Why a Unit on Mysteries, Spies and WhoDunnnits?
Mystery stories are exciting and fun and have a wide audience appeal. There are countless books and series written for children in this genre. The breadth of available reading materials allows students with a variety of interests and reading levels to find texts that they can enjoy. There are books with both boys and girls as the protagonist, and also books about teams working together to solve a case. There have been many high-interest-low-level readers written in this genre, as well as short stories, extended novels and more complex texts. Introducing this genre as a "class theme" opens up opportunities for students to talk about their reading experiences and learn from each other. The teacher can gauge the level of reading ability and interest and try to move individual children forward in their reading.
The Mystery genre provides an ideal opportunity for the explicit teaching of "making inferences" as a comprehension skill and as a learning strategy. The inquiry model which underpins the skills taught in all subjects across the curriculum can be explicitly highlighted using the "mystery" structure as a guide. By investigating the inquiry process through a literature focus early in the academic year, links can be made to this learning throughout future inquiries in various subjects. Students have opportunities to engage in a guided inquiry process throughout the unit.
The study of mysteries also provides opportunities to explicitly teach and develop note taking skills, comprehension skills and critical and creative thinking.
The Mystery genre provides an ideal opportunity for the explicit teaching of "making inferences" as a comprehension skill and as a learning strategy. The inquiry model which underpins the skills taught in all subjects across the curriculum can be explicitly highlighted using the "mystery" structure as a guide. By investigating the inquiry process through a literature focus early in the academic year, links can be made to this learning throughout future inquiries in various subjects. Students have opportunities to engage in a guided inquiry process throughout the unit.
The study of mysteries also provides opportunities to explicitly teach and develop note taking skills, comprehension skills and critical and creative thinking.
Unit Overview
What I want students to get out of this unit:
- know and understand what an inference is and how they can use this skill to comprehend texts
- know how to justify thinking using evidence
- write interesting stories that include some of the features of the mystery genre
- understand the inquiry process as a way of posing interesting questions, finding information and evidence to help them answer their questions and reporting their findings
- know how to ask questions that will help them to focus their learning
This unit is designed as a 10 week unit. The guideline for time allocation to English for Year 4 is approximately 5.5 hours per week. Since time is also allocated to teaching and learning of English through other lessons and routines, this unit has been developed to be taught in 30-40 hours across the term. Students would also be expected to spend some time outside of class time engaged in related activities, including reading.
There are four main stages within the unit: Initial engagement, Exploring through reading and viewing, Experimenting through writing and creating, and Sharing and showcasing.
In the initial engagement stage the mystery genre is introduced through a number of investing learning activities and students share what they already know about the mystery genre. This stage is an opportunity for the teacher to get to know students and make diagnostic assessments about individual's reading and writing development.
Students have many opportunities to read and view a variety of mystery texts in the second stage of the unit. Reading and viewing are done through whole class, small group and individual activities and key comprehension skills are explicitly taught. Students have the opportunity to discuss literary experiences with others, share responses and express a point of view (ACELT1603) and develop an understanding of differences between the language of opinion and feeling and the language of factual reporting or recording (ACELA1489).
In the third stage of the unit, students develop metalanguage to describe the effects of ideas, text structures and language features of mystery texts(ACELT1604) . They create their own literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings (ACELT1794) from what they have learnt through the unit and their own reading. Specific feedback is given to students about their writing throughout this stage through formative assessment processes.
In the concluding stage of the unit, students reflect on their learning and share what they have created with others.
In the initial engagement stage the mystery genre is introduced through a number of investing learning activities and students share what they already know about the mystery genre. This stage is an opportunity for the teacher to get to know students and make diagnostic assessments about individual's reading and writing development.
Students have many opportunities to read and view a variety of mystery texts in the second stage of the unit. Reading and viewing are done through whole class, small group and individual activities and key comprehension skills are explicitly taught. Students have the opportunity to discuss literary experiences with others, share responses and express a point of view (ACELT1603) and develop an understanding of differences between the language of opinion and feeling and the language of factual reporting or recording (ACELA1489).
In the third stage of the unit, students develop metalanguage to describe the effects of ideas, text structures and language features of mystery texts(ACELT1604) . They create their own literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings (ACELT1794) from what they have learnt through the unit and their own reading. Specific feedback is given to students about their writing throughout this stage through formative assessment processes.
In the concluding stage of the unit, students reflect on their learning and share what they have created with others.