Secondary.

If I haven't said it before... I'll say it now... I LOVE Halloween! I love dressing up, the decor, the season, the fun, the candy corn, the pumpkins... there's nothing I don't LOVE. So... I'm thrilled to be hooking up with a bunch of fantastic secondary ELA teachers to share some tips and tricks for the Halloween season.

My high school has a lot of fun with Halloween and the staff and students embrace the holiday fun with a Halloween Dance, costume contest, and of course dressing up! I love to see what the students and staff can come up with - their creativity knows no bounds! As an English teacher it's the perfect opportunity to incorporate a little spooky fun into our writing activities. Here are some of the ways I help my students with Halloween themed writing.

Set the Scene Visually

Add some Halloween decor to your classroom - it's cheap and easy to find at your local dollar store and I know my students enjoy seeing a few elements up in my room to help them create a spooky scene. Fun and funky images and decor can also help spark their imaginations as they write! You can even have students use your decor as a writing prompt! Why not have them free write and include two of the spooky Halloween elements in your room in their writing. A few Halloween treats also go a long way in motivating students. #iwilldoanythingforcandycorn My students also love writing on themed paper - lots of free Halloween templates to be found online! And it's amazing how excited they all get about a Halloween themed pencil from the dollar store!!

Create a Spooky Mood

Play some creepy music while your students work - it's a fun way to get students thinking about how they can set the mood in a story using vibrant and vivid verbs. How can they create the same eerie feeling with their words, that a musician creates with music? It's easy to find a spooky or eerie playlist on Youtube - here's one to check out - Halloween Music. If it's easy to dim the lights or use floor lamps to dimly light your classroom I am sure your students will appreciate it! Or use flashlights to read. I also recently thought of using the "candles" that are lit with batteries as a mood setter too!! I am fairly certain I can't use real candles at school #accidentwaitingtohappen

Spooky Pictures
Use creepy photos to help students with descriptive writing. A quick image search on Google will yield some spooky results. Brainstorming descriptive words can be a fun and helpful writing exercise. Here's an example you can use!

Spooky Read Aloud

Despite the fact that my students are in high school, they still LOVE to have a short story read to them. I also love to read to them...it's win-win in my classroom! One of my favourites to read at Halloween is Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" - such a great story and so many elements to chat about with them. You can also show them this short video of the short story narrated by James Mason (he has THE most perfect voice to tell the tale!) If you're studying "The Tell-Tale Heart" be sure to check out my accompanying creative newspaper assignment HERE.

Halloween Mystery Story Writing Activity
My students have always loved my Halloween Mystery Activity - it's got everything you'll need to help your students generate ideas for a spooky story, activities to help them plan their writing, peer editing guidance, grading rubrics and more! Everything is included so you can get started writing today! I have it in a traditional paper version and a Google Drive version! Click the images to check them out!!

Check out all of my HALLOWEEN RESOURCES HERE - there's even a fun freebie to grab!

I hope you have a spooky, fun and safe Halloween with your families and your students.

An InLinkz Link-up

The end is near... well.. it might be for some of you... but it isn't for me. I work right up until the end of June, but we don't start back up until the first week of September so it all works out in the end!

I've teamed up with some other TpT sellers to offers tips on how to survive those last few weeks of school. I know how hard it can be to keep our students focused on learning when the sun is shining and the lure of summer freedom is just around the corner. Thanks to Kristy at 2 Peas and a Dog for hosting again!

Here are some ways I "Calm the Chaos" and the "End of Year Wiggles" that seem to infect my students every year.

1. Mixing it Up
I like to mix it up a lot more than I do at the start of the year. By now my students and I know each other, they've hopefully mastered my class routines and we're into a groove. Although it may seem counterintuitive, I actually like to give them a little more freedom at the end of the year. It's their reward for all their hard work. I play a few more "games" (my fancy word for review activities - it's all in how you sell it!) and I play a bit more music and I give them more choices.

2. Grooving to the Tunes
As I mentioned above, I play more music in class towards the end of the year... and if I can theme it around something we're studying or reviewing that's an extra bonus! For example, I'm teaching a poetry unit right now and it's easy to use music to teach figurative language. I also teach science and we're studying weather and climate - it's amazing how many songs have lyrics about clouds, the sun, the rain and thunder... it's a fun activity to brainstorm titles as a class.

3. Review Extravaganza!
Like many of your students, my kids are required to write final exams so I spend significant time at the end of the year helping them get organized and prepared. Here's a FREE review activity that works for ANY subject!! Click the image below to grab a copy!