Watch a Slideshow: Mary Celeste - Mystery at Sea
Ask: What do you think happened to the people on the Mary Celeste? Explain.
Students will examine the real-life mystery surrounding the disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste in 1872.
Lesson Plan - Mystery of the Ghost Ship
Learning Objective
Text Structure
Problem and Solution, Chronology
Content-Area Connections
World History
Standards Correlations
CCSS: RI.4.1, RI.4.2, RI.4.3, RI.4.4, RI.4.5, RI.4.7, RI.4.8, RI.4.10, L.4.4, SL.4.1
NCSS: Time, Continuity, and Change
TEKS: Social Studies 4.6
1. Preparing to Read
Preview Words to Know
Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.
- navigation
- theories
Set a Purpose for Reading
As students read, have them underline clues about what happened to the ship’s crew.
2. Close-Reading Questions
1. What is the author’s purpose in the first three paragraphs of the article?
The author’s purpose in these paragraphs is to grab readers’ attention by describing the spooky scene when the Mary Celeste was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean.
(RI.4.5 CRAFT AND STRUCTURE)
2. According to the article, what are two theories about what happened to the Mary Celeste crew?
One theory is that pirates attacked the ship. Another is that the captain, worried the ship was sinking, used the lifeboat to try to get his crew and family to safety.
(RI.4.2 KEY DETAILS)
3. Why does the author write that “this is one mystery that might never be solved”?
There is no proof to explain the ship crew’s disappearance, although people have theories.
(RI.4.8 REASONS AND EVIDENCE)
3. Skill Building
FEATURED SKILL: Cite Text Evidence
Use the Skill Builder “Be a Text Detective” to have students practice citing text evidence in response to true-or-false questions from the article.
(RI.4.1 TEXT EVIDENCE)
Text-to-Speech