FREE Guided Reading Lesson Plans...Who Stole the Wizard of Oz?

I have always loved mysteries!  In fact, I read the entire series of 39 Trixie Belden mysteries when I was in upper elementary school.  I remember always feeling utterly perplexed as to how Trixie could ever possibly solve each mystery.  Once I started a Trixie Beldon book, I read it quite quickly because I just had  to find out who the guilty culprit was as soon as possible!   I remember feeling a sense of accomplishment along with Trixie when the pieces all fell together and the mystery was solved at the end of the book... and immediately wanting to start another book in the series.

My own love for mysteries is probably why I enjoy reading A to Z mysteries and Who Stole The Wizard of Oz? with students!  As a teacher, it is quite entertaining to read children's mysteries! When I read an A to Z mystery now, the trail of clues (and red herrings!) left by the author seem so obvious to my adult mind, but the students never seem to notice them. In my opinion, Who Stole The Wizard of Oz? by Avi is one of the best children's mysteries available, and is a must-read for students at that reading level.

Occasionally, I upload guided reading lesson plans I used during my tenure as an upper elementary reading teacher to my blog. Today is another one of those days! These plans aren't fancy- they are simply real-teaching Word-document lesson plans that I wrote back before I knew TeachersPayTeachers existed! They will likely need to be tweaked to meet the needs of your students and your school district's expectations, but they will hopefully at least give you a starting point in terms of questions and vocabulary words to highlight for each chapter!

Feel free to download them if you can use them! According to the Scholastic website, Who Stole The Wizard of Oz? is a Level P book with a Lexile Level of 520. (Amazon affiliate link follows.)

Click HERE for Word version.
Click HERE for PDF version.

Detective Image by Mel from Graphics From the Pond.  Background Paper by Sonya DeHart Design.

(If you'd like to see the other free guided reading lesson plans I have available, click on the links below.)

Because of Winn-Dixie (Level R)

Shiloh (Level R)

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great (Level R)

Flat Stanley (Level M)

The Get Rich Quick Club (Level U)

I, Amber Brown (Level N)
Chocolate Covered Ants (Level Q)

Do you have any other favorite mysteries you like to read with your students?

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