1st grade addition and subtraction within 20, written to 1.OA.C.6. Students add and subtract on the question cards, then use each answer to strike a suspect off the sheet until one name is left, which gives you math worksheets and math activities from one no prep download. A Halloween CSI Mystery Detective math case run as SCOOT task cards around the room, with Halloween math for October, then math centers, early finishers, homework, morning work, sub plans, test prep and review for the rest of the year. CSI math in color and black and white versions, with a full answer key and detective activities that need no prep.
First graders will do far more addition and subtraction on their feet than they will sitting down, and this is the resource that takes advantage of it. The cards go around the room, each answer takes a suspect off their sheet, and finding the culprit is the reward. Short enough that the whole class finishes together, and it is ready for early finishers any time after that.
Ghostly Giggles
Something is laughing in the dark and the class is out to find it. Students move around the room card by card, and every answer they work out crosses another suspect off the sheet they are carrying. By the time the last card is done, only one name is left.
What's Inside
- Eleven numbered question cards, written to 1.OA.C.6
- Addition and subtraction within 20 on every card
- A suspect sheet each student fills in as they move around the room
- A color set and a black and white set of the same cards
- The answer key, with the culprit named
- Print, cut the cards once, and it is ready every year after that
What Is a CSI Mystery Detective?
A CSI Mystery Detective gives your class a crime, a lineup of suspects and a set of questions, and the only route to the culprit is the math. Each suspect wears a number, each correct answer matches one of them, and that name is crossed off until one has not been ruled out. Run as SCOOT the questions go on the wall and students travel between them, which is what separates these detective activities from ordinary math worksheets. One case fills a class period with no prep.
When to Use This Resource
Use this in the last week of October, when nobody is sitting still and you still have facts within 20 on the plan. It gets first graders moving between cards instead of grinding down a worksheet, and the number of problems is small enough that the whole class finishes in one session. Each answer strikes a name off their own sheet, so a wrong sum shows itself before you ever look at the page.
It covers test prep, homework, math centers, morning work, early finishers, sub plans and homeschool lessons, with a whole class, a small group or one child working alone.
Grade Levels
Written for 1st grade, where 1.OA.C.6 sits. Kindergarten classes take it late in the year once addition within 10 is secure, and second graders use it as a start of year warm up before moving to within 100.
Why Teachers Love These Cases
- Eleven short questions, which is the right length for a first grade attention span
- Students check themselves as the suspects come off the sheet
- One cut and the cards are ready for every October after this one
- Works with a whole class, a small group, partners, or one student alone
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