Multiple Days #3

on

Whodunnit? Murder Mystery Party



Purpose: Students will learn about collaboration and connecting with others. Students will also develop their own critical thinking skills such as time management and problem solving that they can apply in the workforce or in higher education. The library can promote this event annually around October-November (encourage the spooky season!) and encourage many others to participate. The event could be extended to the community by inviting parents and community leaders to participate. 

Suggested Grade Level: Middle school (6-8) to high school (9-12); more mature content may be more appropriate for high school

Promotional Materials:

  • Flyers (passed out to classrooms and shared via the school website)
  • Posters (posted in areas with high traffic such as the cafeteria, gym, front entrance, library, etc.)
  • Morning/afternoon announcements
  • Lunchtime announcements
Flyer/Poster




Materials needed:
  • OPTIONAL: Suspect profiles (make your own or edit a template), make multiple copies and laminate (optional)
  • Notepads (you can also get composition books and have a hardware store like Home Depot cut them for you) or get a bunch from the Dollar Tree for a cheaper/faster alternative 
  • Pencils/Pens 
  • White tape
  • Caution tape (you can buy it online or make your own, whichever is more cost effective)
  • Decor (can be leftover decor you have not use, donated, or you may need to buy it)
  • Costumes (This is a great opportunity to collaborate with your theater teacher to donate some, this is optional) 
  • Light snacks (can be anything you like to provide to your participants, but please provide any warnings for any dietary restrictions/allergens)
  • Drinks (soda, water, juice) 
  • Reward (a trophy or medal may be best)

Planning Day 1
The school librarian will plan for the murder mystery party and promote the event to the school.
The librarian will select a day and time when students can attend the event (most likely this might need to be done outside of school hours or on a Saturday). Once date is finalized, the librarian will look for all the required materials and begin collecting them by purchasing or using donated materials. 

Planning Day 2
The school librarian will continue to collect materials for the event. Flyers will be passed out to individual classrooms and posters (same as flyer) will be posted in areas with high traffic such as the cafeteria, gym, front entrance, library, etc. Optional: The librarian can also create a promotional video to share on the school website and library social media website. Flyer will be posted on school website and library social sites. Morning and afternoon announcements can also be made to further promote the event.

Planning Days 3-7
The school librarian will continue to collect event for the camp. The librarian can create an electronic invitation (this can be posted on school website and school library social media, share via Remid or Google Classroom). Make this as mysterious as possible so your participants won't know it's a murder mystery party!


Example of Invitation



Planning Days 7-8
Once the librarian collects all the decor and other materials needed for the party, the librarian can start arranging everything as need. Moving furniture and arranging tables and chairs to best suit the necessary space that is required to use during the event. The librarian will arrange materials on tables by providing enough items for each group participating in the event. 


Planning Days 9-???
Get your actors! Ask for student volunteers from the Book Club or make this a collaboration project with the theater teacher to have students partake in the party. Ask staff members and teachers if they would also like to be part of the event (some will gladly help out if you ask), ask administration and parent volunteers if they'd like to be in the acting party. Provide a script to all your actors and have them memorize their lines, it would be best to assign roles (you can look for one online and edit or create you own if you feel you're creative enough; this can also be done by the theater teacher if you are collaborating with one). Schedule a day or two to have all your actors do a rehearsal without and with costume. Run the scenes as many times needed. 


Instructional Day 1
The librarian will greet the participants as they enter the event. The librarian will have participants get snacks and drinks. The librarian will begin the script (make this beginning part seem perfectly normal) for a bit. The actors will play their respective parts such as introductions and general topics. Then, a horrific murder happens!

Following the script, the librarian will tell all the participants that they are now all detectives and she/he is asking them for their help to solve the crime. The librarian will tell the participants that there may be clues hidden inside the library and that one of the actors is the suspect. The librarian will act as the police chief and remind participants to come to them to report their findings or ask questions (you can drop hints, but you can't reveal the killer!

The school librarian will give all the participants that they record notes using the notepad and interview the suspects. The librarian will give all participants an investigation period (time limit) to solve the crime or else the killer will get away!

Once time is up, the librarian will line up all the suspects and ask the participants to vote on who they think is the killer. If everyone answers wrong, reveal the correct person. If someone answers correctly, they win!  Reward your winner. Thank all participants and dismiss them. 

References

Alexander, D., & Alexander, D. (2018, October 25). Killin' it: Murder mystery at the library. YALSA Blog. Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2018/10/25/killin-it-murder-mystery-at-the-library/


Comments

Post a Comment