I like to bring in seasonal reading around Halloween more than any other time of year. Students are bombarded with the myths and traditions of Halloween, so I like to bring in some good non-fiction reading that helps them understand and think critically about some of these things. Where did candy corn come from? Are vampire bats really the scary, blood-sucking creatures portrayed in the movies? Here is my seasonal reading pack with four high-interest non-fiction passages, reading comprehension questions, vocabulary, and creative writing prompts.
For my older students, I like an Edgar Allan Poe spooky story and an accompanying class discussion. To make it fun, I use a fast-paced activity based on the speed dating concept. You can use it for any short story. All you need are discussion questions and the instructions on my blog post here. Or you can get my questions and the story "The Black Cat" by clicking on the cover below.
What's a holiday without treats? I teach an evening class on Mondays, and this year, we'll be stuck there on Halloween, so I'll be making candied popcorn topped with these tags. Easy and cheap. Click here for a blog post with the recipe here, and click on the cover below to download the tags for free.
Happy, happy Halloween!
I adore your non-fiction texts for this time of year -- so fun, so engaging, and so interesting!
ReplyDeleteI love Speed Dating (in class, that it) and your ideas for the Black Cat are great!
ReplyDeleteI love "The Black Cat." Poe is my favorite author this time of year.
ReplyDelete"The Black Cat" is one of my favorite Poe stories to do with my students. I love the ideas that you have for making this more student-centered with discussion questions!
ReplyDeleteAwesome use of non-fiction reading. It's so important to get engaging topics to help reinforce the study of non-fiction, and reading about Halloween is a great choice of topics.
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