SPOOKY SEASON IS HERE! This is my FAVORITE holiday! I love everything about it – the ghosts, the skeletons, the Edgar Allan Poe! I want to celebrate with my kiddos, but I’m usually mid-way through a unit or racing against the clock ticking toward the end of the quarter. I also usually want to cover my butt in case admin wants to see a lesson plan or know what standard I am teaching! Worst case scenario, I hit play on a spooky, kid-friendly Spotify playlist while working on our regularly scheduled schoolwork ( sad face). However, I usually figure out a way to sneak one of these activities into my curriculum! If you need a low-prep and ghoulishly good idea for halloween in language arts this season, look no further!
1. Set the mood with a spooky story
Take advantage of the high energy for halloween in language arts!
Take advantage of your students’ Halloween energy! Shut off the lights, close the blinds, and set the mood with electric tea light candles! Read and analyze how diction and setting create a spooky mood! This will work so well with just about any spooky story or poem, but here are a few of my favorites:
- The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe (or just about any Poe, really!)
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Washington Irving
- The Open Window – Saki
- Click Clack the Rattlebag – Neil Gaiman
- The House – HP Lovecraft
2. Write your own horror / halloween- themed story
I created a mini-unit a while back that I LOVE to use when I have about a week to spend on my Halloween mischief! In this lesson, I teach students the literary qualities of a classic horror story and then we analyze one or two short stories together. Finally, students take what they’ve learned and use it to write their own short horror masterpieces! On the day of Halloween, those who want to can share their stories with the rest of the class.
You can find my COMPLETE low prep mini-unit on Horror Narrative Writing that works with any mentor text on Teachers Pay Teachers!
3. Calaveras Literarias
These are “Skull Poems” or short, witty eulogies written around Dia de los Muertos in Mexico. This tradition began as a way to satirize key political figures, and remains a tool of satire today! Often, People will also write these to remember dead loved ones, or send in to the newspaper as a joke on living relatives! In this activity, I have students write a literaria on how their biggest fear dies. This is one of my best sellers, and is always a blast with my students each year! As a bonus, they get to write their finished poem on a tombstone and color it in!
You can grab my complete Calaveras Literarias activity that includes instructions, templates, AND a 2-page informational text on Teachers Pay Teachers!
4. Legends with a twist for Halloween in Language Arts!
Dig into some spooky American legends by having students research the history behind them and create a one-pager on a different spooky myth or legend
- La Llorona
- The Wendigo
- El Chupacabra
- Bigfoot
- The Jersey Devil
- Mothman
- Donkey Lady
- The Headless Horseman
5. Re-Cut Movie Trailers
A great way to teach elements of tone and suspense are by watching movie trailers!
This video, The Office Has Eyes, shows The Office ( which is cool to watch again, according to my sophomores) recut as a horror movie! You can find a bunch of these videos on Youtube! Watch the mock horror trailer and compare it with the original trailer to teach the qualities of tone and suspense. Depending on your students/ school culture, you could also watch the reverse – horror movies recut as comedies!
6. Funeral for a character
I love this activity because I’m often in the middle of a unit when Halloween rolls around. Students choose a character a write a eulogy for them. Students should include their eulogy character traits and “memories” from the novel. Take it to the next level by having students write from another character’s point of view! I have a ready-to-go character eulogy lesson pack for you – with a task sheet, scaffolds, and rubrics!
7. Why We Crave Horror Movies – Halloween Informational Text
This is one I love to use with my AP Lang students. Stephen King wrote an excellent essay entitled ” Why We Crave Horror Movies.” Use this to discuss rhetorical analysis or as a practice argument essay prompt!
8. What Makes a Monster?
Take a deep dive into the meaning behind the word “monster,” and look at different monsters throughout history! Put students into groups, and have them define the word “monster” and research examples to create a digital one-pager ( or a one-slide presentation) on their monster.
9. Blackout Poetry
This one comes from the queen of creative ELA projects – Betsy Potash! Print out or photocopy some pages of Edgar Allan Poe stories. Students move through the page in steps:
- Underline in pencil interesting words
- Add connector words to help create flow between their intriguing words
- Eliminate words that don’t fit and/or add new ones to support
- Blackout everything except the chosen words with sharpie
- Display student poems, and have a casual gallery walk of student work!
10. Funeral for a Word
Have students write a short paragraph or create a one-pager about an overused word that needs to “die!” I usually use a current slang term for an example ( like “cap,” whoooo I’ll be glad when that one goes out of style for sure!).
If you try one of these ideas, let me know how it goes! Happy Haunting!
