Halloween Rhyme Time

Take advantage of Halloween to teach young readers and writers about rhyming words, adjectives, and figurative language.

By Christen Amico

Chalkboard ghosts

With all the fun and excitement of Halloween lingering just around the corner, it is easy for teachers and parents to get caught up in the spirit of the holiday and let the educational lessons lapse. Poetry is a great tool to keep kids motivated in reading and writing, and is very easily linked to any holiday season. Poems also offer educational value with rhythm, rhyme, and unusual vocabulary. Here are some easy lesson plan ideas that focus on teaching reading and writing skills via poetry, but do so with a whimsical and artful Halloween theme. 

Not-So-Scary Spider Poems

A fun, Halloween-themed project idea is to create a 3-D spider and have students copy the famous nursery rhyme “Little Miss Muffet” onto the belly of the spider. Younger readers can simply cut the pre-written poem and glue onto the spider. This nursery rhyme is essential to any early education classroom and Halloween is the perfect time to teach it! Older students can then use this famous poem as a mentor text to create their own rhyming poem in the form:

Little (Ms or Mr.)_________ sat on his/her _________

Eating her _____ and _________

Along came a _______and sat down beside him/her

And scared little  _______ away.

Simple Fun with Acrostic Poems

Kids love completing acrostic poems because they are fun and easy. Teachers and parents can take advantage of these simple layouts by adding a few rules to their poems. One of the easiest rules to implement is that all the words must be adjectives for the word that the poem spells. For example, if the poem spells Halloween, then all the words must be adjectives describing Halloween; no nouns or verbs allowed! Encourage young writers to use a thesaurus to find new and interesting adjectives. Acrostic poems can also be turned into a mini Scattergories game where writers can receive a point for every original word used. In other words, if another student used the same word, then no one gets the point! The acrostic style can also be used to write prose; where each sentence must begin with that letter.

Set the Mood with Famous Poems

One of the most challenging literary concepts for older readers to fully comprehend is mood and tone. Mood and tone are indirectly created via word choice, rhythm, and figurative language which can make it very difficult to decipher. One of the more easily recognizable moods is scary or frightening; therefore Halloween is the perfect time to work on these skills. One great example of this is Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem “The Raven” (1885) which uses very detailed descriptions and symbolism to convey a worrisome mood. Older readers can identify specific words like terror and heart-pounding as words alluding to a fearful mood. This is a also a great opportunity to integrate visual art skills by discussing colors that elicit a frightening mood, such as black, gray, brown, and dark red. By using these colors to illustrate the mood of the poem, upper graders can visually represent what the author is trying to say.

Mystery Poems

Another great way to engage learners in the world of poetry is to use rhyming couplets to create a set of clues to a mystery word. This idea can be modified to meet the needs of any age group and the mystery word can be related to Halloween or something else. The children can write their mystery poems and put them into a hat for their classmates to solve. Another option is to create a Halloween-themed art project where the mystery word is covered by a witch’s pot that lifts up, and the rhyming clues are being poured into it. These could be gathered together and made into a class Halloween book of mystery poems.

Halloween is often the first major holiday celebrated during the school year and therefore, it is crucial to set the tone. Although the holidays are fun, they are not a reason to stop learning. By carefully intertwining language arts skills with a holiday-related theme, teachers and parents can ensure that their lessons will be engaging and effective!

Extra Lesson Ideas...If You Dare! 

Hoot and Howl Poems

Use this great teacher guide to help plan and facilitate poetry with a spooky theme in an upper grade classroom. This lesson plan focuses primarily on using vocabulary words and parts of speech in rhyming poems. It also promotes collaboration and shared writing experiences.

Halloween Poetry Border

Although this is not a lesson in itself, it is a great tool to use in conjunction with a Halloween inspired writing/ poetry project. The border is decorative and inspiring which makes connecting visual arts with writing even easier!

My Halloween Book

Teachers and parents can print out this Halloween book that is filled with holiday treats and activities for young readers. There are poems, mazes, connect the dots, and coloring sheets for hours of educational Halloween fun!

High School Halloween Lessons

Secondary English teachers can visit this website for great ideas and specific poetry to be read in a high school English class. The ideas are creative and motivating for older students who may find poetry old-fashioned and boring.