Halloween is just around the corner, and that means it’s time to break out all the Halloween ELA classroom ideas and spooky lessons. No matter how old my students get, they always like taking time to read some spooky stuff that makes them just a little bit scared! If you need some fun Halloween ideas for ELA, you have come to the right place!
Flow Like Poe
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the spookiest guys around. When it’s scaring season, changing up the classroom décor and using some fun Edgar Allan Poe posters can be a great way to get your students into the spirit of Halloween. Not only are these great décor, you can use them for journal writing as well. Sometimes if I need a quick journal prompt, I will have students choose a quote on the wall and tell me what they think the mood is, how they relate to it, or something of that nature.
While you’re getting your Edgar Allan Poe things all hung up, you can check out this awesome The Raven poem analysis activity. This poem is a classic which means there are so many ways to read it. I like to have my students do a close reading. With this, I often have them listen to a recording as well as read it a few different times.
Create Fun Halloween Comprehension Activities
Another fun way to get your students into Halloween is with a spooky story. By using this Halloween Comprehension Activity, your students will be able to up their nonfiction text skills while gaining some fun trivia about one of the best holidays. This activity includes the history of Halloween, a multiple choice comprehension check, and a fun color by number activity.
Use Escape Rooms to Spook It Up
One thing my students love are digital escape rooms! These rooms are great for getting students to focus on a goal (getting out of the room) while using some incredibly important skills. My Halloween Escape Room focuses on figurative language is a great skill to work on during Halloween. It seems during this time of year, trees can reach out and grab, claw, and scratch at people so much easier. Plus, the phrase blind as a bat has an instant image in your head!
Another escape room is my Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Halloween Escape Room. This amazing room brings you to the laboratory that is locked tight. Can you break out? Well, yes, if you know how about plot, reading comprehension, punctuation, and more! This is a fantastic review tool you can use with students when they are all kinds of crazy due to Halloween.
Practice Your Halloween Vocabulary
Just because it’s Halloween, doesn’t mean you can’t work on your vocabulary skills! These Halloween Vocabulary Word Activities are great for working on your context clue skills. With this activity, you get a fun context clue activity plus the code with an answer key.
Don’t Forget to Write!
When it comes to Halloween, one of the best things you can do is write a scary story! Students love to try to scare you and they can come up with some of the craziest ideas. I like to use writing prompts to get students started with writing. Then, once they are more comfortable, I like to challenge them with the Spooky Story Generator. This story generator gives them pieces of the story and then they have to figure out how to make it work!
Favorite Halloween Short Stories to Spook Your Students
Finding the right short story for all the spooks and scares is key during Halloween. Here are a list of my favorite short stories that will have your students asking for more, and they may just spook them a bit!
“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
“Click Clack the Rattlebag” by Neil Gaiman
Other ELA Halloween Classroom Ideas
Halloween & Thanksgiving Activities for the ELA Classroom
55 Frightfully Fun Halloween Activities, Crafts, and Games for the Classroom
12 Spooky Halloween Writing Prompts
There are so many Halloween idea for an ELA classroom. You can keep working on skills and knocking out those standards by using fun activities that go with the season. When you use any of these activities, your students will be having so much fun, they’ll forget they’re learning and using important English Language Art skills!