Unwrap the magic of Christmas with our “Who Stole Santa’s List?” Mystery Reader’s Theater! Perfect for busy elementary teachers, this engaging, no-prep activity turns your students into sleuthing detectives solving a festive whodunnit. Boost reading, writing, and critical thinking skills while immersing students in holiday cheer. Ideal for 4th to 6th graders, yet easily adaptable for other grades. Grab your teacher’s guide and let the holiday fun begin! SEO Keywords: Christmas activity, Mystery Reader’s Theater, elementary students, holiday learning.
$6.95
This fun and engaging “Whodunnit” read aloud is the perfect Christmas activity for your students! In this activity, students will learn to become detectives, and then use their sleuthing skills to figure out who stole Santa’s List! With lots of suspects and circumstantial evidence, the students will have to take good notes, make lots of inferences, and think like a real detective in order to solve the mystery! This product was created with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in mind, but it can definitely be scaled to work with other grade levels as well. So how does it work?
Check out the preview to see the actual teacher’s guide.
The students will take part in a 3-act reader’s theater. There are 19 characters which can be shared or doubled up in order to give every student a part. As the story unfolds, so do the clues. After each act, the students will stop, take notes, and discuss any suspicious activities. The final act reveals whether each character was the thief or not.
How Long will this activity take?
Plan on at least an hour. Reading the script will take at least 45 minutes or so depending on the fluency of your readers and how well they are paying attention for their lines. Using the additional resources that are included will lengthen the amount of time. The more discussion and detective work the students do, the more fun the activity will be. This activity was designed to take up an entire ELA block of time, however, it can be spread out over a week’s time by completing one act a day. It’s great for that last day (or week) before Christmas break!
What’s Included?
~ Reader’s Theater script in 3 versions (printable, PowerPoint, or Google Slides)
~ Lesson in motive, means, opportunity, and circumstantial evidence
~ 20 vocabulary words are sprinkled throughout the script
~ Sheets to take notes and narrow down the suspects (plus a Google Slides Version)
~ Pictures of evidence that can help solve the crime
~ Writing activity to create the perfect ending to the story
Why Should You Use This?
I was inspired to create my first mystery product after hosting a murder mystery party for my own 16 year old daughter, who is very much into theater. It was said to be the best party ever! I wondered how I could create something similar for students! I modified the format of the clue delivery system to ensure that every clue was revealed to every student, and voila, The Thanksgiving Turkey Theft was born.
So many teachers loved the Thanksgiving mystery that I decided to make one for Christmas too! Your students will love hanging out in the North Pole while they search for clues that will get Santa’s list back!
Looking for other easy-to-use Christmas, Hanukkah, or winter activities?
Want More Mystery Reader’s Theater?
Happily brought to you by Rachel Lynette and Cassi Noack of Minds in Bloom.
Having the Reader’s Theater is the perfect platform for integrating real academic skills. This activity will feel like a fun day, but not a moment of the day will be wasted!
This product is great because:
~ It’s super engaging
~ It targets real skills to help students grow in reading and writing
~ It helps students get into the holiday spirit
~ There’s very little prep!
~ If you choose the digital script, along with your projector, you do not have to make a copy for each student. The font is very large so that students can read their lines from across the room.
SKU: 6277102
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
We built our reputation on quality. With a history of over 12 million downloads by more than a million teachers, you can trust Minds in Bloom to provide standards-based learning materials your students will love!
Quick Links
Michelle C M. –
My students loved this activity and stayed engaged the entire time. It was fun to hear them try to figure out the culprit through most of the story!
Kelly M. –
I’ve used this resource for two years in a row and it is the PERFECT activity to lead us into the Christmas holiday. The students have so much fun trying to figure out who did it, that they don’t even realize how much they are working on their fluency as well as other reading skills. Thank you!
The Conrad Classroom –
My students loved putting on this play as a whole class. They got so involved and were completely surprised by the plot twist!
Threasa Hallford –
My students loved this! It was a fun way to integrate reader’s theater and the holidays. They also enjoyed the writing component at the end.
Linda S. –
This was a great readers theatre for my 4th grade students. They loved doing readers theaters especially during Christmas and this one was entertaining and a lot of fun.
Brigitte Vercoutere –
Another amazing resource! I was looking for an engaging activity to utilize a few days of classes prior to winter break. The kids were all a little antsy to be done with school for a couple of weeks (so was I). Every student participated. We all spent time making a spreadsheet and hypothesis of whodunnit. What a fun end of season activity!
RobinsonGoesFourth –
I used this resource on the day before winter break as a fun reading activity. It took our whole reading block and next year when I use it I will probably split it into two days. It’s very fun and engaging and the slides with the script are so helpful and easy to see and read.
Bharti L. –
Its a really great resource-my students really enjoyed it as well! I just think we needed a bit more time-around 2 weeks because a lot of activities are happening last week of December before break-which I didn’t realize so I would give my class more time next year! I loved how engaged students were !
Mrs Pope –
My students performed this for our assembly item and it was a hit! They all loved it and it was so easy to follow. THANK YOU 🙂
Kelly M. –
My students love a good mystery and being able to express themselves verbally. This resource was a great edition to my holiday activities.