This 3rd grade math spiral review brings Halloween math activities and no prep math worksheets together in one CSI Mystery Detective math case, The Costume Caper. Students review five third grade skills: multiplication and division facts, rounding to the nearest 10 and 100, adding and subtracting within 1000 with regrouping, equivalent and comparing fractions, and telling time and elapsed time. It fits October from the first fall math centers right through Halloween week, and doubles as a back to school math review for 4th grade. Print and go for math centers, early finishers, morning work, small groups and sub plans.
Halloween week in third grade has a buzz about it, and this case puts that energy into real math practice. Every clue page reviews a different skill, so one packet shows you where your class stands before the fractions and time units get going. Students cross suspects off as they solve, which means they are checking their own work as they go, and the whole case marks itself.
The Case: The Costume Caper
The Golden Pumpkin, a hundred-year-old trophy for the best costume in Maple Hollow, disappears from the judges' float halfway through the Halloween parade. Fifteen marchers in costume were close enough to take it, and the clues they left along the parade route point to just one of them. Spooky fun, never scary.
What's Inside
- Clue One, the judges' scorecards: check twelve multiplication and division facts and mark each card correct or error
- Clue Two, the candy trail: ring the numbers that round to each target, to the nearest 10 or 100, to spell a hidden message
- Clue Three, the candy scales: compare fractions and spot equivalent fractions with >, < and =, including fraction strips and whole numbers
- Clue Four, the sign-in cards: read clocks, digital times and elapsed time to sort each marcher as on time or late
- Clue Five, the parade route: add and subtract 3-digit numbers with regrouping to find the way through town
- Detective story, suspect chart, teacher instructions, color and black-and-white pages, and answer keys for all five clues
What Is a CSI Mystery Detective Case?
A CSI Mystery Detective case is a printable investigation your class solves with math. Each clue page is a set of problems, and every correct answer rules out suspects until only the thief is left.
When to Use This Resource
Use it in October to review five 3rd grade standards at once, or keep it for Halloween week when the class wants something special. Each clue stands on its own page, so you can run the whole case in one lesson or give out one clue a day across a week of math centers. Teachers reach for it for math centers, morning work, small groups, early finishers, homework and sub days.
Grade Levels
Written for 3rd grade and drawn straight from the third grade standards. It also makes a friendly back to school review for 4th graders.
Why Teachers Love CSI Mystery Detective Cases
- No prep - just print and teach
- Five 3rd grade skills in one Halloween math case
- Self-checking - students find and fix their own mistakes as they go
- The wrong answers on each page are the slips third graders really make, so you can see where to help
- Prints clearly in color or black and white
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