Holiday Fun With Academics!
Halloween is fun for fall and provides a great theme for the classroom. It can provide interest for even a reluctant learner! Here are some ideas for the virtual or in-person class.SPOOKY MUSIC
Spooky Music
My personal preference is for instrumental background music. I feel like it is less distracting as students are learning and has the added benefit of not worrying about the lyrics. There are many choices available, but this one is available on YouTube and provides more than 40 minutes of instrumental spooky music.
Click here to go to YouTube. https://youtu.be/xQblcw06Dd8
Short Stories
There are tons of short stories perfect for his season. Many of them are in public domain and therefore it is easy to get copies for your students. The following are available free from Project Gutenberg and are linked here so you can get free access for your class:
The Masque of the Red Death (Poe)
The Pit and the Pendulum (Poe)
Superstitions
Reading about superstitions is always engaging, but especially fun during Halloween. Live Science has an article with 13 Halloween related superstitions explained.
Click here to be redirected to the Live Science article.
Idioms
There are many idioms which are appropriate for Halloween. Have your students research and share the history and meaning of the following:
- bats in the belfry
- blessing in disguise
- blind as a bat
- blood is thicker than water
- cat got your tongue
- curiosity killed the cat
- dead as a doornail
- devil’s advocate
- dig one’s grave
- ghost town
- graveyard shift
- gut feeling
- have one foot in the grave
- hit the hay
- idle hands are the devil’s tools
- in the bag
- let the cat out of the bag
- make no bones about it
- needle in a haystack
- once in a blue moon
- over my dead body
- pale as a ghost
- scare the daylights out of of
- skeleton in the closet
- skeleton staff
- smell a rat
- witch hunt
- witching hour
Creating a visual (traditional poster or virtual poster using a free program will help to make the presentations more interesting. Click here to be redirected to the free program CANVA, a great resource for teachers and students.
Other Halloween Related Resources Available from Reading Specialty TPT Store
Grades 6-9
Differentiated passage and comprehension questions about the Salem Witch Trials (click here to be redirected).
Grades 5-8
These Boom™ cards are interactive and self-checking. These three titles are appropriate for grades 5-8. Bats and Spiders capitalize on the interest in Halloween while giving information with embedded comprehension questions on these amazing creatures. The Halloween vocabulary has a variety of interactive cards related to words for Halloween. They are available individually or as a bundle. Click here to be redirected.
Grades 1-3
Younger elementary students might enjoy these Boom™ cards for Halloween. Click here to be redirected.
If there are non-readers in your house or you work with preschoolers or kindergarteners, this might be for you!
Preschool-K (no reading required)
