Vestal, New York School Children Help Detective On A Secret Mission [GALLERY]

School has been tough for so many kids for the last 20 months so I think it's awesome when we can share a fantastic story like this. It involves the first-graders from African Road Elementary School in Vestal who went on a super-secret mission.

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On Monday, November 29th, they visited the Super-Secret Detective Agency at a hidden location somewhere in their district. Here is what happened. The first-graders had been working on a reading unit and they were encouraged to use their Word Detective skills.

So here is the entire story: Senior Detective Reads-A-Lot (aka Vestal Central School District Literacy Specialist Sarah Evans) heard about the first-graders and arranged a special visit for them. They paired up and put their skills to the test.

Detective Read-a-Lot told the class that she had a super-secret mission for them. They had to decipher nine clues and solve the word puzzle to find out what was next. Using all of their skills, they were able to decode the puzzle and find out what was next.

The message was "There is a surprise waiting for you outside the classroom door" and what a pleasant surprise it was. None other than, Sir Bookworm himself, the top banana at the Super-Secret Detective Agency, bumbled in, thanked them, and was about to give them small gifts for all of their hard work.

Vestal School Kids Help Local Detective

But wait, there was a problem. He needed their help to solve one more mystery. He had lost some of his words and didn't know where they had gone to. When Sir Bookworm turned to write the words that he was missing on the whiteboard, the young detectives found them on the back of his cape.

There they were, his missing words, stuck to his cape. Problem solved and to show his gratitude, he handed out their gifts. Then they lived happily ever after. If only we could live in a place like this more often. I hope it brought a smile to your face before you return to real life.