October 20, 2014 CL Seasonal Activities Fall, CL Teaching Strategies Charts & Org, ELA K-5, ELA Focus - Reading, ELA Resources - Graphic Organizers, ELA Seasonal - Fall, Core Literacy
By: Erin Lynch
The Halloween graphic organizers I use for reading comprehension are some of my favorites. Having a seasonal version of all my graphic organizers is a simple way to add some whimsy and fun to routine reading activities. When students see a reading worksheet peppered with pumpkins, their eyes light up!
To introduce using my nonfiction Halloween reading graphic organizers, I like to find two articles on a similar topic such as Halloween History and Day of the Dead Facts. Together with my students, we use the Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Web—i.e., 5Ws & 1H Web—to take notes on one of the two articles.
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Then, I have my students independently take notes on the second article again using the 5Ws & 1H Web. We come back together to compare and contrast the two articles on the Pumpkin Venn Diagram. My students will use the 5Ws & 1H Web and the Pumpkin Venn Diagram to take notes on a variety of nonfiction texts throughout the month of October.
For fiction texts, I have my students use my Spider Story Web throughout the month of October. You can introduce the web using almost any picture book, but I like to use The Spider and the Fly by Tony DiTerlizzi to keep with the theme of spiders and webs. Helping students to organize their thinking is one of the most important things I do as a literacy specialist. I love when I can make it fun for the kids, and these graphic organizers are an easy way to keep things new and interesting. You may have also seen my Haunted House Organizer on My Favorite Halloween Picture Books post, which is another useful reading graphic organizer.
Download my Halloween Graphic Organizers now.