Nancy Drew class

Today was our first day of Nancy Drew class! I have a class of 13 children- both girls AND boys. I was surprised to have boys interested, but why not? Everyone enjoys a good mystery! Today we discussed:



We also learned a bit about the history of Nancy Drew and how she dates back to the 1930's. She has changed a lot over the years! The children were surprised to learn that Carolyn Keene was not a real person. A number of men and women were responsible for writing the Nancy Drew mystery series but they all used the pen name Carolyn Keene. We watched a clip of this old Nancy Drew movie and at a later date we will watch a clip of the Nancy Drew TV show.




We played a "Who am I" game at the beginning of class. I taped a name of a character in the book on each child's back. They then had to go around the room and ask people "yes" or "no" questions to discover who they were. Detective work!



Hannah Gruen, Nancy's housekeeper and friend, prepared hot chocolate and homemade cookies at the beginning of the book for company, so we enjoyed the same refreshments while we discussed the book! (They were made by my very own Ned Nickerson!)



We then talked about how important it is to have excellent observation skills to be a good detective. This book helped us work on our technique.



Of course, we had to test our observation skills! The children were allowed to look at this box full of various items for one minute. Then I closed the box and they had to write down everything they remembered including color, number, etc. It was not an easy task!



Here they are looking at the items in the box. They were really intrigued!



Next week we will discuss The Secret of Red Gate Farm. I can't wait!