Spy Lab

4th graders arrived at school today to discover some shocking news...Mango, Morty (Mrs. Deeley's mascot), and Monday (Mrs. Weeks mascot) were missing! We met at headquarters to get our briefing from Agent Sforz and get caught up to speed. Check it out here:

Quickly, 4th graders were transformed into spies and ready to use their fictional story element knowledge in order to gather clues and uncover the secret information. We started in the setting spy lab in order to determine WHERE our mascots went. Spies were given clues, which required the use of a magnifying glass, to find different settings. Once spies discovered the hidden black light numbers they were able to crack the code and open the confidential briefcase to discover that our suspect took Mango and friends to the playground. In the afternoon the suspect caught onto us and we found our friends in a secret back corridor.  

Next, we headed to the character trait spy lab. Agents needed to read passages and answer questions to crack the secret number code. Once they determined the correct numbers they headed to Agent Deeley to get their next clue. With a seemingly blank card in hand, secret agents were able to use their spy black lights to learn that the suspect is kind, a Celtics lover, clean, and neat. 

Finally, we put all our knowledge of the suspect's character traits and the setting together in our final plot spy lab room. With three QR codes in hand, agents scanned to reveal different Pixar shorts. Once they watched the shorts they determined the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Correctly filled in plot diagrams granted them access to a number. With three numbers in hand students unscrambled them to open the briefcase and discover the confidential information. They learned the suspect is very lonely while working at Howe-Manning school and decided to hide our friend to keep for themselves. 

It didn't take long for spies to put all the pieces together and learn that Mr. Vinnie had stolen our mascots and hid them so he would no longer have to work alone at night. To read the full plot click here. 

Secret agents safely rescued our beloved friends. Just another day in the life of a 4th-grade spy. 

Case closed!

Pen Pals

A very special part of being in our 4th grade literacy classroom is having a penpal! This school year, Mrs. Kelleher's 4th graders in Topsfield, MA, and my homeroom class will get to know each other through letters. Mrs. Highgas and Mrs. Maxwell's 4th graders will be pen pals with my afternoon literacy class (Mr. Husson's homeroom). Topsfield teachers and I are excited to bring penpal letters to our classrooms as a way to connect our Tri-Town schools. In a few years these groups of 4th graders will be at MASCO together. We were the first to send off letters introducing ourselves to our penpals.

Our letters were finally signed, sealed and ready to deliver today. We walked them down to the mailboxes and off they went.

We will be anxiously checking the mail and waiting to hear back. There is still something to be said about the good old fashioned snail mail.