Crime Scene In The Classroom!!!!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Engage you students with this super fun Free Boston Massacre Crime Scene in the Classroom Activity for Kids!
*** I have updated the resources and website for this activity.  Access the resources here and the website here!
*** If you would like to see how the simulation evolved, click here!

I had such an amazing class today I just couldn't wait to blog about it! I've been doing decent teaching since I started at my new school but every time I chat with my Teach Like A Pirate peeps (#tlap Mondays at 9 eastern and #sstlap at Thursdays at 9 eastern) I feel really inadequate. I knew I had to try to do a lesson I could sell a ticket to and even though I almost decided to scrap it five different times I finally made myself do it and it was fabulous!

I decided to create a detective agency where we were going to determine if the British soldiers at the Boston Massacre were guilt of murder or simply acted in self defense. I borrowed very heavily from this website and got a lot of inspiration from a video that I now can't find but I'll post it as soon as I find it. In the video, the kids got to interview people who had "witnessed" the Massacre. I am in a very small school and knew I wouldn't be able to get people to come in and act as colonists so I had to come up with another idea.... I would play all the roles and video my "interviews". To do that I created this....

http://bostonmassacrewilkins.weebly.com/...

You must see this just so you can see colonial interviews like this.

Movie on 11-17-13 at 6.48 PM from momtodex on Vimeo.



I had six stations. One was for the crime scene, four were based on different accounts of the events and the last one had three different artists' renderings of the event. At the account stations they had print out of the testimony, could read it on the computer and could read along as I .... I mean the colonists..... Gave their accounts. In the crime scene, students could touch anything and had various questions to answer or consider.

The kids absolutely loved it and I had a blast as well. We will be doing it tomorrow so it is about a two day activity. A the end, I'm going to have the kiddos do an argument writing paragraph about it and then we will watch the John Adams clip about the trial.

Examples of handouts:


If you would like to do this in your classroom, I'm attaching all the information for free. Click here if you would like access to all the printables.  Enjoy!!!!!


56 comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 27, 2013 at 2:03 PM

    Wow!!! this is wonderful! How creative!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoelleJanuary 1, 2014 at 12:21 PM

    This is so creative!!! I love reading all of your inspirational ideas.... Thanks for sharing it!!!

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  3. UnknownFebruary 7, 2014 at 6:13 AM

    THANK YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownMay 11, 2014 at 7:53 AM

    I would love you to join the CC ELA 7th grade GPS group at http://www.gpsnetwork.org/xwiki/bin/view/Group_CommonCoreELA7thGrade/. These lesson plans are awesome and you are just what we are looking for. There is a group for every content area and grade level. This group is new but up and running.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownOctober 12, 2014 at 7:45 PM

    This is awesome! Just wondering, did you put anything inside of the "snowballs"? I will definitely be doing this with my 5th graders :)

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  6. MrsVMJanuary 5, 2015 at 5:55 PM

    Awesome idea! Thanks for the link to this page, too! :) Any chance you still have the resources? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kara WilkinsFebruary 8, 2015 at 5:43 PM

      There is a link to the resources right at the bottom of the post:)

      Delete
  7. DebbieJanuary 19, 2015 at 7:54 AM

    Thank you so much for sharing this! We just used it at home with my 6th and 7th graders (we just started homeschooling last year and I have been trying to incorporate more out of the box things to help things stick better!) I have been eying this for weeks and finally set it all up today. It was awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownMarch 4, 2015 at 12:14 PM

    Love this! Was the You Tube video you showed at the end John Adams: The Boston Massacre Trial? It has been removed from your link. Also, how long would you say this took?

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousOctober 25, 2015 at 10:46 AM

    This idea has been in my head and I just wasn't sure where to start - THANK YOU!!! This is exactly what I wanted to do - thankfully I just started with a Google search not thinking I would find this greatness! #tlap

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousOctober 25, 2015 at 10:58 AM

    How did you make the bloody handprints?

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousOctober 27, 2015 at 2:07 PM

    I saw you mentioned that this took 2 days. Could it be done in 1 day? And just curious how many you had in each group rotating through?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kara WilkinsNovember 7, 2015 at 9:25 AM

      I really needed two if not three days. I had six stations. In my class that meant 5 kids per station. i did a station for each reading, 1 for the crime scene and 1 for the artwork.

      Delete
  12. AnonymousNovember 3, 2015 at 4:35 PM

    This is great! Thanks for sharing all the resources! I am looking forward to using this with my students.

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownNovember 7, 2015 at 8:06 AM

    This is so great!!! Brilliant!
    Would it be possible to get some documents that are in an editable format? I would like to take out some of the language (ex. "damns"), and modify some of the texts for some struggling readers.
    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kara WilkinsNovember 7, 2015 at 9:23 AM

      If you click on it again, it will prompt you to make a copy. Enjoy!

      Delete
    2. UnknownNovember 7, 2015 at 10:54 AM

      You're great! Thanks.

      Delete
  14. AnonymousNovember 11, 2015 at 6:35 PM

    This is such a fabulous way to involve students! I've had a change of positions this year into a STEM Humanities position and this is exactly what I need to pull in the sciences and technology disciplines. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Jhon MarshalApril 5, 2016 at 2:08 AM

    Thanks for taking the time to discuss that, I really feel strongly about it and love learning more on that topic. If achievable, as you gain competence, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is highly helpful for me.
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    ReplyDelete
  16. UnknownMay 4, 2016 at 9:23 AM

    Hello. Love this idea and all the support materials. Please edit the http://bostonmassacrewilkins.weebly.com/ page - there is a word that is supposed to be "it" but isn't. Can't show it to kids at the moment. Thanks for your attention to this. I look forward to trying it. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  17. UnknownJune 25, 2016 at 2:20 PM

    Love, love, love this lesson!!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. UnknownJuly 27, 2016 at 8:41 AM

    LOVE this! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2016 at 6:40 AM

    I just found this lesson and I LOVE it and cannot wait to do this with my students. I cannot pull up the first video. It is restricted. PLEASE HELP! Thank you for all your time and effort you put into this awesome lesson.

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousOctober 8, 2016 at 10:01 AM

    I love your lesson. Where did you get the crime scene tape?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Mrs. DNovember 3, 2016 at 11:22 AM

    This lesson is great! My students were engaged and learning. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
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  24. UnknownOctober 25, 2017 at 7:09 AM

    Did you have the students work in groups/teams or did they collect evidence and draw conclusions individually? I am so excited to have this lesson in my classroom next week!

    ReplyDelete
  25. AnonymousDecember 1, 2017 at 7:41 AM

    This is a fantastic lesson and the kids LOVE it! I did this last year and am doing it again today. Thank you so much for this wonderful lesson and all of your hard work on this!

    ReplyDelete
  26. UnknownNovember 6, 2018 at 8:21 PM

    Hi There! Just wanted to thank you for the engaging lesson! This is my first year teaching and I used this lesson today for my first observation by the admin. Great way to get the kids to investigate on their own. My 8th graders really enjoyed it! I actually had students from other teacher's classes stop by to check out the "crime scene". It was a blast!

    ReplyDelete
  27. UnknownDecember 10, 2018 at 2:54 PM

    We did this last year and loved it! We are getting ready to do it again this year. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
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  29. UnknownSeptember 13, 2019 at 9:07 AM

    Can't wait to try this with my class. Very creative.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Amanda KoushanSeptember 13, 2019 at 5:18 PM

    Thank you for the awesome lesson! I can't wait to try it out!

    ReplyDelete
  31. UnknownOctober 4, 2019 at 6:14 AM

    I just did this with all my 8th grade history students! They loved it! Thanks so much for sharing.

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  37. Mrs. BFebruary 10, 2021 at 9:27 AM

    This is still one of the greatest lessons I teach all year during my American History study. I have been using it now in upper elementary and middle school for years. It also inspired me to create a similar one for the Maya, which I have available on TPT FOR FREE and have given you credit for. I hope that it will continue to inspire and educate other teachers and students. Thank you for sharing this resource wit the world, it has truly changed mine.

    ReplyDelete
  38. the art of learningFebruary 26, 2021 at 6:12 AM

    Not on TPT, sorry, on my blog!

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  39. UnknownFebruary 15, 2022 at 7:08 AM

    DO you happen to have the answer key? If so could you email me at pamelathornton@clevelandtigers.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah KneppApril 20, 2024 at 7:25 PM

      Was also looking for an answer key. Any way it can be sent to me? Sknepp@Loogootee.k12.in.us

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