Kindergarten Halloween Writing Activities

Have students write about the steps involved in pumpkin carving.

The cool fall weather, chances to go trick-or-treating and opportunities to dress up as favorite characters make Halloween an exciting time for kindergarten students. Using student interest in the holiday as the basis for a thematic writing unit helps ensure students will have plenty to say. Adapt these lessons to your students' individual levels. While some kindergarten students will be able to write their own stories at this point in the school year, others may need adult assistance while writing their thoughts.

Creative Stories

Provide students with Halloween-themed story starters to help sharpen their creative writing skills. Some students may enjoy writing scary stories that start with ideas such as "The black cat hissed and..." or "The ghost in the house...." Other kindergartners, who are not ready to tell scary stories, may prefer story starters that are more lighthearted, such as "The silly pumpkin..." or "The happy witch...." Invite students to finish the stories on their own or work as an entire class to complete a more complex Halloween tale.

How-To Writing

Let students share their knowledge of Halloween by having them write a how-to about a specific Halloween event. Have students write about the process involved in getting into their costumes or the steps they go through before leaving the house to go trick-or-treating. Complete a sequencing story as an entire class by carving a jack-o-lantern with your students, and then work as a class to recall and record the steps involved.

Descriptive Writing

Halloween is full of details that can be described in a writing activity. Ask your students to write a story describing what their Halloween costumes look like, and then invite them to read their stories to the class. As each pupil reads, let the other students guess the costume that is being described. You can also break students into small groups and give each group a different Halloween candy. Have the groups work together, with an adult, to write a description of their candy; have the class then use these written descriptions to determine which candy each group was given.

Writing Games

Give students a Halloween phrase or word, such as "trick-or-treat" or "Happy Halloween," and let them see how many different words they can make from the letters in the phrase. Use letter tiles so your students can manipulate the letters and check their work before writing the words down. Create a word bank of Halloween words and work as a class to write a Halloween story using each of those words at least one time.

References

• Scholastic: Scary Starters
• The Teacher's Desk: Halloween Fun