Death's Acre

I use the book Death's Acre by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson in my Forensic Science classes. Even if you are not going to have your students read it, I highly recommend that every Forensic Science teacher read this book! You will learn so much useful information!

There is a second book called Beyond the Body Farm by Dr. Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson, which I also highly recommend for every Forensic Science teacher!

How to get enough books for your class:

Have your district purchase the books for you. You need at least a class set for every section of Forensic Science that you teach, plus some extra books to account for kids not returning books. Your district may be willing to reimburse for used books. Of course I recommend local bookstores first, but you may also be able to find cheap used copies on Amazon.

DonorsChoose is an EXCELLENT way to get materials for your classroom. I have done several DonorsChoose projects and highly recommend them.

Learn more here: DonorsChoose.org

Other Grants:

My district has a foundation that funds grants for teachers. Organizations like this are a great way to get classroom materials.

How I use Death's Acre:

I use Death's acre during only one semester of my full-year class, but it could be used throughout the year.

I use it spring semester, when my main units are Anthropology and Decomposition & Entomology.

I assign my reading questions in booklets. These booklets of questions are all available in my TPT store: The Scene of the Crime. If you don't want to purchase the questions, you could make your own or just have students list or summarize the forensic evidence they learn in each chapter.

For each "booklet"- the questions are also available as stand-alone chapters. The questions include answer keys for every chapter.

Anthropology

Booklet 1: Chapters 1-4

Decomposition & Entomology

Booklet 2: Chapters 5-8

The rest of the chapters cycle back through ideas of Anthropology, Decomposition, and Entomology.

Booklet 3: Chapters 9-13

Booklet 4: Chapters 14-20

Chapter guide (free!) This free chapter guide outlines the main forensic evidence taught in each chapter, in case you'd like to assign only certain chapters.

These reading questions can also be purchased in a bundle of all 4 booklets - coming soon. This bundle includes the chapter guide. If you already purchased booklets 1-4, you can contact TPT for a refund on those when you purchase the bundle.

Bundle of all 20 chapters - includes answer keys