Rule #1-Good Detectives keep their clues to themselves

What a fantastic day.I am terribly regretfull I didn't video record these kids today.
Lesson 6?
We were following the review activities for dialogue circle in circle introductions. I had a student return to class from going out of the country and had missed a lot.
That is one thing to consider. How to review and revisit without spoiling the flow of the mystery.
I was doubly glad to have made a rule from the start which was to define the tasks of a detective. That a detective follows clues, maybe writes them down even but never shouts out his or her predictions, hypotheses, or makes off the cuff conclusions without all of the clues and proof. I have some kids on pins and needles holding their hands over their mouths and even acting out and anxiously trying to point out their deductions. Despite how sure they were...they MUST follow all the clues to achieve my expectations. Thank Goodness I kept repeating this since it gave me the chance today to go backwards, show clips and play audio for student who missed a week. It made students very proud to show off what they could say out loud to their peer who was absent. They were proud to sing along to and hold their clues to themselves as they helped the student get caught up.


So, today was lesson...hmmm if I remember correctly is 6 ( I don't have binder with me and I'll put proper references tomorrow to pages and sections) but we were reviewing map with audio clip # ? and then  I added listening to La Classe de Mme Bellehumeure audio 3?? because they were really starting to pull out the deductions and were impatient to solve the mystery. Last class, I noticed that once they had the anthology in hand and could see the words they'd been hearing, they really READ the names and communities over and over. That was noticeable to me. I don't think I have ever seen kids reading over EVERY LETTER AND SOUND pattern intently. Their goal was to make letter connections to the clips. They sure did! Amazing.


So I had to let them take hold of the reigns. They had heard the audios now of the class list, communities and wanted to make some connections visually. They asked me to put student names on the Ontario map so I placed pins on towns approx. where they were on provinces and they pinned name of student. They noticed right away no name was in Ontario! Oh NO...that was it. They were too excited.


I handed out p.19 and they listened once more to the class list and checked off maddly the names they heard. Only 3 students out of 20 missed the momentum and didn't check the correct names. One is an excellent reader so it was just the speed of the activity... the other two are usual students who struggle.


I gave instructions to p.  and they filled in missing student names and detective X. It was actually very exciting. I was having a great time watching every one of my students intently listening and reading and checking off. Engagement...live and 3D!


Also to note that it was nice and easy to correct 40 sheets. Tomorrow they will hear the audio with Luc Têtu's name.


I look forward to my grade 4 class more than ever!