Unit 5

What Are the Traits of a Good Mystery?

Unit 5 Introduction


  Reader's Notebook

It's a Mystery

In this Unit, you will be reading and learning about mysteries.  A mystery is a puzzle. Solve the mysteries below.


In the old West, a man rides into town on Friday. He stays for three days, and leaves on Friday. How can this be?
There is a man walking down the middle of the road dressed entirely in black.  There are no lights on anywhere and there is no moon. A car with no lights comes down the road and avoids the man.  How is this possible?
A father and son are in an auto accident. The father dies and the son is rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The doctor looks at the boy and says, “I can’t work on him, he’s my son.” How can this be?
You are in a cabin with four walls all facing south. There is a bear outside. What colour is the bear?

Pages 62 and 63 of Literacy in Action 5B.

Sometimes, mystery stories are called detective stories. This is because a lot of mysteries have a crime that needs to be solved. Mysteries can be fiction (made-up stories) or non-fiction (real-life, true stories).   
Click each coloured row for information about the activity.

For your first Reader's Notebook page for this unit, fill in the chart on the Reader's Notebook: It's a Mystery, Unit Opener about mysteries you have read, watched, and heard about. You will complete the second part of the Reader's Notebook later in this lesson.

After you fill out the chart, think about the question: What are the things that every good mystery needs to have?




Document: Reader's Notebook: It's a Mystery, Unit Opener
Click here to download

Download PDF


  1. Download the document Reader's Notebook: It's a Mystery, Unit Opener.
  2. IMPORTANT NOTE: When the download screen opens:
      • Click the "Open with" button.
      • Select "Adobe Reader".
      • Click "OK".
      • You will then be able to view the document Reader's Notebook: It's a Mystery, Unit Opener .

  3. Print the document.

Look at the picture on pages 62 and 63 in Literacy in Action 5B.


Answer the three questions on page two of the Reader's Notebook: It's a Mystery, Unit Opener worksheet that you downloaded on the Welcome to Unit 5 page.


Save

How to save a file:

  1. Scan the document to your computer.
  2. Have the file open and select Save As from the File menu.
  3. Name your Reader's Notebook: It's a Mystery, Unit Opener file in this format: jsmith_rnunit5opener and save the file to your Documents folder.


Think About It


What are the parts that every mystery story must have to make it good?
Compare your responses with those in the Key by clicking here.  Answers to the puzzles above are Old West: Friday is a horse. Car: It is daytime. Doctor: The doctor is the mother. Bear: You are at the North Pole. The bear is a white polar bear.