Use High-Interest Scary Stories

reading

Use High-Interest Scary Stories

october 15, 2010

Scary stories aren’t just for Halloween. Try some of the following resources and activities during the month of October or whenever your students are in the mood for something scary.

Comprehension Activities

• Get students to dive more eagerly into nonfiction text by reading true information about the weird, the gross, and the unbelievable. Favorite passages can be found within the annual Guinness Book of World Records.
• Target students’ questioning and prediction skills. Stage a mystery in the classroom by having something come up missing or by having something “appear” in the classroom. Plant “clues” where kids can find them. Ask students to keep a log of clues in their writers’ notebooks. Plan this mystery to last for several days and then unveil the solution or make it possible for students to figure it out with the last clue. (This activity could be modified for any grade to increase the difficulty of making predictions, asking questions, making inferences, drawing conclusions, etc.).

Classroom Library

• Looking for new titles to add to your classroom library? Here’s a book list of scary stories with a short synopsis for each title from the Monster Librarian.
• For the middle school/high school classroom, here is a link to classic scary short stories.
• Find classic nursery rhymes and bedtime stories and more.
• Discover classical bedtime stories — and links to many more storytelling sites.
• Learn why reading with your children is so important and check out the Reading Practice for All Ages section of the NapLab website. It’s filled with online stories and book collections to consider.

Fluency Activities

• Practice oral reading fluency using favorite spooky campfire stories available at Ultimate Camp Resource. Students can perfect a favorite story to read aloud to their classmates.
• In the fall, first and second graders can write scarecrow puppet shows. Pair students up to write a simple conversation between two scarecrows. Before reading it aloud, have them create scarecrow puppets with brown paper bags and practice their performances.

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