Halloween Middle School ELA Activities: Volume Two

This Halloween and Spooky Season Themed ELA Activities Unit gives your students engaging, skill-focused practice in figurative language, rhetorical appeals, theme, mood and tone, and independent reading—all wrapped in fun, seasonal activities that keep them motivated during the fall months. From Halloween commercials and spooky-inspired songs to novel choice activities, students practice critical thinking and analysis while connecting with media and texts they enjoy.

With teacher guides, scaffolded student pages, and answer keys included, you’ll move students beyond surface-level responses into meaningful discussions, evidence-based thinking, and stronger literary analysis. They’ll learn to identify figurative devices, evaluate persuasive techniques, analyze themes in music, and reflect on their independent reading choices.

✨ Here’s what they’ll learn:

• Figurative Language Foundations – Identify and explain similes, metaphors, personification, irony, idioms, and more in seasonal contexts.
• Rhetorical Appeals in Media – Evaluate Halloween commercials for ethos, pathos, and logos while considering how advertisers persuade audiences.
• Theme Through Music – Analyze spooky season songs for central ideas, tone, and figurative language.
• Independent Reading Choices – Strengthen reading identity through “Would You Rather” novel activities that build decision-making and evidence-based reasoning.

📚 Why this works:
This unit doesn’t just give you random holiday worksheets—it combines the fun of the season with high-level ELA skills. Students engage with real-world media, song lyrics, and book choices while practicing analysis and discussion. With built-in guides, reference charts, and keys, you can deliver rigorous lessons that feel fresh, relevant, and motivating—right when students need it most.

💡 Perfect for:

• Teachers who want seasonal engagement without losing rigor
• Students who need variety and relevance to stay invested in their ELA work
• Any middle school ELA class working on figurative language, media literacy, or theme

⏱ Flexible pacing: Activities can be used across a week, sprinkled into a larger unit, or extended into mini-projects. Works in 45-minute blocks or longer periods.

📦 What’s inside:

• Halloween Word Search (color + black-and-white with answer key)
• Halloween Figurative Language Teacher Guide + Reference Pages
• Student figurative language worksheets (color + black-and-white) + Answer Key
• Halloween Commercials Rhetoric Teacher Guide + Curated Links
• Rhetorical appeals reference pages (ethos, pathos, logos) + Student Worksheets
• Halloween Songs Theme Activity Teacher Guide + Curated Playlist
• Student theme/lyric analysis sheets
• Horror Novel “Would You Rather” Teacher Guide + Slides (separate file)
• Student choice + explanation worksheets (color + black-and-white)

This unit solves the biggest fall-season struggle: how to keep students engaged in meaningful work without sacrificing standards. By blending high-interest seasonal activities with critical analysis, it gives you flexible, low-prep lessons that bring energy into your classroom while still hitting core skills.

TEACHERS LIKE YOU SAID…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Kingdom A. says, "This resource cost me money! After reading this, the students couldn't wait to read some of these novels. I had a bunch in my library, but I ordered the rest quickly. When they came, my students couldn't wait to get their hands on the new books! That made my teacher heart happy!"

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Rebecca L. says, "My students were so excited to have theme work on Halloween! I loved that I was still teaching them importan content, but also they didn't feel overlooked on a day younger students were doing Halloween activities." 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Christian B. says, "I love all of Martina's resources, so when I heard she was making a Halloween DIGITAL activity, I had to jump on it! This was perfect for my students to do remotely. They got to choose which activities they wanted to do, so I love the variety. Plus, most of these topics were already covered in class (thanks to her other units), so I didn't have to reteach anything!"