WINTER ELA BRAIN TEASER ACTIVITIES - grade 5 6 7 8 fun winter lessons

Banish the winter blahs with these no-prep, high interest 30% off winter-themed brain teaser activities! The activities are perfect as brain breaks, for morning work, do-nows, or for fast finishers. The comprehension mysteries stretch students' reading strategies, while still having fun. None of the resources refer to Christmas. They are inclusive, and can be used throughout the winter season. January fun? Sorted! February fun? Ditto! At $4.30 off, it's even fun for your wallet. You get the winter mysteries comprehension resource FREE!

WINTER MYSTERY STORIES PUZZLES & RIDDLES FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL
Warm your grade 5-8 students' hearts and brains with these fun no-prep winter brain teaser activities! This winter ELA resource is intended to keep Middle School students happy and busy, while still exercising their critical thinking and creative skills.

The easiest way to use many of the activities, like the mysteries, rebus puzzles and writing race, is to show them on your screen. The answers to the brain teaser stories are on separate pages to avoid spoilers that would reduce the fun.

Some of the winter activities need to be photocopied. To promote classroom spirit and to save on photocopying, these activities could be completed in pairs.

Putting all of the answer keys up on your screen will also cut down on

photocopying. To add to the fun, some pages have coloring borders.

The Internet is not required for any of the games.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 winter brain teaser mystery stories and answers

Winter word chain

Winter rebus puzzles

Winter vocabulary puzzler

Winter dice roll story

Categories game

Winter riddles

Writing race

Book title scramble

Mad Libs: The Day the Snowman Moved

Winter number to words code

Winter mazes

ANSWERS

READERS' THEATER WINTER MYSTERY SCRIPT
This grades 5-8 Readers’ Theater whole class brain teaser mystery script activity will give your ELA and drama students practice in reading aloud, comprehension and writing, while having lots of winter fun. Your students will be 'whodunnit' detectives, performing inference tasks to solve clues.

This 10 page script is designed for TWENTY SIX readers! This keeps all of the students together in one place and fosters classroom community, rather than dividing the class into smaller reading groups. Each student has at least four individual speeches to read, and everyone is kept busy reading the frequent but short EVERYONE responses together. For classes smaller than 26, give students two roles. Perfect for engaging ELA reading or vibrant drama performances!

PLOT

This funny and engaging story, set in a classroom, includes a set of small mini-mysteries and the Mystery of the Missing Phone. Don’t worry: tween sleuth Jean Yuss (the name says it all) and her friend Knowlan (AKA Nolan Dobbs) will help your students to solve these mysteries! Your students will also enjoy an immersive snow experience in scene two by miming throwing snowballs, building snowmen, and making snow angels. Ensure that the students are spread out from each other for maximum fun. Words in italics mean an action to be done, not said. This instruction is mentioned twice in the script for students who need reminders!

The first mini-mysteries simply require your students to work out which students in Ms Taken's class are telling lies while playing the game Two Truths and a Lie. The central mystery is much more complex. After their frolics in the snowy school yard (led by trainee P.E teacher Mr Jim Shortz), the fictional class discovers that a phone has been stolen. Strangely, the phone's screen has a crack so large that its owner compares it to the Grand Canyon. Why would anyone want to take a phone like that....?

STUDENT TASKS
-- Students read their own individual part. In most roles, students speak four times.

-- Students participate in the EVERYONE responses and sound effects.

-- Students write answers to three pages of questions.
-- They fill in brief feedback forms on themselves and their peers.
-- They complete two additional fun winter activities. Your students will be kept busy long after the script reading has finished!

WINTER READING COMPREHENSION MYSTERY PASSAGES & QUESTIONS
Four high interest winter reading comprehension mystery passages, questions and activities will strengthen your grades 5-8 students' comprehension skills, while having lots of challenging fun! Students will read the mystery, then complete engaging graphic organizers that ask them on 6 aspects of the story. The first question will always ask the solution to the mystery question!

What’s included?

Four (4) winter-themed mystery short stories.

One full page graphic organizer of questions for each story.

One full page answer key for each organizer.

A page of literary terms to help students answer the literary device questions.

A mix and match punny names activity- SOOO much fun!

A mystery writing unit. Advice pages and a mystery story writing checklist will assist students to write their own mini-mystery. A page of possible solutions is provided for students who find it difficult to invent their own original tale. They can write a story that leads to one of these solutions, using mystery writing techniques. The writing unit includes a simple teacher rubric.

List of contents

Literary terms glossary page 1

Mystery #1: The Mystery of the Missing Award pages 2-3

Mystery #1: Questions page 4

Mystery #2: The New Year Robber pages 5-6

Mystery #2: Questions page 7

Mystery #3: Lazy Maisie Drives Her Mom Crazy! pages 8-9

Mystery #3: Questions page 10

Mystery #4: Move Over, Sherlock Holmes! pages 11-12

Mystery #4: Questions page 13

Punny Name Jokes Mix and Match page 14

Answers pages 15-19

Mystery writing unit pages 20-25

What comprehension skills are covered?

Making Inferences

Context clues

Point of view

Characterization

Literary devices

Protagonist/antagonist

Vocabulary in context

Vocabulary variety

Winter Mad Libs Activity

This brain teaser mad libs winter-themed silly speeches activity is designed for WINTER FUN for grades 5-8 in ELA, ESL and drama classes. Ideal for public speaking practice! Not only does it get students performing in small groups or to the whole class, it also reviews some grammar basics, such as verb, adjective and noun, and stretches their vocabulary. You could use it as a time filler activity, as morning work, as a way of banishing the winter blahs, or even as a special reward! It's a no-prep, no marking resource. Chuckle as the students give a speech from the viewpoint of an AWS member- the Adventurous Winter Society - suggesting CRAAAZY ways the class can liven up their winter. Giggles guaranteed!

Have maximum fun with your class by NOT showing them the speech template first. If they see the template they will fill in the word grid with predictable words and phrases, rather than wacky ones. Encourage them to make imaginative vocabulary choices, rather than sticking with the ordinary. Mad libs rules are explained to the students at the beginning of the activity. Bring community spirit to your classroom with this fun guaranteed resource!

Steps
1. Students complete the word grids, using the instructions for what type of word to select.
2. They transfer these words to the speech template.

3. They practice the delivery of their speech.

4. They give their speech to small groups, or to the whole class, with great drama.

5. They receive laughter and applause.
6. If there is both time and crayons, they color the coloring borders. Why should primary school kiddos have all the fun?
7. If wall space permits, put their speeches up for all to admire!

Included:

- a student guidelines page
- a student grammar review page

- 2 pages of word grids
- a speech template page

Extension vocabulary work
After your students have stopped laughing at the outrageous speeches that they have created, ask them to go back to the speech template and fill in words that actually make sense!

Another mystery comprehension passages resource your students will chuckle over is MYSTERY STORIES & QUESTIONS
For a daily brainteaser to add zing! to the start of a class: BRAINTEASER BELL RINGERS: MYSTERY STORIES, RIDDLES AND PUZZLES FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL
A long single mystery to prompt excitement in your students is: Brain teaser mystery fun inferential skills practice AKA "The Mystery of the Campfire Thief."
Or a Readers' Theater mystery script: Readers' Theater - Mystery of the Stolen Laptop.
There are also five mini-mysteries in ELA Games Grades 5-8

Thanks so much for checking out this resource. If you click HERE to become a follower, I will update you with new resources as I create them. All new resources are 50% off for 48 hours: receiving follower notifications of new products leads to big savings!