2-Digit by 2-Digit Multiplication

Inside the case file

Five one page CSI Mini Mystery Detective math cases on 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication, 4th grade and 5th grade, set at Thanksgiving. Students work each multiplication on the crime sheet, then use the product to cross a suspect off the lineup until one name is left, so multi digit multiplication arrives as math worksheets and math activities in one no prep download. Turkey math and Thanksgiving math for November, then test prep, math centers, early finishers, homework, morning work, sub plans and spiral review. CSI math with detective activities and full answer keys, print and go.

Hand this out and a class gets straight on with it, which is not the usual reaction to long multiplication. Each product matches one suspect and takes that name off the lineup, so students work through the whole page for their own reasons. One case fills a period, so the five make a tidy week of test prep with keys included.

The Cases

1. Who is left the lunch for the teachers? - somebody baked for the staffroom
2. Who took the acorns? - the squirrel's store is empty
3. A huge pumpkin at school - nobody knows who brought it in
4. Where is the turkey? - the turkey has gone missing
5. Who swept the leaves up? - the yard is suddenly spotless

What's Inside

• Five case files, each with a crime sheet and its own lineup of suspects
• 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication on every page
• Space on the sheet for both partial products to be written out
• Each answer matches one suspect and no other, so the page checks itself
• A full answer key for every case
• Print and go: no cutting, no laminating, nothing to prepare

What Is a CSI Mini Mystery Detective?

A CSI Mini Mystery Detective puts a crime, a lineup and a page of math in front of your class, and the only way to name the culprit is to get the math right. Each suspect carries a number, each solved question matches one of them, and that suspect is crossed off until a single name remains. Because a wrong product eliminates the wrong person, these detective activities make students check their work in a way math worksheets cannot. One case fills a class period.

When to Use This Resource

Long multiplication usually lands in the fall, which puts the practice right in the middle of the Thanksgiving run up when a plain worksheet has no chance. Students lose the answer by forgetting the placeholder zero on the second row, and that error is invisible until it is graded. Here it crosses off the wrong suspect, so the class finds it and re-checks the layout without being told.

It suits test prep, homework, math centers, morning work, early finishers, sub plans and homeschool lessons, with a whole class, a small group or one student alone.

Grade Levels

Written for 4th grade and 5th grade, where 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication sits in the standards. Third graders take it once they are fluent with facts to twelve, and 6th graders use it as a warm up before multiplying decimals.

Why Teachers Love These Cases

• Catches the missing placeholder zero, which is the classic long multiplication slip
• Students correct themselves when the wrong suspect comes off the lineup
• No prep in the week before the break
• Works with a whole class, a small group, partners, or one student alone

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