The good news is that October is a spooktacular and fun time of year! The not-so-good news is that Halloween falls on a school day. So it’s time to start thinking about lesson plans for Halloween.
You and I know that whatever we teach that day had better be interesting.
You might be wondering how you can incorporate the holiday into your upper elementary or middle-school curriculum without throwing a party or getting too off-topic. Never fear! There are plenty of ways to celebrate Halloween in the classroom while still covering the standards. Here are a few ideas that incorporate reading, writing, AND listening to get you started.
Host a Halloween Escape Room
One great way to incorporate some Halloween fun into your lesson plans is to create a Halloween escape room. This can be a great team-building activity for your students, and it will also help them practice critical thinking and problem-solving skills. You can find some great ready-made escape rooms online. Or you can create your own by making a series of puzzles and challenges that the students have to solve in order to “escape” the room. This is a great way to get the students thinking critically and working together. Plus, it’s just plain fun!
Can you believe I once ran a Halloween escape room for the entire school? Yup, all 850 students. I must have completely lost my mind that year. Fortunately, it turned out great; it really is a solid way to get the students to think critically and work together. Plus, it’s just plain fun!
This is the one I used. It requires a little prep time, but it’s so worth it!
If you want a Halloween Escape Room that’s truly PRINT & GO, take a look at Escape the Hall of Horrors! Your students will meet famous monsters from classic literature. They’ll learn AND have a blast!
Read a Scary Story
Dim the lights. Pull a YouTube campfire up on your Smartboard. (Extra points if it includes crackling sounds and crickets chirping like this campfire.) And then have a read-aloud of the deepest, darkest, creepiest story you can find.
I love anything by Richard Matheson, but I do realize that some kids are easily frightened. I think if you read it aloud, you can take some of the sting out by making it fun. Check out this list of scary stories for middle school students AND a creep-o-meter to gauge the fear factor.
An added benefit is that you can easily turn the whole thing into an inference activity by pausing every so often to have students write their evidence-based predictions. It’s a great way to practice listening skills and inferencing, while also getting into the Halloween spirit!
Listen to a Creepy Podcast
If you’re looking for something a little less hands-on, you can always have your students listen to a creepy podcast. I’m a huge fan of using podcasts to help students develop listening skills. There are tons of great options out there, like The Creeping Hour, which includes short stories that kids get a kick out of.
My favorite podcast resource is this informational Listen-Learn-Write urban legends podcast lesson; it hits all the notes that make it a fantastic Halloween activity to use in middle school. Kids will learn what an urban legend is and how to spot them. They’ll learn the origin story of a creepy new urban legend called Sirenhead, and they’ll see exactly how the story evolves and gains a following. While students are listening, they’ll be answering multiple-choice questions that self-check to reveal a hidden picture. Then they’ll use what they learned to do some evidence-based writing and some creative writing.
Another informative podcast is this one about the history of Halloween candy. It’s fun to listen to, and if you’d like a ready-made lesson for it, we have a Listen-Learn-Write lesson plan for Halloween.
Conjure Up a Writing Lesson Plan for Halloween
Halloween is the perfect time to break out of the traditional essay format and have your students do some creative writing. They could write scary stories, poems, or even songs! Encourage them to be as creative as possible, and you might be surprised at what they come up with.
Assign a Creepy Story Starter
For example, you could give them the first sentence of a story and have them finish it. This can be anything from “It was a dark and stormy night” to “I never should have taken that shortcut through the graveyard.” If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can even have your students write their own story starters for their classmates to use.
Or, you could give them a list of Halloween-themed words and have them use as many of them as possible in a story. Either way, your students will have fun using their imaginations and will be getting some great writing practice in too!
Use Weird Photos for Inspiration
Another fun way to celebrate Halloween in your classroom is to show your students some weird photos and have them write a story behind them. You can find all sorts of creepy photos online, or you can take your own. It’s a great opportunity for kids to practice their descriptive writing skills. Then, have your students write a short story about what’s happening in the photo. You could even turn it into a competition and award prizes for the best stories
Read, Then Write Two-Sentence Horror Stories
You’ll LOVE teaching kids how to write two-sentence horror stories! (In fact, I love teaching it so much that I make sure to do it when administrators come to observe me!)
Start by finding some online — they’ll readily available. Then deconstruct them by noticing the information given in the first sentence, and how the author added some “shock and horror” in the second sentence. It’s easy to teach, and your students will have phenomenal results!
If you’d like a little shortcut, this two-sentence horror story unit is ready to go. It’s fun to do any time of year, but it’s a perfect lesson plan for Halloween season.
Halloween Lesson Plans Should Be Fun & Educational!
Halloween doesn’t have to be all about parties and candy to be fun. With a little creativity, you and your students can have a fang-tastic time. Look at it as an opportunity to teach your students about writing, storytelling, critical thinking, and using their imaginations. Try out one of these ideas and have a spooktacular Halloween season!
