THE Ultimate High-interest Halloween Bundle for Secondary ELA
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Products in this Bundle (7)
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Description
This huge bundle of resources is the ultimate Halloween bundle of high-interest activities that are sure to spark the interest of your secondary students! There is a wide variety of activities included in this bundle!
Here's what's included:
PRODUCT #1
Edward Gorey's Gashlycrumb Tinies: A FREE Halloween Primer on Victorian Satire
Edward Gorey (1925-2000) was an American writer and illustrator of “children’s” books that satirized Victorian and Edwardian Britain. He was born in Chicago in 1925 and later attended Harvard University. His books contain dark satire, often depicting characters who experience tragic deaths that are, in a way, tragically humorous. However, Gorey did not necessarily consider his work satirical. He referred to his work as “literary nonsense” in the same vein as Lewis Carroll. Gorey began his publishing career as an illustrator of various books such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. He went on to write and illustrate over 100 books in his characteristic pen and ink, hashmark style.
In this activity, students will analyze the satire of Gorey's "children's book" "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" by discussing how the author uses setting and repetition to create dark humor and satirize the Victorian Period. Students will then create their own alphabet primers in the style of Edward Gorey.
This is an interesting activity to complete around Halloween time or during a study on Gothic literature.
PRODUCT #2
Exquisite Corpse Poetry Info Sheet
Exquisite Corpse Poetry actually has nothing to do with corpses! It was a parlor game created during the Parisian Surrealist Movement of the 1920s & 1930s in which players would create random lines of poetry by passing their papers around the group. It just so happens that one of the lines created back during this time was: “The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine.” And that’s how the game got its name!
PRODUCT #3
Infamous Criminals: A High-Interest Nonfiction Research Project
The research process can be demotivating for students, which is why I created this project to spark student interest and engagement all through the highly engaging topic of infamous criminals!
In this project, students will research the life of a famous criminal and compile a bibliographic research project to share with the class. Please note that I have included lists of criminals for students to choose from and have purposefully left out serial killers, terrorists, and mass shooters. You may choose to allow these at your own discretion. The criminals included in this project range from fraudsters to gangsters and from pirates to drug lords. There are plenty of options here to captivate the interest of secondary students.
After selecting a criminal, students will compile an annotated bibliography as they go through the research process while preparing to create their final projects. Students can choose from the following project options via the "Research Project Choice Board":
--Blog
--Podcast
--Dramatic Play
--e-Book
--Movie
--Traditional Research Paper
There are plenty of options here to allow students the opportunity to share their research in today's technologically connected world. After students complete their projects, they will share them with the entire class and then reflect back on the research process.
PRODUCT #4
The Donner Party Tragedy-- A Nonfiction Research Synthesis Project
This nonfiction project is constructed much like the synthesis essay from the AP Language and Composition exam. Students are to get into groups and review each artifact, one-by-one, and compile facts about the Donner Party tragedy on their evidence logs. There are 11 artifacts in total.
But before students dig into the artifacts, they will first listen to a podcast on the Donner-Reed Party to learn the basics of the tragedy. Students can either listen to this podcast episode inside or outside of class. They can then share facts and information from their podcast listening guides as a whole class to build the basic framework of the 5 W’s: Who? What? When? Where? Why? Answering the why? question is the end goal and endpoint of this project. Students will make observations and collect evidence from the artifacts in order to answer the focused research question:
Who or what is to blame for the Donner Party tragedy?
There isn’t one “correct” answer to this question, but students will base their answers to the focused research question upon evidence from the artifacts. Students will then create an argumentative presentation in which they present their answers to the focused research question using evidence from the artifacts plus their own individual research findings.
Student presentations will vary as student perspectives on the Donner tragedy unfold. After students complete their presentations, they can reflect back upon the research process as well as consider how their positions on the Donner tragedy were either challenged, changed, or confirmed by listening to the presentations by their peers.
I have also included a pacing guide to help you organize the various aspects of this nonfiction unit. If you are pressed for time, you can reduce the number of artifacts to the most essential ones in order to shorten the length of the unit.
This is another great nonfiction unit that is sure to capture student interest... I mean, what teenager wouldn't be intrigued by a true story of cannibalism?!!!!!
PRODUCT #5
The Zombie Apocalypse-- Persuasive Speech Activity
In this activity, students will role play that they are trapped in their school by the zombie apocalypse. They have to decide whether to stay at the school... or whether to leave the school for an alternate location. In order to make this precarious decision, they must weigh the pros and cons of both scenarios and then craft a persuasive speech to convince the class (the rest of their group) to go or to stay.
In this high-interest activity, students will employ the devices and techniques of persuasive writing and include rhetorical devices and appeals to persuade their audience. They will present their speeches to the class using visual aids to enhance their overall messages.
Students will take interest in this topic and at having the opportunity to be creative! This make a great unit for any time of year but especially Halloween!
PRODUCT #6
Lizzie Borden: Infamous Murder Case Nonfiction Unit, Tone, Bias, Persuasion
Lizzie Borden was tried and ultimately acquitted for the MURDER of her PARENTS in the 1890s. The trial was controversial. How could a WOMAN possibly hack her parents to death and why? How could this have happened while she was HOME if she didn't do it?
In this nonfiction unit, students will read articles about the case and then decide for themselves if they think Lizzie Borden is INNOCENT or GUILTY.
If your students like this nonfiction unit, be sure to check out the Bespoke ELA activity on deciphering tone and bias through the media coverage of the infamous Jack the Ripper!
Students will complete the following activities:
1. Close reading of news stories, including text features (ten total)
2. 5 multiple-choice questions for EACH ARTICLE to prep for standardized testing
3. Debate the verdict in the trial
4. Close read the Prosecutor's Closing Arguments
5. Write a Closing Argument Speech
6. View a Documentary about the trial
This is a HIGH-INTEREST WAY to integrate nonfiction into your curriculum and get students interacting with nonfiction texts that they won't be able to put down!
PRODUCT #7
Nonfiction: Tone and Bias in the Media Coverage of Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper. One of the most notorious serial killers of all time. And he was never caught. There are over 100 theories about his identity. If you're looking for a high-interest nonfiction topic to get your students interested in analyzing nonfiction, this is it!
This activity has two parts. The first parts takes students through an exercise of identifying tone in a news article written about Jack the Ripper. There are four articles in this part of this lesson that all come from The London Times, late 1800s. (please note that all texts are in the public domain)
Each article is followed by a series of three multiple-choice questions written using Common Core question stems. These questions will help students understand the overall message of each article and encourage them to read critically. Students are then to record examples of tone from the articles and label the tone accordingly. Identifying tone will help with part two of this activity series in which students begin to analyze sources for bias.
In part two of this activity, students will assess a series of stories about Jack the Ripper all written on the exact same day, all about the exact same grisly discovery of two more female victims. By reading multiple sources on the same event, students will be able to compare/ contrast how each source represents the "truth." After assessing sources for bias, students will evaluate which source is more reliable and present their findings to the class.
I have also included FIVE extension activities to use with your students after completing this activity in order to keep your students engaged with nonfiction.
***Please note that there are a couple of paragraphs in this collection that are quite graphic and may be inappropriate for some students. Please censor the articles as you see fit.***
Jack the Ripper is a topic that will keep your students intrigued from the very get-go!
There are TONS of options here to target essential reading and writing skills during the Halloween season! Students are sure to take interest in these activities any time of year but especially around Halloween!
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