Halloween Activities for Middle School
By MARISSA DESPINS Updated Oct 2, 2023
Let’s talk about Halloween Activities for Middle School
As we’re embarking on the back-to-school season, my thoughts have already turned to Halloween. I must confess, Halloween ranks high as my favorite holiday. Incorporating a touch of spookiness into my middle school curriculum come October brings me immense joy. Crafting Halloween activities for middle school, though, can present a challenge. It’s crucial to maintain the academic rigor while infusing the lessons with excitement and involvement.
In this compilation post, I’ve gathered some of my personal favorite Halloween activities suitable for middle school. These activities are thoughtfully designed to uphold a strong educational focus. Also, they focus on capitalizing on the inherent enthusiasm that accompanies incorporating the holiday into the classroom. Given the kids’ existing excitement, why not leverage that enthusiasm to your advantage?
See all of the Halloween themed close reading resources available in the Creative Classroom Core TPT shop by clicking on the image or button below!
Looking for additional Halloween themed activities to incorporate this October? Check out our ideas for Halloween writing!
Halloween Activities for Middle School – Close Reading with Fiction
Halloween offers a wonderful opportunity to explore some close reading activities. Close Reading, a teaching approach that blends various reading strategies, encourages students to link new information from the text with their prior knowledge. This approach improves student reading skills. Also, it enhances their capacity to tackle complex text.
During the process of reading a text, students employ a variety of differently colored pens for annotation. This strategic approach not only enhances engagement, understanding, and retention, but also effectively makes their thought process evident. Through this practice, you can clearly observe the ways in which they have interacted with the text.
If you are interested in additional information on Close reading, you can check out my previous post all about this engaging reading strategy here.
When choosing fiction stories, I like to go back to the classics. I have the kids work through excerpts from spooky stories like Dracula by Bram Stoker or The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Additionally, The Masque of the Red Death, or anything else by Edgar Allan Poe, are favorites.
Using excerpts allows us to look at several different stories, without overwhelming the kids with too much text. Additionally, the kids are often inspired to pick up the stories to read in their entirety after we have completed the activities!
Interested in using this activity with your own learners? Click here or on the image below to go directly to my TPT store and snag yourself a copy.
For additional tips and tricks for incorporating this engaging strategy into your classroom teaching, be sure to check out our complete close reading guide!
Halloween Activities for Middle School – Close Reading with Non Fiction
The Halloween season naturally lends itself to non-fiction topics as well. When choosing non fiction articles for close reading, I try and choose topics that the kids will find interesting and that will encourage conversation.
This article on Halloween Superstitions from around the world is one of my favorite Halloween activities for middle school. Students are always surprised by some of the different beliefs that surround the spooky holiday in different parts of the world.
We approach the non-fiction articles in a similar fashion to the way we handle the fictional story excerpts. To start off, students use different colored pens to annotate the articles. Afterward, they dive into a mix of activities during the first, second, and third readings that perfectly complement the article.
As always, the repeated readings of the text really help to encourage understanding and deep thinking.
Interested in trying out some non fiction close reading with your students in October? Click here or on the image below to head directly to my TPT store to grab some resources you can use with your students!
I hope this post inspires you to try out some of these fun activities with your own learners in October!
Looking for FREE Halloween Activities for Middle School?
Edgar Allan Poe’s spooky writing is the perfect way to bring a little darkness to your curriculum in October. This FREE resource is a fun way to introduce Edgar Allan Poe to your students. It includes an online research template so students can pop online and do some fact gathering about this spooky author. Also, it makes an excellent addition to Interactive Notebooks! Click here or on the image below for instant access to your FREE copy!
For additional information and teaching tips for using the works of Poe into your classroom teaching, be sure to check out our posts on Introducing Edgar Allan Poe and Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories.
Interested in reading more about Halloween Activities you can use in your classroom?
Check out these related blog posts!
Spooky Short Stories for Middle School
More Spooky Short Stories for Middle School
Halloween Activities for Upper Elementary
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