Lancaster Writing Investigators solve mystery

On Thursday, February 5, Lancaster Writing Investigators held another successful literacy night for the 100 student sleuths and their parents who participated. The mystery theme of the night was based on the book "The Mystery of Eatum Hall" by John Kelly and Cathy Tincknell.
As the families rotated to different stations, they learned about the 6 Traits of Writing. Each station tied a writing trait to the activity and student sleuths were able to take notes in their mystery notebooks along the way.
Stations included a skit in which past Lancaster students acted out a courtroom hearing; Parents and students had to decide if Humpty Dumpty was pushed or if it was an accident. Next up, students listened to the story and used the text to look for clues through the words and pictures. Then students played a family game of Clue by keeping track of all the ideas and organizing them to decide “who-dunnit.” After this, students were able to “scope it out” using the science lab. They looked at different items under the microscope and recorded clues of what they saw in their notebooks. To top off the evening, students followed an organized set of directions to make their own pie. After making it, they gobbled up the pie and chose a book to keep.
(Submitted Photo: Ralyn Schwartz and her Dad, Sid, solve the mystery of the missing item from a snack recipe.)