Cécile Lainé

Story-Based Countdown to Halloween

Though I did not grow up in the US, I am very fond of Halloween and wanted to share my story-based “Countdown to Halloween” mini-unit. It is a ton of fun and I am always impressed with the jump in my Novice students’ fiction reading comprehension skills at the end of the countdown: they end up reading a 300-word story (new to them!), infer vocabulary they do not know based on context, and answer character and plot questions.

This countdown contains 6+1 stories, one for each day before Halloween, with suggested pre- or post-story activities and a final assessment. The mini unit is easily adaptable across the Novice and Intermediate ranges.

As usual, this is available to you at no cost. If you want to support my work, donate what you can at paypal cecileflaine@gmail.com or Venmo @Cecile-Laine.

Please note: I have requested and received permission from the creators of the 3 shorts to share my Movie Talk slides with you all.

Click here to access the resource

Looking for more comprehension-based ideas for Halloween?

5 comments

  1. Thank you for this amazing resource! Just wondering about the reading assessment… Do you tell the story first and then have them do the reading assessment? Merci 🙂

    Reply

  2. Hi Cécile,

    Thanks for another amazing resource! For your assessment, I was wondering if you tell the story to your students before having them do the reading assessment? Thanks!

    ~Krista

    Reply

  3. Hi Cécile,

    Thanks for another amazing resource! For your assessment, I was wondering if you tell the story to your students before having them do the reading assessment? Thanks! (*I apologize if this went through more than once!)
    ~Krista

    Reply

    • Hi Krista, thank you for your donation! Yes, your comment went through three times LOL. Regarding the assessment, I do not tell the story because I don’t want them to rely on their ear for this one, they just read it. Feel free to modify to your students’ level.

      Reply

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