Mystery Trash Challenge Resources

The Mystery Trash Challenge is a great way to introduce the cognitive strategies to your students.  Students examine several pieces of "trash" (evidence) to make inferences about the possible owners.  This activity encourages students to use evidence to make inferences and support their thinking.  Scroll down to see resources to teach this lesson in your classroom.

Evidence Tags

In Mary Widtmann's class, students filled out evidence tags to identify each piece of trash.  These tags were created using free clip art from Krista Wallden - Creative Clips.

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Google Slides Template

Students in Emily McCourtney's class used this Google Slides template to record images of the evidence and their thinking.

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By clicking the link, you will be prompted to make a copy of the file to your Google Drive.  You can then easily push-out the file to students in Google Classroom.

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Third Grade Student Sample

Fifth Grade Reflection

Adaptations of the Lessons

• ​Introduce a Unit: Gather items related to a story or unit to introduce a new genre.
  • Collect items from a different time period to introduce a Historical Fiction unit.
  • Collect items that literally and metaphorically represent details in a poem to help students develop background knowledge.
• Character Trash: Have students collect items to describe a character from a book they've read or a writing piece.