Halloween Activities for Upper Elementary
By MARISSA DESPINS, SHELLY REES, MARIANNA MONHEIM, JEANINE SCHNEIDER, JACQUELINE ORTIZ, RISSA HANNEKEN, JENNIFER MARTINEZ, and RACHEL DEROCHE – Updated October 07, 2024
Rigorous Halloween Activities for Upper Elementary
Engaging upper elementary students in English Language Arts can be both exciting and challenging. At this stage, students are developing critical thinking skills, building vocabulary, and honing their reading and writing abilities. Finding creative and meaningful activities that capture their attention while reinforcing essential skills is key to keeping them motivated and eager to learn.
In this blog post, we’ll explore a variety of fun and effective ELA activities designed to inspire upper elementary students, making literacy learning an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Whether you’re looking for ways to boost reading comprehension or spark creative writing, these ideas will provide plenty of classroom inspiration!
Looking for a fun free activity to inspire your ELA learners this Halloween season? Click on the image or button below to download this fun resource from Creative Classroom Core!
Spooky Short Story Activities
October is the perfect time to bring spooky short stories into your ELA classroom, captivating upper elementary students with thrilling tales while enhancing their literacy skills. These Halloween activities are filled with suspense, eerie settings, and unexpected twists not only engage students’ imaginations but also offer excellent opportunities to explore elements like character development, plot structure, and descriptive language.
Looking for some print-and-go short story activities to inspire your learners this Halloween? Click on the image or button below to see all of the units available in the Creative Classroom Core Shop!
Halloween Escape Rooms
Looking for a rigorous and engaging Halloween activity? Rissa at Teaching in the Heart of Florida knows just the thing! A Halloween Reading Escape Room that balances fun and academic challenge. Escape rooms are a perfect way to engage learners because they require critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork—key skills for upper elementary students. Each challenge in the escape room is designed to push students to use their reading comprehension and fluency skills in new ways, making it a highly effective way to keep them learning, even during the excitement of Halloween.
Escape rooms are naturally engaging because they turn learning into a game. But don’t be fooled by the fun — these activities are rigorous. Students will closely read passages, find text evidence, and solve complex challenges to move forward. This makes the activity both engaging and rigorous, as they practice important academic skills in a creative and interactive way. To learn more about adding fun and rigor to your Halloween activities, visit Teaching in the Heart of Florida.
Spooky Grammar Centers
Take your grammar block up a “spooky” notch with October grammar centers. Rachel from Uniquely Upper believes that grammar centers are a great way to engage your upper elementary students in learning especially when they have a hard time focusing. These grammar centers will add an element of Halloween fun and festivity to the mix to grab each student’s attention. Not only are these Halloween grammar centers festive, but the hands-on learning activities helps to bridge a gap between skill mastery and having fun while learning. Want to try a free sample of the Halloween Grammar Centers? Grab these this FaBOOlous Centers freebie to add some spook to your grammar block.
To learn more about using Halloween grammar centers with your students, check out Uniquely Upper’s blog post for spooktacular learning ideas.
The Magic of Fall
Jacqueline from The Little Ladybug Shop believes that, as educators, we know that Halloween and fall is more than just a season – it’s a feeling. The crisp sound of leaves underfoot, the aroma of pumpkin-spiced treats, and the excitement of Halloween all create a magical atmosphere. For those of us teaching upper elementary, this time of year offers countless opportunities to engage students in fun, meaningful learning experiences. Let’s dive into some ideas to sprinkle a little Halloween and fall magic into your classroom. Here are a few of my favorite activities: Fall-Themed Literature Circles, Fall-Themed Reading Skill Passages, Fall Poetry, and more ideas you can find here!
Vocab VISITS
There’s no reason for primary grades to have all the Halloween fun! Mari
anna from Creatively Comprehensive loves putting a rigorous twist on activities upper elementary students enjoyed in K-2. Her Vocab Visits, a new spin on Write the Room designed for older kids, is the perfect activity for students with Halloween on the brain. They’ll get to move around the room and read spooky sentences while applying all the major vocabulary skills. What could be better?
To learn more about this fun vocabulary-building activity, head over to Creatively Comprehensive.
Standards-Focused Halloween Activities
Jeanine from Think Grow Giggle knows that nothing excites students more than the thought of Halloween! The candy, the costumes, and all things spooky truly bring out the joy of being a kid. As a 20-year veteran teacher, she knows all too well that Halloween can sometimes be a distraction for students. That is why she loves to weave Halloween and Halloween topics into the classroom with standards-based lessons. By using themes related to Halloween, you can engage and motivate students, while meeting the content standards that you need to teach! You will love her seven ideas and activities that are just the right amount of spookiness for your upper elementary classroom!
Thematic Halloween Activities
The holidays bring a unique blend of excitement and distraction to the classroom, making it challenging to maintain student engagement and academic rigor. That’s especially true with Halloween. Jennifer from everything just so found the best way to keep engagement high during Trick-or-treat week is to incorporate creative, thematic activities that give students choice. It’s an extra bonus when those activities sneak in critical reading and writing skills – like create a character stories. Students first create their own unique “tricker” or “treater” and then write a story about how it would spend its first Halloween. Learn more about keeping students engaged during holidays here.
Design a Haunted House Project
What upper elementary student doesn’t love haunted houses and everything spooky during Halloween season? Turn that excitement into meaningful learning with a creative, engaging, hands-on Design a Haunted House project! Shelly Rees from Appletastic Learning knows that the best way to get students excited about learning is to introduce them to interesting projects where they get to make the choices! From creating their haunted house floor plan to planning a concession stand to making an advertisement brochure, your students will be immersed in learning through every step of this hauntingly fun project! To read more about this Design a Haunted House Project, head over to Appletastic Learning!
Looking for more Fun Halloween Activities?
Check out these related blog posts!
Halloween Writing Activities in the Classroom
3 Halloween Writing Activities for Upper Elementary
Edgar Allan Poe Activities for Middle School
Choosing Substance over Celebrating Holidays
Halloween Activities for Upper Elementary
Halloween Close Reading Activities for Middle School
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