Halloween Classroom Activities: Tips and Tricks for Middle School Teachers

Halloween might be considered a spooky season, but it’s downright scary for a middle school teacher. The costumes, the chaos, and the non-stop distractions make for a very difficult day (and sometimes weeks) of teaching. Read here for some helpful Halloween classroom activities that you can incorporate with little to no effort.

(Be sure to scroll to the bottom for a great Halloween freebie!)

October: Halloween Classroom Activities to Get You Through the Month

Let’s face it…the Halloween hoopla begins at the start of October. Kids are pretty excited about the upcoming holiday, so why not capitalize on it? There are lots of Halloween classroom activities that you can start now that are not only fun but educational as well.

It would be a great idea to incorporate a choice board for the month of October. This way, you have something at the ready for your fast finishers, when you have a sub, or perhaps just as a standard Friday assignment. When creating a choice board, you’ll want to:

• Have clear directions for your activities so that it can be truly independent
• Templates ready to go (printable or digital or a combo of both)
• Activities with a seasonal flair (just putting on a pumpkin as clip art does NOT make it seasonal)
• Activities that can meet some of your standards

If you’d like a ready-made choice board, check this out. There are 15 Halloween activities that are engaging and meaningful, and the choice board is a great “staple” in your Halloween classroom activities repertoire:

Halloween Books

There is no better way to capitalize on the spirit of Halloween than by getting kids into quality literature. This is the perfect opportunity for kids to pick a “spooky” read to incorporate into your Halloween classroom activities. Here are some of my favorites:

• Coraline by Neil Gaiman
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
• Doll Bones by Holly Black
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
• The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
• Thirteens by Kate Alice Marshall
• The Second-Best Haunted Hotel on Mercer Street by Cory Putnam Oakes

I am personally a big fan of “first chapter Fridays”, where you read the first chapter to your students to get them excited. Your enthusiasm is contagious! I have 4 spooky First Chapter Friday reads on my FREE YouTube channel. This way, you can simply “push play” and I’ll read to your class…you do something else! Click here to see my First Chapter Friday selections.

Halloween Short Stories

A fantastic way to capitalize on the Halloween spirit in your ELA class is to incorporate short stories. They can become an integral part of your Halloween classroom activities list. I would suggest not “killing” the story with rote and boring activities. Some ideas to make short stories exciting for your kids:

• Internet History: Have kids come up with what the main character’s browsing history would be
• Post Card: Create a postcard from the main character to your class from their location in the story
• Online Dating Profile: Create a profile for the main character
• Quotes: Create a list of possible quotes that your character could have said (not directly from the story)
• Fakebook: Create a social media profile for the main character
• Suitcase: Have kids draw what would be in their character’s suitcase if they were going on a trip. Then, they could write about it briefly.

Here are some of my favorite spooky short stories to use as part of my Halloween classroom activities:

• “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe
• “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl
• “The Mortal Immortal” by Mary Shelley
• “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
• “The Hitchhiker” by Orson Welles
• “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson
• “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving

Halloween Games/Activities

Creating games and competitions throughout the month of October is the perfect idea for Halloween classroom activities. These also work well for a Halloween party. Some ideas:

• Mad Libs – Create a Halloween-themed story by having kids fill in nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.
• Write Around the Room – create story components and have kids roll the dice, then write their story. They can do this with a partner. Check out this version: Halloween Write Around the Room

• Creative Writing – There’s nothing like a great ghost story! Introduce your kids to the horror genre. If it seems difficult, check out my guided writing activity with everything you need.

• 10 Questions: Give a student a Halloween-themed item. Think: people, places, things (Examples: candy corn, Frankenstein, graveyard). The class tries to guess it by asking yes or no questions; I limit it to 10. (Examples: Is it alive? Can you eat it? Is it orange?) Then, they try to guess the item.
• Back it Up: This is the reverse of the “10 Questions” game. Tape a piece of paper with a Halloween-themed item written, then tape one to the back of each student. When it’s the student’s turn, they get to ask the 10 yes or no questions and try to guess their object.
• Color Code: Kids do like to color! Check out my color code, where kids will color code with the categories of “Do you enjoy?”, “Would you rather?”, and “Would you ever?” for the Halloween/autumn season. These are editable so you can change up what you like.

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Escape Rooms!

Any time you can make vocabulary activities feel like a game, it’s a win.

I highly recommend escape rooms. They are a little tricky to set up (especially the digital version), but they are well-worth the effort.

Check out my seasonal line of vocabulary escape rooms:

Halloween Party Ideas

Aside from games, if you are having a party, you’ll want to do some planning. Depending on your school, you might have organized parties where parents are involved. I did not have that luxury as a middle school teacher, so I had my own parties. Here’s how I handled it having a party as part of my Halloween classroom activities:

• I did a “potluck” sign-up sheet. Each student was assigned an item to bring. I did post this on my Google Classroom and made parents aware. I always brought the beverage (like hot chocolate or apple cider) and had kids sign up for items such as plates, bagels, cookies, etc.
• I have also just had kids bring in a snack while I provide the beverage.
• I let the kids set up for the party as well. I felt it was important for them to see the whole process. They moved the desks into a big table and created a few decorations (which were made in advance). Keep it simple!
• Put a student in charge of a playlist. Remind them to keep it appropriate.
• Select a game or two from above.

A Free Halloween Activity: Guided Poetry

I have a free guided poetry activity that you and your students will be sure to love. It’s foolproof; I’ve given you clear directions and an example poem. They make a great bulletin board display!

Need More Seasonal Support?

I’ve developed a membership for ELA teachers. This has been highly requested. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do because I know how ill-prepared many new teachers are after college. This has nothing to do with the teachers and everything to do with teachers’ colleges and the lack of good onboarding in districts in our country. Aside from curriculum, I offer new meaningful seasonal activities each month.

It’s a very robust membership. Some of the highlights:

• Complete curriculum mapping with access to 9 full-month units for the year
• Access to literacy centers, mini-lessons, a full-year grammar program, choice boards, video lessons, and seasonal activities
• Access to a private Facebook group, where I can answer your questions and go live to help you with more complex units

Click here for more information. As of now, we are in the “founding members” stage. You can lock into the price for as long as you keep up your membership. I’d love to have you!

Halloween Classroom Activities: You’ve Got This!

Taking advantage of the spirit of Halloween will serve you well with your middle schoolers. I would love to hear what you do in your classroom. Please comment below! Any questions, feel free to email me at linda@allinonemiddleschool.com.

-Linda A. “All in One Middle School“

Helpful Resources

• Join the All in One Middle School Membership!
• Halloween Choice Board
• Halloween Write Around the Room
• Creative Writing – Horror Genre Spooky Writing
• FREE Halloween Guided Poetry Activity
• Halloween Color Code
• My YouTube Channel – FREE lessons where I teach your class, plus First Chapter Fridays!
• Halloween Vocabulary Escape Room
• Free First Chapter Friday Recording Sheet
• Click here to join the Middle School Language Arts Facebook Group
• Legend of Sleepy Hollow Story Autopsy