Fall & Autumn

Inside the case file

Everybody blames the wind — but wind does not untwist wire and then twist it back. That one observation, written in a fourth grader's garden journal, is where this autumn case starts. Students read a two-page fiction passage, answer comprehension questions from the text, and cross a suspect off the line-up with every correct answer. Printable, self-checking and no prep, it suits fall and harvest units, literacy centers, early finishers, sub days and homework in Grades 3–5.

Quick Details

Skill: Fiction comprehension, inference, main idea and text evidence · Grades: 3–5 · Format: One case — two-page passage, 15 multiple-choice questions, written response and full answer keys (printable PDF, color and black-and-white) · Theme: Fall — The Scarecrow That Moved

The Case

Ivy Marchetti's class built Old Barley out of straw, a flannel shirt, a burlap head and a wide brown hat, and on Friday afternoon they wired him to the fence post at the north end of the school garden, facing the pumpkin rows. On Monday morning he was standing at the south end, facing the school. Nothing is missing. Nothing is broken. He is just not where they left him. Mr. Alvarez says the wind did it. Ivy checks the north post at recess and finds her wire still wound around it in a neat figure eight, exactly as she left it — and writes that down, because the Harvest Festival is on Saturday and she has until then to work out who moved him.

How the Reading Mystery Works

Students take on the role of Reading Detectives. They read the passage — told as a week of garden journal entries — answer each multiple-choice question from the text, and cross off the suspect shown beneath the correct answer. Every right answer removes a name, and the last person standing moved the scarecrow.

What's Included

• A "You are a detective" case-file page that sets the scene and the mission
• A two-page fiction passage written as a student's garden journal
• Three pages of multiple-choice comprehension questions, every answer found in the text
• A sixteen-suspect line-up page for eliminating names one clue at a time
• Written-response pages with sample answers
• A themed word search and extension activities for early finishers
• Self-checking answer keys for every page
• Full color and ink-saving black-and-white versions
• Teacher instructions and print-and-go PDF format

Skills Covered

• Close reading of narrative fiction and journal writing
• Making inferences from small physical details
• Finding and citing text evidence
• Main idea, sequencing and cause and effect
• Vocabulary in context
• Logical reasoning and deductive elimination as suspects are ruled out

Best Used For

• Fall, autumn and harvest units
• September, October and November reading
• Literacy centers and reading rotations
• Morning work, homework and early finishers
• Substitute and relief days and indoor recess
• Comprehension review and test prep for Grades 3–5

More From This Line

Browse every Reading Mystery, or pair it with The Jack-o'-Lantern Swap and The Boat That Went Ashore.