Halloween Lesson Plans

Halloween lessons

Do you observe Hallowe’en in your classroom? Some do, with parties and costume parades and all, and some don’t.

Maybe you (or your district, parents, community leaders, administration…) disapprove of Halloween and would rather not bring it into the classroom at all, but you feel like you spend the whole month of October avoiding the subject. Maybe you love Halloween and want to include it in every class you teach. Maybe you don’t care one way or the other, but it’s on the list of things you’re supposed to cover, or your students ask about it and you figure you might as well be a bit seasonal.

Whatever your situation, we have lesson plans for you. Finesse the question by studying bones, harvest, or chocolate. Celebrate with monsters and vampires. Go with the classics, or take the subject to high tech heights. Here’s a great collection of lessons and ideas for the season:

Here are some astronomy offerings, in case you want to be seasonal without any spookiness:

  • good article on the astronomical significance of Halloween from NASA for your students to read. From the same author, Halloween Sky Show. Compare the writing styles of the two pieces, since you can’t look at the night sky during the school day anyway.
  • A more detailed article about cross-quarter days and their significance in terms of weather, including some great charts and diagrams for your visual literacy practice.
  • Use Google Sky to see the things you’ve been reading about.

There are some great seasonal opportunities for practicing using computer input devices:

We aren’t usually that big on printables — for one thing, with the price of printer inks and toners, they cost as much as ready-made, take way more time, and they often aren’t as good. So here we have collected only the ones that we think really are worth your time, ink, and trouble.

Our favorite Halloween books:

Literature choices for your upper elementary to high school students (click for lesson plans):

Fun stuff for the classroom:

 

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2 Comments

  1. Great ideas! Some years, I had to dance around the subject, due to parental wishes. Other years, we were able to go full tilt with working Halloween plans into and across the curriculum. I like this list; there’s something to suit every need. Thanks for putting it together!

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