• FOCUS BOOK for Guided Reading:  Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Dinosaur Bones, by David Adler
• Cam Jansen Mystery Series by David Adler (20 mystery stories with female main character) (eg. Cam Jansen and the Ghostly Mystery, Cam Jansen and the Mystery of Flight 54) 

• Nancy Drew Notebooks, by Carolyn Keene (another mystery series for young readers with female main character) (eg. The Lost Locket, Trouble at Camp Treehouse) 
• Encyclopedia Brown series by  Donald J. Sobol (e.g. The Case of the Disgusting Sneakers) 
• Nate The Great series, by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (e.g. The Sticky Case)
• Bunnicula Series, by James Howe (e.g. Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery)
• Jigsaw Jones Mystery series, by James Preller (e.g. The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster) 

As this book is introduced, discuss the concept of mysteries, and the term "photographic memory".  Encourage children to "take a picture" in their mind of a bulletin board in your room and describe the board with their eyes closed. In an early chapter, they can use photographic memory skills to spell (and decode) the dinosaur name Coelophysis, and this skill can then be extended to spelling new words.

As the story progresses, have students keep a list of the clues that the characters gather and how the author uses these clues to structure the plot of each story.  There are many good stopping points for encouraging oral or written prediction, and many good examples of  writer's craft here (foreshadowing, humor) to help students see how to write a good mystery story. (Expand background about mysteries with What is A Mystery? lessons) (Also Elements of A Mystery from Suite101.com) 

Students can read other mystery stories by the same author and discuss the patterns, or read one mystery story by each author to compare and contrast different mystery elements and author techniques. 

Dinosaur Hunter, by Dorling Kindersley (link to demos) (try the Interactive web site too)

Where in the United States is Carmen San Diego, by Broderbund 

Freddi Fish and Pajama Sam: mysteries, exploration and problem solving by Humongous Entertainment

• Dinosaur Hunter: Find the missing bones from six different dinosaurs and then watch them come to life. Try arranging bones online.
• Where in the United States is Carmen San Diego?: Learners chase Carmen San Diego and her team of spy thieves around the United States solving mysteries while learning geography, new vocabulary and history. 
• Explore the virtual under the sea world with Freddi Fish or conquer fears in the real world with Pajama Sam. 

Inspiration or Kidspiration

HyperStudio or Netscape Composer (for writing non-linear mysteries)

PowerPoint or Kid Pix Studio (for writing linear mysteries or texts) 

Word Processor 

• Inspiration: create a template that lists clues as the story progresses and have students indicate the reason the author included each clue (or how it helped solve the mystery); later students 
• Word Processor: Choose a good stopping point and ask students "What do you predict / What would you have happen next / what would you change if you were the author?"
• After viewing student work created online, students can create their own mystery (linear or interactive) using HyperStudio, Kid Pix Powerpoint, or Netscape Composer (or even choose your own adventure) 
• Create a small group slide show that illustrates how David Adler's Cam Jansen books include all the elements of a good mystery story (see mystery lesson resources) (use ideas from mystery vocabulary list)

Read an interview with David Adler about Cam 

See photos and learn about author David Adler at his Homepage.  Read a short biography and another biography

Visit the Bone Zone to learn about new dinosaur bone findings and the tools used

Learning more about the Coelophysis  or All About Dinosaurs from Enchanted Learning

Piece a prehistoric predator together at this online Dinosaur Hunter demo or play with dinosaurs at Dino Online

Solve online mystery cases, write and post original mysteries online at The Case.com

Solve an online Nancy Drew mystery

Guess the identity of many many animals in the unique online puzzle and question game at Kids.com Mystery Animal Game

Participate in Kids Love a Mystery Week

Advanced readers can help A. Pintura Art Detective solve an online mystery about art history 

• Visit The Unoffical Cam Jansen Page, created by a fourth grader
• Solve The Mystery of the Missing Plans: An Online Interactive Detective's Adventure written and illustrated by second graders
• Learn about the history of mysteries, get great writing tips, complete a scavenger hunt and receive a personal detective's certificate with the Junior Thinkquest Project Millenium Mystery Madness 
• Submit your predictions for the new millenium (includes lesson plan for teachers) and read what other students have predicted about the Millenium Mystery 
• Track photos and read journal entries to gather clues about two missing stuffed animals at Piggy and Puppy Online Mystery 
• Find out how these students Made Their Own Online Internet Adventure 

You can also see an example of the Web Site Evaluation Form used with this contract for elementary students.

• FOCUS BOOK for Guided Reading: Tut's Mummy, Lost and Found, by Judy Donnelly (A Step 3 Book)
• Read-Alouds: 
• Mummies Made in Egypt, by Aliki (access Reading Rainbow video too)
• *** Into the Mummy's Tomb, by Nicholas Reeves, (A photographic account of the discovery, told in the first person)
• In Search of Tutankhamun, by Piero Ventura and Gian Paolo Ceserani
• I Am The Mummy Heb-Nefert, by Eve Bunting
• Independent Reading:
• Mummies in the Morning, by Mary Pope Osborne

• Look What Came from Egypt, by Miles Harvey
• Pharoas & Pyramids, by Tony Allan
• Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt, by Elizabeth Payne
• Growing up in Egypt, by Rosalie David (Troll Book)
• Who Built the Pyramids, by Jane Chisholm
• A Coloring Book of Ancient Egypt

• Introduce Tut's Mummy as an example of a story based on the real discovery of King Tut's tomb.  Provide some background with a guided picture walk through some important photos from Into the Mummy's Tomb that will help students visualize important words like tomb, mummy, King Tut, Tutankhamen, and Egyptians. 
• Use Into the Mummy's Tomb as a supportive read-aloud in the days after the focus book has been introduced.  Several sections lends themselves well to giving students the feeling of exploring the tomb themselves, and the photographs beautifully enhance childrens' experience with many of the drawings in the focus book. 
• Compare the types of texts (story based on fact, non-fiction, non-fiction told in the first person) with students, discussing the purpose of each type of texts.
• Share Mummies Made in Egypt with students to introduce them to the mummification process. 

• Kid Pix Studio 
• Inspiration

• Kid Pix Studio: Use drawing tools to create a map of King Tut's tomb.  Use stamps to add treasures.  Illustrate and label a few of the most important objects found in the tomb. 
• Kid Pix Studio: Use a black line scanned drawing template of King Tut and have students use painting tools to color. 
• Kid Pix Studio: Use drawing tools to draw and label a map of Egypt. Use Kid Pix tools to create Egytian cartouches. 
• Inspiration: Prepare a vocabulary activity for students.  Have them match / sort important words or concepts from the story with photos of those words cut and paste from the Internet. 
• Inspiration: Introduce students to chapter heading main ideas and important details.  Have students correctly sequence "mixed-up" important events from each chapter. 

Professionally Designed for All Readers

• Wander through the chambers and passageways of the Great Pyramid, and learn about the pharaohs for whom these

tombs were built at NOVA's Pyramid Site by PBS
• Read Howard Carter's personal diaries of the first excavation of the tomb
• Join a virtual tour of King Tut's tomb
• See beautiful color photos of King Tut's tomb and link to many interesting sites
• View many of the treasures within the tomb
• See your name written in heiroglyphic symbols on an Egyptian cartouche nameplate or decode the heiroglyhs
• Art lesson on Egyptian Profiles
• Ancient Egypt for Kids

• Learn all about Egyption life from Rosetta Stone's Site made for kids from the Cleveland Art Museum (find out about The Mummy's Curse, print out a design to make your own pharoah, and take an interactive online quiz!) 
• Read about Mummies of Ancient Egypt from this Michigan University Website
• National Geographic's How to Make A Mummy
• Visit the Ancient Egypt Kid's Connection
• Check out this Ancient Egypt Webquest!

• Check out this easy to read website all about Mummies by Dan Murphy
• See photos and learn more about mummification in the online slide show Mummies Yesterday and Today
• Check out these four enrichment art activities
• Read these projects posted by 6th grade students about King Tut and the mummification process
• Read a summary of the steps involved in the mummification process
• Learn about many topics of Ancient Egypt from this well organized web site (see an interesting way to cite sources too)

Immigration: "Four Corners" Guided Reading Activity (Select four or five books for students to preview.  Students choose one of four as their guided reading group book for this unit.  This group meets for the length of the unit to read, discuss and respond to the book.  All students meet together at points during the unit to compare the stories and share Eve Bunting's message with the rest of the class.) 

• How Many Day's to America, A Thanksgiving Story (Caribbean refugees set sail for America)
• Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story (Irish immigrant family)
• Dandelions, (a young girl and her family in Westward movement)
• A Day's Work, (young boy immigrating from Mexico)
• Going Home, (migrant family from Mexico)
• Cheyenne Again, (Native American boy in American boarding school)

Designed for Teachers

• Eve Bunting: Authors Online Project
• Eve Bunting Teacher Resource File: Many links to resources
• A Talk with Eve Bunting
• Our Families' Stories in Wisconsin
• Review of Dandelions
• Immigration in the United States (Gr 4-5 Unit)

• ** Virtual Ellis Island Tour
• All About Elian Gonzalez from Cuba: look on the right hand sidebar for "Video" and "Interactive Elian"
• Mexico for Kids
• Photographs of Immigrants to Ellis Island in 1908
• American Citizenship Tutorial

• Scholastic Unit: Immigration Stories, Yesterday and Today
• International Channel's Ellis Island: Through America's Gateway
• My History is America's History Kid's Corner
• LowerEast Side Tenement Museum

• Electronic Ellis Island: A Virtual Heritage Museum created by elementary students at Alderwood Elementary in Washington
• Fourth Grade Ellis Island Journal Webquest Project
• Third Grader Study of Immigration of Maine Project
• Questions for Immigration Survey
• Westward Movement: Westward Ho Immigration Webquest for Third Graders
• Cheyenne Tribe (written by third graders)
• Third Grade Immigration Project in HyperStudio with an explanation for teachers about why and how technology was used with this unit

• Guided Reading: Sarah Morton's Day, A Day in the Life of A Pilgrim Girl, by Kate Waters
• Guided Reading: Samual Eaton's Day, A Day in the Life of A Pilgrim Boy, by Kate Waters
• Read-Aloud: The Pilgrims of Plimoth, by Marcia Sewall
• Read-Aloud: N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims, by Robert San Souci
• Collaborative Reading: The Pilgrims at Plymouth, by Lucille Recht Penner

• If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, by Ann McGovern
• If You Lived in Colonial Times, by Ann McGovern
• The Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving, by Ann McGovern
• Mary Geddy's Day: A Colonial Girl in Williamsburg, by Kate Waters
• On the Mayflower: Voyage of a Ship's Apprentice & A Passenger Girl, by Kate Waters

Colonial Life in Williamsburg (especially animals, clothing, manners, tools and trades)

Caleb Johnson's The Mayflower Webpages (read the message to teacher's for ideas)

Pages from A New England Primer and Facts about the Primer

Colonial Music

Common Mayflower Myths

Firefighting in Colonial America

Teachers: Thematic Unit: Life In Early America 

Interactive Unit: Scholastic's  Plimoth: 1621 - The First Thanksgiving  (teacher's guide) 

Interactive Website:  A Colonial Family and Community in Connecticut

Games in Colonial New England

Pilgrim Clothing

Typical dress of Pilgrim man and woman

Colonial Stamp Project by fourth graders

Colonial America (students dress up)

Children in Colonial America Webquest

American Colonies Webquest

A Celebration of Life in the 1700's Thinkquest

Jamestown Colony Timeline by fourth graders in Virginia

Colonial Webpage by fifth grade students

Jamestown Gazette Thinkquest

The Stories Julian Tells,(six stories about a young boy and his family)

More Stories Julian Tells, (five more stories about childhood)

The Stories Huey Tells, (Julian's younger brother tells his own stories)

Julian's Glorious Summer (review)

Julian's Secret Agent (review)

Gloria's Way (review)

Julian Dream Doctor (review)

Designed for Teachers

• Ann Cameron's Ideas for Teachers; part of Ann Cameron's Website
• Randomhouse Ideas for Cameron's Books
• Tips from a Teacher on Teaching Students to Write an Autobiography (at Grade 6-8 level)
• Writing an Autobiography (online steps to the writing process and lesson ideas)
• Ten Prewriting Exercises for Writing a Personal Narrative

Designed for All Readers

Interview with Ann Cameron

Ann Cameron biblography for adults

Teachers and Students Sharing Work

• Personal Narratives by Children
• Sample Writing Prompt
• Examples of Third grade narrative writing projects about "My Favorite Family Memory" #1, #2, #3, #4, and rubric
• HyperStudio Example of Autobiography

• FOCUS BOOK: The Spider, by Margaret Lane
• Read-Aloud: Spiders Spin Webs, by Yvonne Winder (poetic verse, great photos, extra resources)
• Read-Aloud: The Spider's Web, by Oxford Scientific Films
• Shared Reading for Research: 
• Amazing Spiders, by Claudia Schnieper
• Discovering Spiders, by Malcolm Penny
• Amazing Spiders, by Alexandra Parsons (Dorling Kindersley clear photos and great details)

• Spiders, by Gail Gibbons 
• Mighty Spiders, by Fay Robinson (Hello Science Reader, Level 2) (rhyming introduction and special reference section)
• Spectacular Spiders, by Linda Glaser (A day in the life of a garden spider)

Designed for All Readers

Spiders of Northwest Europe and Spiders of Australia (great photos) both websites by Ed Nieuwenhuys

Teachers: Seven Online Lesson Plans

Spider Activities (For home and in the classroom); includes books about spiders

Yahooligans Spiders

Spiders In & Around Your House 

John Jackman's Spiders

Discovery.com Spiders

The Arachnology Home Page for the WWW

Designed for Developing Readers

• Spidermania (created by teachers for information for students)
• Enchanted Learning Printouts for Spiders, Black Widow and Tarantula
• The Spider Page (Created by fifth grade students: some great information and quite extensive)

Teachers and Students Sharing Work

• A New Look at Spiders 
• Comparing the Body of a Spider to an Insect