Mystery night popular at Linderman
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POLSON — A faux crime was committed at Linderman School, and fourth grade students were called in to solve the case of the missing pirate hook.
About 60 families gathered at the school on Nov. 29 to work on the case.
Someone allegedly broke into the Linderman office after school on Monday and re-moved the Pirate Hook Award from the Mrs. Jones, desk. Mrs. Jones is the Linderman principal, and the Pirate Hook is awarded to a classroom when a second, third or fourth-grade student’s name is drawn after he or she earns a Pirate ticket for being safe, respectful or responsible at Linderman School.
The four suspects were Mrs. Hovenkotter, Mrs. Nesladek, Mrs. Nordberg and Mr. Bjorge.
Clues the students dealt with were a partial muddy footprint found on the office door that was kicked in, carpet fibers caught in the muddy footprint, a glove with a strange smell left at the crime scene, tool marks on Mrs. Jones’ desk as well as witness reports.
Six stations were each based on a different aspect of the crime, according to Tami Morrison, fourth grade teacher. Students measured the shoes of the suspects and compared the shoes to the muddy print on the door, took samples of carpet fibers and analyzed them under a microscope, sniffed different scents to figure out which smelled most like the glove and compared tool marks from a hammer, a screwdriver and a Phillips screwdriver to the gouge in Mrs. Jones’ desk.
Student Spring Johnston thought either the hammer or the Phillips screwdriver was used. Lee Ann Yonkin received some expert advice on collecting carpet fibers from her dad, Lake County Sheriff’s Detective Dan Yonkin.
Lonnie Erickson from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office organized a large contingent of law enforcement help out with mystery night.
It’s a fun way for students to use their scientific skills of observation and data collection to draw conclusions, Morrison added.
