Who Let the Fun Out? Why Whodunit Drama Circles Are My New Favorite Back-to-School Icebreaker

Back-to-school season can be a wild mix of nerves, name tags, and notebooks.

And while I love setting up my classroom (give me all the cozy corners and bulletin board borders), I know that building classroom community is the real magic of those first weeks.

Starting the year with drama circles isn’t just fun—it’s powerful. Drama-based activities help build a safe, inclusive classroom where students feel seen, heard, and connected. Research shows that drama encourages collaboration, empathy, and risk-taking in a supportive space (Gallagher & Neelands, 2011; Podlozny, 2000). It’s a playful way to set the tone for the kind of learning community you want all year long.

That’s where my new favorite icebreaker comes in —
Whodunit Drama Circles.

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What Is a Whodunit Drama Circle?
If you’ve used my drama circles before, you already know the drill — students gather in a circle, each holding a card that continues a dramatic chain of events, filled with movement, listening, and laughs.

But my newest series takes it a step further:
It’s a whodunit mystery — complete with suspicious characters, physical evidence, and a final reveal.

Each student gets a clue to read aloud (and sometimes act out), and together the class unravels a hilarious mystery like:

• The Pizza Party Sabotage (yes, pickles were involved)

• The Stolen Sneaker Scandal

• Who Let the Dog Out?

They're silly, suspenseful, and sneak in a ton of oral language, reading fluency, inferencing, and cooperative learning.

Click on the images above to view these drama activities on TpT.

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Why I Love Using These at the Start of the Year

Let’s be honest — do we really want drama in the first week of school? Yes, please.

👉 Because good drama means…

• Every student is engaged (even the shy ones)

• They’re learning to listen and speak clearly

• They’re practicing turn-taking and teamwork

• And best of all — they’re laughing together

I’ve used these with grades 4–6, and every time, my students beg for more. They’re the kind of activity that builds classroom culture and once these skills are built, gives you a little formative assessment on the side. Win-win.

Drama circles are meant to be fun, collaborative, and full of energy—but a little prep goes a long way in making the experience smooth and successful. Here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way that help students feel confident, engaged, and ready to shine:

• Give prep time. After handing out the cards, allow students a few quiet minutes to read theirs and think about how they’ll act it out. This builds confidence and helps the drama unfold more smoothly.

• Buddy check. Before starting, offer 2 minutes for students to check in with a friend. They can clarify vocabulary or brainstorm how to say a line—especially helpful for your more anxious learners.

• Big emotions = big fun. Encourage students to go big with their expressions, voices, and movements. The more dramatic, the better! It helps the whole group follow the story and keeps everyone engaged.

• Differentiate where needed. Some cards are more involved than others. When possible, assign cards based on your students’ comfort levels—some kids love the spotlight, others prefer to play it cool. There’s space for everyone in the circle.

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What’s Included in the Whodunit Bundle?
The full bundle includes 6 original mysteries — each with:

• 32 ready-to-read cards (in both colour & black-and-white)

• A mystery format that follows a consistent, easy-to-follow narrative

• A printable rubric for quick formative assessment

And yes — you can run them with no prep beyond printing and cutting. It’s perfect for sub days, team-building blocks, or just plain fun on a Friday.

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If you’re looking for a high-engagement activity that builds listening, cooperation, and a whole lot of laughter, check out the Whodunit Drama Circle Bundle here.

Or grab just one and get ready for your students’ new favorite activity.

Let the mystery begin!

Creating a Calm and Content Rich Classroom - Decorating My New Space

The countdown is on.  After 22 years at the school I started at, I'm moving to a new school this year.  Like any good introvert, the prospect of change is a scary one for me, so I'm excited that my new school isn't so new to me.  In fact, I'm heading to my own kids' elementary school ... and MY old elementary school.  I do enjoy a whole full circle thing.  ;) 

While packing up my old classroom, I decided to change my classroom theme and colours.  I thought this would help me purge more, but the stacks of boxes in my basement report that was a lie.  Oh well.

If you're redecorating your classroom, or just starting out in upper elementary, I have a few back to school classroom decor tips for you, and I will be back to share more as my class comes together to match the calm and organized classroom vision in my head.

1.  Set the Tone with a Calm Atmosphere

Creating a soothing classroom environment is crucial for students to feel comfortable and engaged.  Consider using a soft, neutral colour palette for your walls or bulletin boards, that way you can make the important academic pieces POP on your board, rather than compete with bright colours everywhere.  Cozy rugs or pillows, soft lighting like fairy lights or table lamps, and different textures and fabrics work together to create a sensory calming space that encourages relaxation and focus.

In my new room, all the walls and bulletin boards were painted the exact same bland beige tan colour.  Like, the whole room.  I was going for neutral, but that's a bit much.  I also know my classroom may change in a year or two so I didn't want to take on repainting.  Instead I chose a calming neutral colour theme that matches the walls, and chose to not paper the bulletin boards.  Not buying bulletin board paper leaves me a little extra to get some fun touches for the room that I can't wait to show off a little later when they're done.

I'm using a combination of "Everyone is Welcome" and "Home Sweet Classroom" pieces from Teacher Created Resources to create this calming classroom atmosphere, and adding in some extra special pieces to spark learning and joy.  In an upper elementary classroom, I don't worry as much about an overall decor theme as much as I try to pull together a pleasing colour scheme with matching decor pieces when possible.

2.  Thoughtful Wall Displays

THIS is where the magic happens.  Decorating these wall spaces, like bulletin boards, is very important.  You know your students and their needs better than anyone, so make sure the information on boards is important, relevant, and engaging.  Plan bulletin board displays around their actual work spaces so it is a content-rich classroom environment they can pull from when working.

This is the start of my math wall.  Yes, that's a big chalkboard (it's actually twice that length).  Apparently 50 year old classrooms still have these.  haha.  I used a roll of whiteboard wall sticker to make 6 "thinking boards" for the wall, and this is where groups of 2 - 3 will work on problem-solving while other students work with me, independently, or in small groups.  These groups are always rotated.  

I want to provide students with useful tools while working at the boards, so the first thing I created for my math wall are these Factor and Multiple Number Posters.  I've seen the great skip-counting number posters on classroom walls on instagram, but I knew I wanted something where students could see BOTH factors and multiples, so I made some.  My students really need this visual reference in the classroom.  I will be adding our math response goals next.

My language wall is huge and will need to be divided into smaller sections for morphology, writing. and reading.  I'm actually quite excited about all the space I have.  Since cursive writing is coming back into the curriculum, a new alphabet was put up first.  And then I started on the borders (keeping the same neutral calming theme through all the borders).  As I was finishing up the borders, I got the idea to turn my grammar dots into a fantastic bulletin board border, and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.  This Grammar Dot Bulletin Board Border includes 45 common grammar errors - ones that I definitely want my students to be aware of as they're writing.  My students used my old grammar dots all the time in the classroom, but the sizes and colours wouldn't work for me this year, so this new resource is perfect.  I can't wait to get back into my classroom and hang it up!

And lastly for today, my agenda wall.  This space is SO important in my classroom - we refer to it all the time, so I wanted it to have the same matching colour theme.  Again, more blackboards, so I ordered magnetic borders this time.  I don't like the way paper borders hold up on blackboards that get cleaned all the time (even when laminated).  This 'motherboard' has everything - our daily agenda, homework, reminders, new vocabulary, learning goals, and catch-up space.  I even started to include our "You Try / I Try" spelling technique on the board last year - just another way to keep them looking at the board.  You will notice I don't have the times beside the subject labels on the agenda board.  Totally intentional.  I have found that when the times are listed, that's all the students pay attention to.  The last 10 minutes of the class are spent watching the clock rather than in lesson consolidation, and that's not an awesome thing.  And I frequently run over time in some lessons, and borrow time from other lessons, and that's perfectly ok.  But the students would struggle with this if I had the subject times on the board.  So, a few years ago I kept the agenda schedule, but ditched the times, and it's perfect.  Students look at it first thing every day, even if it is just to check if we have gym that day. ;)  My Agenda Board Subject Labels resource contains over 40 different labels and subjects, so you're sure to be covered.  Better yet, assign it as a student job and have them post the agenda cards each day.  I leave all the extra cards in a magnetic cup holder beside the schedule.

That's it for now, but I'll keep sharing tips and ideas as I get my new space set up.  Happy Back to School!

You can take a peek at some of my newest resources by clicking on the pictures below.

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New School Year and Dusting Off the Blog

 Hello.  Remember me?  I've been wanting to get back into blogging for a while now, but I guess it doesn't magically happen unless I actually write a post.

So, if I'm dusting off this blog, I should start at the beginning of the year with my back to school room tour.  

I started my 21st year of teaching in a straight 6 with 19 students ... a dream too good to be true ... and it was.  Two weeks later, I was reorganized into a 5/6 split with 25 students.  

I am still at the same wonderful school, but my classroom was newly constructed last year.  A bright, beautiful new space, but it still has all the nooks and crannies and slanted walls that make it just the perfect amount of quirky and fun.

Last year I started a cactus theme in my classroom because, truth be told, I was a little prickly about returning face to face in the middle of the pandemic.  I kept the cacti this year, and added in a few more plant pieces ... and plan on continuing to add throughout the year.  As you walk into my classroom, I have a few reminders and favourite quotes to start to set the tone.  All the plant stickers in the classroom are vinyl wall stickers I found on Amazon.

Our Wonder Calendar, a class photo from when the students were in JK/SK, and a real spider plant.  The hanging file folder now has Monday - Friday files, and that is where I place our extra handouts from the week for absent students.

On the wall are little sticky hexagon corkboards.  Perfect for quick notes, posting exit slips, or photos.  These were on Amazon, as well.

This side of my room has our World Map (again, a vinyl wall sticker from Amazon), my math bulletin board, and my science and math cubbies.  The labelled coloured drawers under the World Map contain all our community supplies in the classroom.

This is my beautiful reading shelf.  I keep some of my favourite small sets on novels on here, and my go-to picture book mentor texts, and a bit more inspiration because this book shelf just makes me happy.

The little cacti that line the window are artificial (but the other plants are real).  My students decorated the pots and will get to bring them home at the end of the year.  (I also have a crush on Einstein).

This is the front of my classroom.  Three big whiteboards.  The left one is used mainly for inclass work and notes.  The middle one is for the projector.  And the right one is used for our daily agenda, homework, and any other important daily notes and reminders.  

Underneath all the whiteboards is my classroom library.  I personally don't love the shelves on the floor like this because the students have to do a weird sit/shuffle thing to peruse the titles, but it works.  My books are mainly set up by genre (one genre per shelf), with a couple full shelves dedicated to one author.

This wall is our interactive writing and art portfolio.  Each student has their own spot, and all of their published writing and completed art pieces line this wall.  Each time a student finishes a new piece, it is pinned on top of the older pieces, creating a portfolio students can go through to see their growth.  At the end of the year, I bind all these pieces into a little book for them to take home.  (This pic was from when I only had 19 students, there are now 25 proud spots on the board.)  Below that space are more bookshelves for more of my classroom library.  (And I think I'm going to need even more room).

And lastly, at the very back of my classroom is the cutest little writing desk.  Our chromebooks sit back there, so this is the perfect quiet space for my students to use voice to text tech, or work on something quietly for a bit.  We have some more community supplies back there, as well.  The "wallpaper" on the wall is yet another vinyl wall sticker, and I purchased some matching stools.

For the finishing touch, on the first day of school, we made my Back to School Cactus Craftivity.  These line the top of my high bulletin board at the front of the room and will stay here all year - because I love them, and the bulletin board is too high to change frequently.  haha.

I love my little home away from home - it's bright, has neutral colours, plants to clean the air, and is just a happy place to be.  Building an environment my students feel comfortable and at-home in is my first step every year to start to build our caring classroom community.

Below you can find some of the resources I used in my classroom set-up that are available in my TpT store.  Click on any of them to take a closer look:

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Back to School Graphing Activity

Are you looking for a new idea for a math back to school activity?  These back to school Pop-Up Bar Graphs might be just what you need!  I needed something new this year because I will have most of my class for a second time (I taught them in 4th, and will now have them for 6th).  They are a fantastic bunch and I'm looking so forward to another great year with them.

One activity they particularly enjoyed was our Pop-Up Bar Graphs, so I thought I could incorporate that idea into our first day of school this year.

This Back to School 3D Pop-Up Bar Graph activity contains an ice breaker activity students will use as they survey questions.  The object is for each student to find out how many classmates have the same answers as them.  They will then use this data to complete a graphing organizer, graphing reflection, and an interactive 3D bar graph that will WOW!  A learning goal and success criteria poster is also included, along with full lesson and assembly instructions.

You can take a peek at these bar graphs by clicking HERE or on any of the pictures in this post.

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Quick Tips for Back To School - One Little Word Themes

Are you looking for some quick tips for back to school?  I've got just about 2 weeks to go before we start, so this is definitely where my head is right now.  And I'm starting with getting my room set up.  And that all starts with a theme.

Apart from trying to have cohesive colors in my room, I wouldn't say I have a decorating "theme" for my classroom.  I do love having a nicely set up classroom, and I do love the cute classroom themes I see all over pinterest and facebook, but a full out theme is not something I thought I could pull off - decorating-wise or time-wise.  But ... does a classroom theme need to be a decorating style?  Does it need to be time consuming and costly?  In one little word, NO.

My quick tip is one that worked very well for my class last year.  Classroom themes can be easy.  Classroom themes can be one simple but powerful word.  I wanted our theme to be more than a decorating style.  I wanted it to mean something.  So instead, I took my "theme" from the one little word I thought was most important for us to have a successful year, and such an important life skill for the future - my classroom theme was (and will be again this year) "collaborate".

"One Little Word" classroom themes can be taken from anywhere.  They can be from a novel you are starting with (if reading Wonder at the beginning of the year, "Choose Kind" would be a fabulous classroom theme), they can be a character trait you want your students to display, or a verb meant to motivate like Think, Encourage, Lead, Persevere, etc., or a growth mindset word or phrase you want to keep reminding your students of.  It just has to be something you remind your students of daily, and keep reflecting on throughout the year.

For me, collaborate is what I wanted my students to start right from day one.  It was something I knew was necessary for all of us to have a successful year.  So, we got started right away.  I had each student trace their hand and arm, and decorate the inside with the names, and other words and pictures that were important to them.  Then, we posted our hands reaching up to our goal - and used my big bulletin board letters to spell out COLLABORATE.  This was placed over our main board, so it was in front of us every day, all year long.  A great reminder throughout the year as I knew I'd be having them working together and learning from each other every single day.

As soon as that was done, we talked about what the word means, and how we collaborate in the classroom - not just student to student, but student to teacher as well.  After a great brainstorm session, we tried it out with our first Stick-It-Together Collaborate Activity - one for back to school.  It was a great way to start to get to know one each other, start thinking about what our year was going to be like, start working on our goals, and most of all, start to COLLABORATE.

I can't wait to share pics from my classroom set-up this year - full of reminders to collaborate, space to collaborate in, and resources to collaborate with.  The two-week countdown is on!

Check out some more ideas below from some of my fabulous blogging friends, and get ready to grab some inspiration to make this the Best.Year.Ever!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Change Your Mindset

Growth Mindset has been a huge theme in our classroom this year.  Right from the very first week - the very first day. I chose our first read aloud, Fish in a Tree, because it also fits our growth mindset theme.  Our rich discussions following our reading each day focus on how the main character displays a fixed mindset at the beginning of the novel, and we have been making connections with the novel and discussing how to move past the fixed mindset to embrace a growth mindset.  Having set the groundwork right from the very beginning, I could remind them of our talks and refer back to our discussions and growth mindset phrases throughout the school year when we needed the most.

One of my favorite activities to introduce growth mindset happened on our second day of school.  I had the students write down something they felt they couldn't do, or weren't good at, or didn't like.  We wrote these statements on strips of paper in bright red ink - talking about how red ink sometimes symbolized mistakes or errors.  We then took these strips of paper and shredded them.  Each student came up one at a time and pushed their thoughts through the shredder - thinking about how they were eliminating that thinking.  This was so powerful.  My students still talk about this activity six months later.

When we finished shredding our negative thoughts we talked more in depth about growth mindset, with each student writing their thoughts down on a sticky note.  The students then worked together in small groups to come up with their best answer about what they thought growth mindset was and why it was important to have a growth mindset in our classroom this year.  Working in small groups at the beginning of the year also required them to work on their growth mindset - as many of them needed some gentle reminders on how to compromise and collaborate with their classmates.

The next day we discussed phrases that represented a fixed mindset and how we could turn that thinking around to represent a growth mindset.  Students worked in groups again to come up with alternate phrases to show a growth mindset.  They completed a collaborative sticky note response again, then created posters that showed the fixed mindset thinking as well as the growth mindset thinking.  We then took all our work and created a student-centered bulletin board to showcase our learning.  This was the perfect display to begin our year with - I was so sad when it was time to take it down.

This Stick-It-Together activity is free in my TpT store - you can grab a copy by clicking HERE.  

Because this theme has been so prevalent in our classroom this year, and is something I've had to remind my students of (more than once), I've created a few more growth mindset resources that we've used throughout the year.

This Cursive Writing Growth Mindset Resource is perfect for so many different reasons.  Each page contains a quote related to growth mindset.  Students read the quote, trace the quote in cursive, and then write the quote on their own.  They also need to explain what the quote means and make a connection to their own lives.  As we don't have "formal" cursive writing lessons as part of our curriculum (yet, I think being able to read cursive writing is such an important skill, therefore I try to sneak in practice whenever I can), this is a great way to make that cursive writing practice meaningful.  Love it.

We also included a Growth Mindset Entry in our Math Journals this year.  I really wanted to focus on changing our mindset in math after I had heard one too many "This is too hard" and "I can't do this" phrases.  You can read a little more about this entry in my blog post HERE.

This Growth Mindset Craftivity is one of my
newest resources, and I am so excited about how it came out!  This craftivity has 6 different panels - on each panel, students compare and contrast a fixed mindset with a growth mindset.  They really need to think about how to change their thinking, and reflect on how these mindsets can affect their lives.

And I have also made this Growth Mindset Drama Circle.  This drama circle allows the students to explore Fixed versus Growth Mindset in a fun activity, which is also a great oral fluency practice, too.

Teaching students how to change their mindset isn't a quick one-time lesson.  It is something that needs to be constantly revisited - reminding students all the time about approaching challenging tasks with optimism - and getting excited about the opportunity to learn something new and practice our skills.  We used to use the phrase "Practice makes Perfect" a lot in our class - but with our new focus on growth mindset, we've changed this phrase to "Practice makes Progress" - and I couldn't be happier about that.

How are you helping your students to embrace a growth mindset this year?  I'd love for you to share some ideas below.

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A Tree for all Seasons

I'd like to introduce you to the newest attraction in my classroom - our beautiful, life-size learning tree.  I am in love with it.  And so are my students.  Seriously in love.  It took me a few days to get it finished, and the students weren't quite convinced it was actually tree for the first day or two, but it was so very worth it.  It's going to be a permanent and treasured fixture in our classroom all year long.


It all started with these little back to school apples. I like to do this craftivity during the first week of school.  They tell me a lot about the students, let me get some quick insight into their writing skills, and look great in the classroom - especially during parent nights and open houses.  I usually just line them up along the top of our bookshelves for a perfect back to school display.

But then, two of my blogging friends raised the bar ... all the way to the top.  Mrs. Mathis' Homeroom  and Teaching is a Gift also completed this apple craftivity and sent me the most gorgeous pictures of the trees they made to hang the apples from.  I was hooked.  And I just knew I had to do this right away.  

I started with a roll of brown craft paper I bought at Staples (the kind you use to wrap packages in).  A small roll will do because you don't use all that much.  I cut a strip the length of the wall I was working on, and began scrunching it up and taping it to my metal wall with packing tape - now, these metal walls are terrible for tape actually sticking to them, but the packing tape has worked wonderfully.  For the branches I cut smaller strips and scrunched and twisted them up.  I slid in one end behind the trunk and taped it there, and then used another piece of tape at the end of the branch.

After the first day my students didn't believe this was really a tree.  I'm quite sure they questioned their new teacher's artistic talents.  lol

But then, as more branches were added, the tree began to take shape.  And then once the leaves went on (I used two colors of construction paper, cut out random leaf shapes, and just stapled the leaves to the branches), it really really started to look like a tree.  

To hang the apples, I stapled the apple leaves to the branches - two staples through one of the leaves, and it held perfectly.  One of the other teachers used tape, and the other hung them with Christmas hooks.  All three techniques have worked quite well.

Early November Update:  We've taken down our apples and added our Fall poetry leaves to the tree - and now it is a beautiful Poet-tree.  :)  The leaves may be dropping off the trees outside, but we have a gorgeous Fall tree of learning in the classroom to brighten our days.

If you've been following me on facebook or instagram, you may have already seen some of these pictures as part of my #project 188 - where I share a pic from my school day for each of our 188 school days (we just finished day 14).  I often share different pics on instagram and facebook, so be sure to follow both!  

Happy Sunday!!!

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