Mystery Vocabulary Book Talks – Middle School Library Lessons

Especially created for intermediate and middle school librarians… this resource will help you support classroom instruction and promote your library books at the same time!

It’s a PowerPoint lesson filled with intriguing, full-color photographs that set the scene for mystery book talks in a variety of genres — sci-fi, realistic fiction, utopian fiction, sports fiction, humors, etc. There are a variety of reading levels represented, too.

As you share a snippet of 12 engaging books, you’ll also be teaching about 17 words that are common to all mysteries. These include suspect, evidence, victim, witness, alibi and so on.

Plus, while you’re getting the kids fired up about reading something new, they’ll also be practicing some important note-taking skills within my special grid… and creating a “must read” list for their next library visits. After checking the students’ note-taking guides, I always give them to the ELA teachers. Many have used them as a grade, particularly if they had also asked me to come in previously and teach a note-taking lesson. (An answer key is included.) (Need more details? The book titles are listed and pictured on my TpT thumbnails and preview along with the list of mystery words, if you’d like more details.)
I’m pretty sure you’ll knock it out of the park with this lesson. It’s a keeper! Just follow my slide-by-slide PPT script, and you’ve got it! (Hint – This lesson has proven to be very successful at evaluation time… and I’ve left it for a sub with great success as well.)