Halloween Writing Activities for Secondary ELA

This time of year can bring out the writer in anyone, provided they have the right inspiration. My students love anything Gothic, spooky, and mysterious and definitely have their own ideas for a good ghost story. Here are some of my favorite Halloween resources for this time of year. Each of these require no prep and can make easy sub plans!

Roll a Ghost Story

Generate ideas for the spooky Halloween season by rolling ideas for a ghost story! Students roll a die to get ideas for a random scary setting, protagonist, conflict, antagonist, creepy element, and a spooky sound. 6 mats are included. Each mat is editable so you can customize spooky ideas for your own classroom!

Note: Some students may be sensitive to the content in this activity, so please read every piece of this resource before printing. This resource is best used for secondary students (grades 6-12), but this is up to teacher discretion!

Spooky Story Mad Libs

This one is great for upper elementary grades and is perfect as an early finisher activity. Have students write a no-pressure spooky story! Students first fill out the parts of speech table with silly choices. Spooky adjective choices are included for inspiration like “atrocious,” “grisly,” and my personal favorite, “spine-chilling.” Then, they transfer their answers to the letter. Students can read their letters to each other or out loud to the class for some good laughs!

Halloween Poetry Stations

If you can dedicate a class period of 50 minutes-1 hour, this is such a fun choice for secondary ELA. For this one, students rotate stations and write 7 different types of Halloween-themed poetry: acrostic poetry, visual poetry, magnetic poetry, book spine poetry, blackout poetry, paint chip poetry, and even epitaph poetry. If you yourself have never heard of some of these types of poetry, you can learn right along with the students! They’re all chosen to be engaging and quick to learn.

Instructions and manipulatives are included for every station for easy printing. Students record their poetry in a memorable keepsake Halloween Poetry Mini Book with space for every station. Students love to share their poetry with each other – everyone always has a unique spin on every type of poem!

Ode to a Halloween Candy

This one is my favorite activity to do at this time of year because students can get into pretty heated debates about their favorite candies. As for me? I’m pretty partial to anything chocolate-related.

Get them writing creative poetry odes about their candy choices! Students dive deep into their creativity to write odes to their favorite candies in a new and exciting way. Students can choose to write their odes from scratch or get started with an easy template. Everything you need for easy modeling and scaffolding is included. You can get this resource for FREE by signing up for my email list, or click the picture below to grab it off TpT!