A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop
By Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from TCRWP
Grade 3 Unit Map
Unit 5: Mystery Book Clubs
Time: March
Overview: This month your aim is to nudge students into increasing their reading volume and stamina.
The nature of the mystery books they are reading will support your effort with their fast-moving plots.
Authors of mystery books for this age group know that while students in third grade may be slow
readers, they are not slow thinkers. These books are written to keep the story moving in order to keep
students’ attention. You will want to track and celebrate volume surges in reading logs this month while
you deliver instruction around reading faster and longer. Now is the time to intervene with students
who are still sub-vocalizing and pointing under each word and teach them that readers move their eyes
to groups of words.
Part One:
 What is the mystery here? Identify the main problem.
 Mysteries usually follow a predictable sequence of events.
 Grow ideas about characters, collecting clues and using these to grow theories.
 Step into the shoes of the detective and think what you might do to solve the crime.
 Teach features that are specific to the mystery genre such as: the red herring.
 Learn the specialized vocabulary of the genre.
Part Two:
 Within a series, the author will introduce new settings and new characters. Pay close attention
to these as they will hold many clues.
 Readers will learn to pay attention to the secondary characters in a mystery series or even
groups of characters.
 Mystery readers find clues in the details.
 Readers will use inference skills to solve mysteries.
Part Three:
 Mystery readers must pay attention to the choices characters make and the lessons the
characters teach that we could apply to our own lives.
 Mysteries teach us to be curious in our own lives and help us solve problems by thinking deeply
about clues and details.
Essentials for this unit:
 Multiple copies of mystery books that match the reading levels of the students in your class.
 Multiple titles within a series so that students can get to know characters, begin to predict how
the book will go based on others they have read in that series, and compare and contrast across
books in the same series.
 Establish book clubs of students who will read and support one another through the reading.
Stage 1 – Common Core State Standards and Indicators– What must students know and be able to do?
Key Ideas and Details
RL.3.1.Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text
as the basis for the answers.
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RL.3.3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their
actions contribute to the sequence of events.
Craft and Structure
RL.3.5 Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using
terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier
sections.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
RL.3.9. Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author
about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).
Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration
SL.3.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacherled) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own
clearly.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
SL.3.6. Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide
requested detail or clarification.
Essential Questions for Students
Guiding Questions for Teachers
How can I read mysteries, following and
interpreting the clues and the patterns of
the genre, so that I not only solve the
mystery but learn the valuable life
lessons embedded in the text?
How can I help my students puzzle over clues
using their fiction reading skills and the
predictable narrative structure specific to
mysteries in order to make smart predictions as
they read?
How can I help my students navigate mysteries,
making inferences to formulate theories, which
they can then continue to revise by evaluating
and reevaluating the evidence as they go?
How can I help my students notice and analyze
characters' motivations, choices, and emotions
so that they learn life lessons from these texts,
rather than simply breezing through mysteries
as "plot junkies?"
Stage 2– Common Assessment – What is the evidence of understanding?
Universal Screens
Formative Assessment Strategies
Post-it Notes
Reading Notebooks
Conference notes
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Stage 3 – Instruction – What learning experiences will lead to understanding?
Skills:
Key Terms/Vocabulary
Domain Specific
Questioning
Vocabulary
Summarizing
volume
Main Idea
stamina
Inferring
fluency
Compare and Contrast texts
story arc
Envisioning
narrative text
Analysis
predictable sequence
of events
growing ideas about
characters
prediction
inference/reading
between the lines
interpretation
Tier Two Words
Detective
Sleuth
Suspects
Witness
Clues
Motive/ Motivation
Opportunity
Alibi
Evidence
Red herring
Crime scene
Sidekick
Plot twist
Villain
Suspicious
Eureka!
Words that Describe
Character Motives
Jealousy
Revenge
Greed
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One Possible Sequence of Teaching Points
(A Note To Teachers: Please remember that this one possible sequence of teaching points. Based on
the students in your class, you may decide to spend more time on some things and not others. This is a
guide to help you make decisions based on the learners in front of you.)
Part One: How can I help my students puzzle over clues using their fiction reading skills and the
predictable narrative structure specific to mysteries in order to make smart predictions as they read?
 Mystery readers start our books wondering, “What’s the mystery?” We read the first few pages
trying to identify the main problem. Next, we ask ourselves, “Who’s the main detective? Is this
main detective one person or a group of people?” Then, we read deeper into the book, paying
attention to the clues this main detective finds.
 Mystery readers often step into the main detective’s shoes, almost solving the mystery
alongside this character. We try to see whatever the main detective might be seeing, consider
all the clues, and keep guessing at possible solutions, almost as if we were the main detective
ourselves.
 Mystery readers read for clues. We notice and think about all the information we are getting
and say to ourselves, "This might be important because..." This helps us to talk about
possibilities for how the story may go.
 Mystery readers read with suspicion. We make a list of suspects as we read, and each time a
new character enters the story we think, “Could this person be responsible? Is this character
telling the truth or is he/she guilty?” We pay attention to the little details in the story that point
to whether a character should be on our list of suspects or not. We also think of motives, asking
ourselves, “Why would this suspect want to do this? What does he or she have to gain?”
 Mystery readers retrace our steps if we need to. Just as the main characters in mysteries often
go back to the crime scenes to revisit and study clues, we can go back and reread a portion of
the story and study the information the author has given us in order to help us solve the
mystery.
 Mystery readers, like detectives, rethink everything. As we read deeper into the book, we
consider old clues in the light of new information. We ask, “How does what I’m reading now fit
with what came before?” Often, we revise our predictions because the story shows us a new
angle or clue that we didn’t know previously.
 Sometimes a mystery reader sees more than the main detective does. We almost want to shout
to the main character: “look out!” or “pay attention!” It’s at moments such as these that
mystery readers practically become detectives ourselves.
 Although mystery readers can often sniff out a false clue, sometimes the author tricks us with a
red herring. We consider the specific red herrings (false clues) that threw us off course,
wondering, "What did the author do to trick me? What did this make me think?" We vow, "Now
I know...I will not fall for this particular red herring in any future mystery I read!"
Part 2: How can I help my students navigate mysteries, making inferences to formulate theories,
which they can then continue to revise by evaluating and reevaluating the evidence as they go?
Readers begin a new book in a mystery series expecting to see familiar faces and places. We know
that many mysteries in a series follow a familiar pattern. They often begin in the same place and have
characters who repeat, so that after a while, these characters start to feel almost like old friends.
When we read a third and fourth book in a series, we come to know the main detective’s habits and
strengths, and we can sometimes predict how this character will think or behave or the steps that this
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main character will take to solve a mystery.
 Mystery readers pay attention not just to the main detective, but also to the sidekick or friends
who helps this main detective. We notice that often, while talking to this sidekick, the main
detective comes up with new solutions. As we read many books in the same series, we note
whether the sidekick changes across books or stays the same. For example, sometimes the
sidekick seems to grow smarter with each new mystery, or sometimes he or she surprises us by
acting in an unpredictable way. We wonder what it means when this happens.
 Just like detectives often solve a mystery with the help and intelligence of their friends, mystery
readers, too, ponder our books with other mystery readers. When we talk to other mystery
readers, we often use the language of prediction. We start off our sentences saying, “I think this
might mean…” or “Maybe this shows…” Sometimes, we use the language of wondering or
questioning and we begin our sentences with “How could…” or “Why would…”
Part 3: How can I help my students notice and analyze characters' motivations, choices, and emotions
so that they learn life lessons from these texts, rather than simply breezing through mysteries as "plot
junkies?"
 Mystery readers can learn a lot by studying the choices that characters in our books make. The
small choices that a character makes don’t just define that character; they can also guide the
choices we make in our own lives.
 Mysteries teach readers many valuable lessons about life. Whenever we solve a mystery, we
learn something new about human nature. We ask ourselves, “Why would this person do this
thing?” Often the answer is “greed,” “jealousy,” “revenge,” or some other negative motive.
Mysteries teach us that crimes don’t remain unsolved and that negative motives are often
uncovered and punished.
 Reading mysteries teaches us to be curious in our own lives. Mystery readers become trained to
look for clues and details in our real lives that tell us more than someone else might see. We
notice and think deeper about things someone else might pass by and solve problems in our
own lives by rethinking and pondering these.
Resources:
Calkins, Lucy and Colleagues. 2011-2012. A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop Grade 3. Unit 5
Mystery Book Clubs. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Mentor Texts:
Websites and Technology:
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