Halloween can be a super fun holiday to celebrate with your ELA students, but it can also be a very busy time in the quarter for teachers. If you start school in late August or early September as I do, Halloween likely falls on the end of the quarter for you & it is crunch time!
So how do you find time to celebrate Halloween with your ELA students? Here are 5 EASY TIME-SAVING tips for getting in the holiday spirit and surviving the end of the semester in style!
1. Use Student Art as Your Decorations
Don’t have time to decorate your classroom with cute Halloween decorations? No worries. Use student art to decorate your classroom. Not only is a classroom decorated with student art welcoming and builds community among your students; it also shows your students and visitors to your classroom that you are learning-focused and that your students’ work matters.
Two of my favorite, student art, producing activities I do during Halloween are “Dead Words” and a “Missing Poster for Ichabod Crane”.
In the “Dead Words” activity each student gets a template of a gravestone and overused adjectives like “good” or “great”. They must find 5 synonyms to the word and write them on the gravestone… here lies (insert overused word given) survived by (5 synonyms words). RIP (overused word). The kids LOVE this activity and we hang the gravestones to inspire everyone to use more descriptive language.
2. Read a Classic
My ALL-TIME favorite story to read with my students is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This is where my second art suggestions of the “Missing Poster for Ichabod Crane” comes into play. The great thing about this story is that there are so many versions of the story, that even if students have read it before you can share a different adaption with them…a play, short story, movie, or cartoon.
It is also a great story to do with students if you are trying to save time because most students have some background knowledge about the story, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time building background knowledge with your students before reading. If you want to REALLY SAVE yourself some TIME. Check out my The Legend of Sleepy Hollow unit and have everything you will need to teach the story in just ONE click.
More into poetry? One of my other “go-to” classics is Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. This poem is perfect for Halloween time, although it deals with death, Dickinson does so in a somewhat lighthearted way. Paired with the Halloween season this poem is guaranteed to bring some holiday chills and thrills, while still addressing curriculum appropriate standards.
3. Sometimes it is Okay to Watch a Movie
Don’t have time to do a Halloween story unit…sometimes it is OKAY to watch a movie. Of course, my favorite is Disney’s classic cartoon of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The unit I mentioned above, works with a story or movie version, so I got you covered!
Halloween is really one of the only times of the school year, as a teacher, I feel comfortable popping in a movie that might not tie directly into my curriculum, because let’s face it the kids are just SO Excited! But that does not mean students can’t still be practicing critical thinking skills or applying ELA concepts to the movie we are watching.
One simple way to have students apply their ELA and critical thinking skill to a movie is by having them create a Venn Diagram and keep track of the differences and similarities of the protagonists and antagonist in the story line. As a class you can also fill in a plot structure chart for the movie and discuss the different elements of the plot structure. These activities are great for students that are visual learners!
If Sleepy Hollow isn’t your thing there are a lot of other Halloween movies to watch with middle school age kiddos. Two of my other favorites are Hocus Pocus and Beetle Juice.
4. Have a Costume Contest and Get Your Students Into Character
Another easy way to celebrate Halloween with your students is to have everyone come dressed as their favorite literary character and have a costume contest.
This can be a lot of fun and students ALWAYS enjoy explaining why they chose the character they did and why the story is their favorite…it can also make a great writing assignment!
Include Halloween Costume Contest Awards and students and staff can vote on the students with the best, most creative, funniest, most Halloween, and of course scariest!
5. Spotlight Some Thrilling Books
Spotlighting a few thrilling, suspenseful, or horror books from your classroom library or your school library is another great way to get students in the spirit!
Display your book choices somewhere special in your room and take a few minutes to preview them with your students. Tell them a little about the book and why you chose to share it.
BTW, It is okay if you haven’t read the book, just tell your students why you thought it looked like a good read and model how you previewed the book.
After your recommendation, you will be surprised how quickly spotlighted books will be checked out by your students.
Recap
Halloween can be a super fun holiday to celebrate with your students, so don’t let the end of the semester overwhelm keep you from celebrating. Use these 5 easy, time-saving tips and ROCK HALLOWEEN in your classroom!
To recap:
1. Use Student Art as Your Decorations
2. Read a Classic or a Classic Poem
3. Sometimes it is Okay to Watch a Movie
4. Have a Costume Contest and Get Your Students Into Character5. Spotlight Some Thrilling Books
5. Spotlight Some Thrilling Books
Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,
Jenny
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