Lost Puppy Mystery (Addition and Count-on Addition)

“I found this little lost puppy in this box at the school! He didn’t have a collar, but he had three clues with him. If we can solve the clues, I think we can figure out who his owner is and return him.”

Day 1:Print copies of the 3-dice addition worksheet . Tell students that if they tell you the numbers that answer these addition problems, you can put them into the GPS on your phone and it will tell them what city the puppy came from.

Explain the strategy for adding three numbers (add the first two, then add the third to the sum of the first two). Have students write a number sentence below the dice that describes this process and draw an example on the board. Students may count the dots on the dice to check their answers, but hopefully not to find the answer initially. After they are finished, have them find someone with the same half of the worksheet as they have to check their answers.
(Pretend to put the numbers into your phone, then tell students that the puppy is from Minersville. As in, Iron Springs MINERSville.)

HAVE STUDENTS WRITE THEIR NAMES ON THEIR PAPERS AND TURN THEM IN to assess understanding.

Day 2:Use the whiteboard to explain count-on addition to the students using examples relevant to the puppy mystery. (If the puppy ate twelve bites of dog food and then ate two more, how many did he eat? We don’t need to start counting at one; we can just start with twelve and then count two more.)
Give students a copy of the second clue puzzle, “What street does the puppy live on?” Encourage students to try to solve this clue on their own.

When students have solved the puzzle, write the correct answer (“Iron Springs Road”) on the whiteboard.

Day 3:

Give students a copy of the third clue puzzle, “Iron Springs Road Map.” Tell them that you’ve asked Mrs. Murray and the teachers and the puppy doesn’t belong to them. Divide into pairs and have the each team try to solve the puzzle independently. When the students discover which house is the puppy’s house (#12), pretend to plug the address into your phone to find the name of the puppy’s owner (Melody). Return the puppy to Melody for grateful praise and a reward!