Halloween Lesson "Cemetery Path" & Winchester Mystery

This paired text lesson would be a great set of Halloween activities for your middle or high school English students on Halloween if you are looking for activities with some rigor and fun! The short story "The Path Through the Cemetery" is paired here with an info text about the Winchester Mystery that touches on related themes with the short story. It's easy prep for you and comes with plenty of options and differentiation.

Student Experience: Students will read the short story and dissect it with guided questions on task cards. Then, students read the informational text and work through a set of multiple choice questions modeled after popular standardized tests to synthesize the material. Extend the lesson by having students write from a choice of prompts provided. A final creative culminating poetry writing task is included to get students in the Halloween spirit. What do we have to fear but fear itself?

Included:

- Formal lesson plan with essential questions

- Short story included, link to nonfiction, PDF and ready-made-for-digital Google version

- Guided questions on task cards for short story, PDF and ready-made-for-digital Google version

- Multiple choice quiz, PDF and self-grading Google version

- Answers

- Two prompts, PDF and ready-made-for-digital Google version

- CCSS

- Super simple sub sheet

- Extension Idea for Differentiating with Advanced Students (requires Youtube access)

- Creative poetry-writing project, PDF and ready-made-for-digital Google version

Classroom Success Stories from Other Teachers Who Have Tried this Lesson:

♥ "I was gone for a few days around Halloween and left these as sub plans for my Freshman. Super fun and no complaints about boring plans from kids! Yay!"

♥ "Awesome and unique activity. My students really enjoyed the story and learning about the Winchester House."

♥ "My students loved this. They could not believed the misfortune that befell the hapless Ivan! Thanks for an engaging and very useful lesson."

♥ "Everything you need! I was a little short on time on prepping for today, so I actually ran with this sight unseen! It turned out fine. The questions are good test-prep...if only the reading on the actual tests could be as engaging as the readings in this product."

♥ "Excellent source for introducing my students to the idea of text synthesis!"

More “spook”tacular Halloween resources are just a click away!

Info Text Lesson: Are Horror Movies Horrible or Hilarious?

Sleepy Hollow Mini Unit

Halloween Lessons Bundle

Seasonal Analogies I Have Who Has Game

Halloween Poetry Lesson: The Listeners

Halloween Short Research Project: Myths, Ghosts, and Legends

Frankenstein Movie Guide

Fear Factor Personal Narrative Prompt

Halloween Grammar Coloring Pages

Halloween Grammar Worksheets

Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches. Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to FOLLOW ME. Voila! You will now receive email updates about my store.

For more ideas and inspiration:

Faulkner's Fast Five Blog

Julie's Classroom Stories on Instagram

Julie's Classroom Stories on Facebook

Teaching Middle and High School English Facebook Group

Yearbook and Journalism Facebook Group

Pinterest

Terms of Use: Please, one classroom use only. Additional licenses are sold at checkout. This license is nontransferable. Not eligible for online environments unless password protected. Posting openly online is prohibited. No part of this resource can be used for commercial purposes, altered, or resold. This work is my original work, and taking portions of it to create something else for resale is prohibited. Art and images are credited in file.