6 ELA Activities for October
By MARISSA DESPINS, RISSA HANNEKEN, MARIANNA MONHEIM, RACH JAMISON, TANYA G. MARSHALL, and RACHEL DEROCHE – Updated Oct 5, 2023
ELA Activities for October
For today’s post I have teamed up with an amazing group of other educational content creators to bring you a round up of some of our very favorite ELA activities for October. I hope you are able to find some fun activities to engage your learners this month!
Halloween themed Creative Writing Activities
Halloween-themed creative writing activities can ignite students’ imaginations and enthusiasm for writing by tapping into the excitement and mystique of the holiday. Lets face it – in the days before Halloween the kids are already bouncing off the walls. Why not channel that energy into some fun Halloween themed writing assignments?
When it comes to ELA activities for October, magic potion writing is at the top of my list of must-dos in my classroom. This fun activity asks students to create and write about their own Halloween magical potions. All of the writing templates needed to complete the activity, and the final products make excellent hallway or bulletin board displays!
This fun activity offers teachers a unique opportunity to blend academic learning with fun, helping to engage students more effectively in the writing process. Grab a copy to use with your learners this October for FREE by clicking on the image or button below!
For more fun fall ELA activities, be sure to check out our post featuring engaging fall projects for middle school!
Fall Vocabulary Practice
Marianna from Creatively Comprehensive enjoys weaving seasonal content and vocabulary into her ELA activities for October. Students are always excited at the beginning of a new season, and autumn provides us with rich and robust vocabulary that will pique their interest as they review and practice important ELA skills, particularly for grammar. For example, if you are catching students up on critical content such as rules for plural nouns, utilizing fall vocabulary to practice the application of each rule will provide a fun seasonal twist to keep students engaged. Using low-prep activities such as task cards can be a great way to get students the extra practice they need, especially in October as your routines and procedures really start to take shape!
For more fun Halloween task card activities, be sure to check out these Halloween Figurative Language activities!
No-prep Activity Packets
The Halloween season can be so busy. It can take weeks to get to the final holiday . . . but why wait that long to enjoy the spookiness? Rach from 5th is my Jam finds that this set of no prep and low prep ELA activities for October can be the perfect way to celebrate the season and enjoy all the holiday has to offer without bending on the academics.
This set offers a blend of hands-on, engaging activities. Plus, there are plenty of Halloween writing activities to stimulate the brain. Acrostics to support vocabulary and Halloween puzzles to keep the mind motivated. But that’s not all. If you’re a teacher in a bind these are perfect as supplementary activities, for early finishers, even to leave for substitutes! There are even a few coloring activities to soothe the soul. All in all, Trick-or-Treat your students with some fun Halloween activities!
Looking for some additional no-prep activities for Halloween? Be sure to check out our post on Halloween worksheets that you can print and use right away!
Halloween Escape Room
Ever thought of making reading comprehension the highlight of the day? Imagine a Halloween Escape Room focused on reading skills – specifically reading text multiple times and finding text evidence!
According to Rissa from Teaching in the Heart of Florida, reading isn’t just about catching the main idea of a story. It’s like a treasure hunt, diving deep to find those golden details that prove our points. Think of your students as little book detectives. Just as a detective needs clues to solve a mystery, your readers need evidence from the text to talk about their ideas. With the spooky fun of a Halloween Escape Room, they’ll be diving into stories, finding those clues, and sharpening their reading skills, all while having a blast! This is definitely something to add to your toolbox of ELA activities for October!
October Grammer Centers
Rachel from Uniquely Upper loves this time of year when the the air grows crisper, and “trick-or-treat” echoes through the neighborhoods. As autumn takes hold, it’s time to embrace the thrill of hayrides and venture into spooktacular haunted houses, all while elevating your grammar lessons with a dash of spooky charm.
If you are looking for ELA activities for October, these October grammar centers provide the perfect recipe for engaging your upper elementary students during this eerie month. These activities are not only educational but also infuse an exciting Halloween spirit into your lessons by adding a dash of spooky charm.
These Halloween-themed grammar adventures blend the spooky, the fun, and the thrilling, offering your students a chance to deepen their grasp of various grammar skills while discovering how to apply them across different subjects. It’s an enchanting journey where learning meets the magic of Halloween!
Halloween Inference Challenges
Halloween is the perfect time to mix fun with learning, and that doesn’t mean compromising on academic quality! When chooseing her ELA activities for October, Tanya from The Butterfly Teacher loves to have her students dive into Halloween Inference Challenges. They are a fabulous way to engage students and boost their reading skills.
Inference is super exciting to teach, as it’s all about piecing together clues to understand the text better – a crucial skill for strong comprehension. And linking it with Halloween? That’s just the cherry on top!
In this activity, students get to explore different Halloween symbols and characters through intriguing, not-so-direct descriptions. They’ll have to put on their thinking caps and use what they know to figure out what each card is describing. It’s like a mini mystery – and what kid doesn’t love a good mystery, especially when it’s Halloween themed?
With this activity, students can celebrate Halloween in a fun and meaningful way, and sharpen their inferencing and comprehension skills through engaging read-alouds and activities related to Halloween.
For detailed information on using reading strategies like inferencing in your upper elementary ELA classroom, check out our post all about building reading comprehension strategies (and grab a free resource!)
Interested in reading more about Halloween Activities you can use in your classroom?
Check out these related blog posts!
Halloween Activities for Upper Elementary
The Easiest Way to Use Halloween Math Activities
Random Read Aloud Roundup – October
Trick or Treat: A Halloween Treat Bag DIY
October Halloween Reading and Math Review
October Spooky Grammar Centers
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