letter D was missing from our alphabet wall cards! We had a crime scene on our hands! I processed the clues that the suspects left behind and got busy setting up a display of evidence so that my kindergarten detectives could solve the case!

I met the students outside when the bell rang. They were very curious about the yellow caution tape. I explained the situation…the letter D is missing, and we need to find out who took it! I directed the students to the carpet, where we took a closer look at the evidence that our suspects had left behind. Click on each of the underlined words below to watch videos of the morning unfolding.

Evidence!

Suspects!

Activities

Once all the activities were introduced, students joined their group to complete each of the five activities so that they could earn their clue to discover who did not steal the letter D. The activities included:

1. Write the room: students searched the room to find cards with the letters of the alphabet. Each card was missing a letter, and the students needed to figure out which letter was missing.

2. Students identified the beginning sound in CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words.

3. Students colored pictures that started with a specific letter to reveal a particular shape.

4. Students used pattern blocks to build the lowercase letter d.

5. Using a white crayon, students wrote hidden letter sounds. They then painted over using watercolors to reveal their writing.

After each activity, students opened their silver briefcases and solved a special clue that told them who the suspect was NOT. Here are some examples:

After completing each of the five rotations, we came together and reviewed our notes.

Just like we suspected, Ms. Clifford was the person who stole the letter D. Watch and learn why she did it:

We loved the doughnuts! There were many happy detectives!