Halloween Writing Activities

I really love Halloween. Each year I do things a little differently depending upon what my students enjoy or how much they "move along." Some of my students are prepared for  bigger and more elaborate things. Last year I had a class of 32 second graders, and my motto was literally, "Just Keep Swimming!" (Thanks Dori for the tip!) Our art and craftivity projects were kept to a minimum, which was sad because my own son was in my class and I really wanted to give it all, but some things are more time intensive, and with that many little bodies and needs, it was much harder! This year I pulled out my bat lesson that I haven't talk for a couple of years and I forgot how much fun we have with it.

I first teach lots of Bat Vocabulary. We read some nonfiction bat books (in my unit I have a list of great books) The students first took the vocabulary words and definitions and found their partners with the matching vocabulary card.

After that, we talk about a lot of bat facts. TONS OF FACTS! They each get a fact card and have to walk about the class and learn a fact from everyone, and teach everyone their fact. From these fact cards they learn how to create a question for their answer for their bat craftivity. I'm always amazed at what these kids are learning!

We ended the week by watching Magic School Bus Goes Batty, because who can resist Ms. Frizzle?! If you want to check this unit out, click on the picture below to be taken to my TpT store. 

Something else that I absolutely love doing is my unit on "There's a Nightmare in My Closet" by Mercer Mayer. It's an old book, but the kids absolutely love it. We talk about what we fear, and then how we can overcome these fears. 

We then turn that fear into a story. We talk about story structure and then write our "scary" stories. They always turn out so amazing! I have other activities in my packet also on TpT.