Grandma got run-over by WHICH Reindeer? - CER (Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning)

This holiday activity has the students read a bunch of clues and fill in a table to organize the clues so they can determine which reindeer ran over grandma as she was walking home Christmas Eve. It also includes a set of reindeer prints from each of Santa’s reindeer that the students can use to match to the prints found in the snow at the crime scene. Using the clues and the prints, the students should be able to solve the crime.

The crime itself is fairly easy to solve, the real work comes when the students write their CER. This part of the worksheet looks like this:

After completing the reading and note-taking, you must determine which reindeer ran over grandma. You must write your answer and prove it using CER.

C = your claim. Who do you think ran over grandma?

E = Evidence. You must discuss all the evidence against the reindeer you think ran over grandma and evidence explaining why it can’t be the other reindeer

R =Reasoning. This ties it all together. What is the evidence telling you?

This activity involves organizing information, matching prints, problem solving, and backing a claim with evidence. You can even have your students measure the size of the reindeer prints. Overall, it is everything you need to make the holiday fun.

Grades: Upper Elementary, Middle School, High School, Homeschool

Subjects: Forensics, Science, Holiday

NOTE: If you teach upper elementary and this looks too hard for them you may want to consider:

1. Having the students solve the case in groups instead of individually

2. Having the students only write out the CER for the Reindeer they think ran over grandma instead of writing about all 9 reindeer

3. Having the students solve the case and then just have a class discussion about it

4. Having the students work in groups and show their work using markers on large pieces of paper instead of using the writing pages included in this activity.

Want more CER's? You can purchase 8 in my CER bundle

This bundle includes the following CERs:

1. The Back to School Burglar CER

2. The Halloween Haunting CER

3. What Took the Turkey? A Thanksgiving Day CER

4. Who Kidnapped Baby New Year? CER

5. Who Stole Cupid’s Bow? CER

6. Which Leprechaun Stole the Pot of Gold? CER

7. Who Kidnapped the Easter Bunny? CER

8. Who Polluted Crystal Lake? CER

These are sold individually for $3 each but you can get all 8 for just $20!

check it out at:

Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) Bundle - 8 Activities by Science by Trish (teacherspayteachers.com)