Halloween Figurative Language Activities
By MARISSA DESPINS Updated Sept 30, 2023
Looking for a rigorous ELA activity to engage your students during Halloween week? These Halloween figurative language activities are just the thing to keep the sugar fueled teens engaged while reading and responding to classic literature. I love this activity because it has students reading excerpts from a wide variety of classic stories and novels. My secret hope is that they are later inspired to pick up one of the classics to read on their own!
Read on to learn more about these engaging Halloween figurative language activities, or grab a copy for your classroom by clicking here or on the image or button below!
REVIEW KEY TERMS
To begin the activity, review the following terms with your students: Hyperbole, Simile, Metaphor, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Oxymoron, and Personification. Your students are likely already familiar with these terms, but I find a quick review helps the activity run a lot smoother.
I like using these note taking templates with my students while we work through our review. There is space for students to define each term, and also provide examples.
These sheets make great Interactive Notebook additions – completed sheets are super helpful for students to look back on to help them during the activity, and with future activities you complete later in the school year.
For some tips and tricks for incorporating Interactive Notebooks into your classroom routine, check out our complete guide (and download a freebie)!
Work through the task cards
Next, divide students up into small groups. Pass each group a set of the 24 figurative language task cards. Each card contains a quote from a spooky story or novel from classic literature that features figurative language.
The quotes on the cards come from the following stories and novels:
- “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Birds” by Daphne DuMaurier (a personal favorite!)
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- The House on Haunted Hill by Shirley Jackson
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
I love how these cards feature snippets from classic stories!
For more activities using classic short stories, check out our favorite short stories for middle school!
Figurative Language Hunt
Finally, have students read through the task cards, and discuss the type(s) of figurative language they display. After they have determined the correct answer, they write down their answers on the included recording sheet.
Once they have completed the activity, they can share their answers with the class.
For additional information on teaching figurative language, check out our top tips!
Classroom Scavenger Hunt
Alternately, instead of completing the activity in small groups, students can work through the assignment independently by implementing a class scavenger hunt. To do this, simply tape up the cards around your classroom, hallway, or outdoor space. Students can grab a clipboard and recording sheet, and quietly hunt around for each card. Once they locate the card, they can write down the type of figurative language it displays on their recording sheets.
This is a great way to incorporate some movement into your classroom curriculum!
For more fun Halloween activities, be sure to check out our guide to Halloween Activities for Middle School!
Interested in grabbing these figurative Language activities for your classroom?
Grab a copy of this resource from my TPT shop by clicking here or on the image or button below!
Looking for more Halloween Activities for middle school?
Check out these previous posts!
Halloween Writing Activities for Middle School
More Spooky Short Stories for Middle School
3 Fall Projects for Middle School
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