Presidents Day CSI Mystery Worksheets

Inside the case file

February Presidents Day CSI math worksheets that play out as a CSI Mystery Detective case on three-digit addition and multiplication facts, with a missing stovepipe hat and a speech due in an hour. Aimed at 3rd grade, 4th grade and 5th grade, it is a multiplication mystery for the week around Lincoln's birthday and a handy snow day math option too. Both color and black-and-white pages are included and nothing needs cutting. Students follow a trail of stars where an odd or even total settles the clue, decode addition answers through a letter key, and circle letters on a multiplication grid to unscramble the final name, sending one suspect home with every right answer.

The Case: Help! The Missing Hat

Today is the day of the big speech. He is up early, into the favorite suit, breakfast made, teeth cleaned, one last run through the words. He is ready. And the hat - the one everybody would recognize from a hundred yards - is not on the stand where it lives. The speech is in an hour, and somebody in this house has taken it.

What's Inside

• Addition along a trail of stars where an odd or even total settles the clue
• Three-digit addition decoded through a letter key to give a shoe size
• Checking worked answers for errors and tallying which are correct
• Multiplication used to color the correct circle and arrow forward
• Circling letters on a grid using multiplication answers, then unscrambling them
• Full color and black-and-white versions of every page
• Answer keys for the whole case

What Is a CSI Mystery Detective Case?

A CSI Mystery Detective case is a printable investigation your class solves with math. It runs like a math escape room - no locks, no app, no prep - except that instead of opening a box, every correct answer rules one suspect out of the line-up until a single name is left. That is what separates detective activities from ordinary math worksheets: the arithmetic has to be right or the case will not close, so students check their own work. It is a math activity that carries a whole lesson, and it works just as well in math centers or as a sub plan.

When to Use This Resource

• Presidents Day in February, alongside your history work
• The days around a holiday, when you still want real math done
• Math centers, early finishers and independent work
• Emergency sub plans that run themselves
• End of year review, when attention is thin and the work still has to happen

Grade Levels

Built for 3rd grade, 4th grade and 5th grade. Third graders may want their times tables to hand for the grid page; fourth and fifth graders run the case independently inside a lesson. It also suits 2nd grade students who are ahead and want something with more thinking in it.

Why Teachers Love CSI Mystery Detective Cases

• Zero prep - print and hand out
• Self-checking by design, because a wrong answer breaks the deduction
• A Presidents Day activity that still does real math
• Works as a whole lesson, a center, or a filler for an awkward afternoon

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