Story Preview: An old box contains a century-old mystery message!
Roles: Narrators 1-3, Mrs. Diaz, Dr. Harold Brown, Mr. Wade, city workers Betty and Tom, Erica, Greg, Maria, and Tony, all students
Setting: Present day; a school in a small city
Theme: 100th day of school
Vocabulary:
presentation: demonstration or lecture before an audience
professor: university or college teacher
filmmaker: person who creates movies
time capsule: a container for saving items from the past that will be opened at a future time
fountain pen: a writing instrument that is filled with ink from an outside source or container
Additional Resources
* Want to construct a time capsule with your students? The lesson How
to Create a Time Capsule provides detailed instruction for making one, and offers suggestions for items
that might be included in the container. Kids Domain's Time
Capsule craft activity is an easy project for younger students.
* For more fun with codes, try Send
Secret Messages Using Codes and Ciphers from National Geographic Kids. This site offers numerous activities
in which students can create and decipher coded messages.
Props: (Optional) classroom desks, teacher-provided or student-decorated box (cardboard or other available
material), glass jar, sheet of notebook or writing paper, pencil, fountain pen, several plastic or student-made "hard
hats" for city workers
Follow-Up Questions:
Why is this year an important year for Elm Street School?
What two careers did Dr. Brown have?
What was Dr. Brown's connection to the school?
How did the city workers find the box?
What was the box?
What steps did the students take to figure out what the message said?
Follow-Up Activity:Have students work in small groups or individually to decode the message. Encourage them to use the clues in the play to crack the code. You might want to give students a time limit for the activity.
Mystery Code Answer Key: When students match the numbers with letters of the alphabet, the code should look like this:
YDA YTAOD SI COLOHS IFSRT MEL RUO TA ETSERT
When unscrambled, the message should read:
TODAY IS OUR FIRST DAY AT ELM STREET SCHOOL.
Additional Notes: The "100" theme in this play could supplement plans you might have for recognizing the 100th day of school. Check out Education World's Celebrate the 100th Day of School page for a host of activities, ideas, and links for celebrating that special day.