Halloween lesson lesson plan

“Happy Halloween!”

Special lesson Level 3 Age 7-9

Lesson plans for ESL kids teachers

Special lesson

Halloween

In this lesson, students are introduced to some well-known Halloween characters, learn a Halloween song, read a story about Halloween, make a Halloween decoration and play lots of fun Halloween games.

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Age: 7-9 years
Time: 1 hour – 1 hour 20 mins
Objectives: Recognize and identify 9 Halloween words, label the body parts on a picture and sing a Halloween song.
Structures: “Happy Halloween!”, “What’s this?”, “What body part is this?”.
New vocabulary: Halloween, ghost, monster, witch, black cat, wizard, mummy, bat, zombie, skeleton, arm, leg, head, hand, fingers, feet, toes, eye, nose, mouth.

Lesson materials

Flashcards:

Halloween flashcards: ghost, monster, witch, black cat, wizard, mummy, bat, zombie

Printables:

Happy Halloween song listening sheet
Happy Halloween reader worksheet
Label the skeleton 1 & 2 worksheets

Songs:

Happy Halloween

Readers:

Happy Halloween

Supplies:

name tags for each student
board with markers / chalk
Halloween decorations
cardboard boxes and creepy objects for the “Feel in the boxes” activity
Blu-Tack or tape
glue and scissors
string or yarn
straws (1 per student)
device to play the song on

Notes:

In this lesson, students are introduced to some well-known Halloween characters, learn a Halloween song, read a story about Halloween, make a Halloween decoration and play lots of fun Halloween games.

There is a craft and some activities that require some pre-class preparation (see these sections below: Set the atmosphere, Play “Feel in the boxes”, Make a skeleton mobile craft and End with some fun Halloween activities).

Lesson procedure:

Warm up and maintenance:

1. Set the atmosphere and greetings
Let’s get the atmosphere of Halloween started right from the beginning of class.

Before class, think about how you can make the room and lesson come to life. This all depends on your resources, but some ideas can be:

lights – turn off some lights and close curtains to make the room darker. Place some jack-o-lanterns around the room.
get some glow-in-the-dark stars and shapes and stick them around the walls
rearrange the furniture
have some eerie music playing in the background
hang decorations around the classroom, such as bats and ghost crafts (if you have other classes you can build up the decorations as you do crafts each lesson)
dress up as a Halloween character (if possible, one of the characters you are teaching in this lesson).
in a previous lesson ask your students (or their parents) to come to this lesson in Halloween fancy dress. This is great fun and you can have a fancy dress party during the lesson with prizes for best, scariest, funniest, etc.

Have everyone wait outside the classroom until it is time to go in. Stand at the door and as each student enters greet them by name and say, “Happy Halloween!” and have them reply “Happy Halloween”.

2. Play “Feel in the boxes”
Before class, prepare some cardboard boxes. These are going to hide Halloween-related things that the students have to feel and guess what they are.

Prepare the boxes by cutting a hole in one side, just large enough to put your arm through. You can even put on a material flap to cover the hole and stop prying eyes. Inside the boxes place some Halloween type objects which you can pick up in discount stores, party stores and supermarkets, such as:

plastic bats, spiders, etc.
goo or slime
[hide_on_uk]jello[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]jelly[/hide_on_us] shaped as a brain
spider webs
cooked, cold spaghetti noodles (worms)
peeled grapes (eye balls)
fake fur (monster hair)
cooked rice (maggots)
tofu (can be anything gross)
dried pasta (teeth or bones)
mini hot dogs (toes)

Idea:

Hand in the box! If you can get someone to help you, put another hole in the back of the box and have someone hide behind the box (covered under a blanket) and put their hand through the hole. When the students put their hands they will get a big surprise when their hand is grabbed!

Allow the students to wonder around the classroom and feel inside the boxes and try to guess what each object is. This is bound to cause a lot a screams and laughter, but everyone will thoroughly enjoy it and it will be well worth the effort of setting it up.

Finally, have everyone sit down and ask what they think is in each box (e.g. “I think it’s worms!”) and then take out each item to show everyone what it really is.

Before continuing, get everyone to help you clear everything to the sides of the classroom.

3. Name tags
Before class prepare some blank name tags (stickers or pin-on tags). Give the tags out and have everyone write their names and put their tags on. If you use pin-on tags, you can keep and give out every class.

4. Review time
Play some review games from previous lessons for this review section. Have some fun games and go over new structures and vocabulary.

5. Homework check
Check each students’ homework worksheet and ask questions to check their understanding. Give lots of praise, and then put some kind of mark on the homework sheet (e.g. a sticker, a stamp or draw a smiley face).

Finally, tell your students to put their homework back into their bags.

New learning and practice:

1. Teach new vocabulary and play “Flashcard ghost chase”
Before class print out the flashcards for these Halloween characters: monster, witch, black cat, wizard, mummy, bat, zombie. Then on 2 or 3 backs of these cards print a ghost picture.

Explain you are going to play “Ghost chase”. Show one flashcard and teach / elicit the word. Then quickly turn over the card – if the back is blank everyone is safe (“phew!”). If the back of the card has the ghost image, shout “Ghost!“ – everyone jumps up and runs to keep out of your way. You have chase everyone and tag them (they have to sit down). You can even have one of the students act as the ghost.

Finally, return everyone back to the middle of the floor to continue with the flashcards.

2. Create and label a skeleton on the board
Before class print and cut out the shapes from the “Skeleton mobile” craft sheet. If possible, blow up to A3 size, but A4 is fine (just smaller). Give out the pieces to your students – there are 14 pieces in total, so if you have less than 14 students give some students 2 pieces. Also give each student some Blu-Tack or tape.

Tell everyone they are going to make another Halloween character on the board – get everyone up to the board and have them work together to create a skeleton from the pieces. Elicit/Teach “Skeleton” and write it above the character on the board.

Finally, draw lines on the board to the following parts of the skeleton and tell your students to write the body words to label the skeleton (by asking “What body part is this?”):

arm
leg
head
hand
fingers
feet
toes
eye
nose
mouth

Your students can work together to label the skeleton and help each other with spelling. Finally, check and chorus the words.

3. Make a skeleton mobile craft
Before class print out enough of the “Skeleton mobile” craft sheets so that each student has one. Everyone is going to make their own skeleton to display in the classroom. Give out the craft sheets and have students cut out the pieces and use string (or yarn) to glue the body pieces together and hang on a straw. It can be a little tricky, so circulate and help out where necessary.

Finally, have students hang their mobiles around the classroom – if possible, tape them to the ceiling to create cool hanging decorations!

4. Read and write time
This segment can be part of all your lessons. Spend 10 to 15 minutes building up your students’ writing and reading skills. You’ll need to assess your students’ reading/writing level and then choose to start at one of the following stages:

Reading and writing activities by level:

1. Beginners: students cannot read or write the alphabet.
Each lesson introduce 3 lower-case letters of the alphabet (first lesson will be a, b, c). Use flashcards to do this. Play alphabet games and do printing worksheets.
» See our ‘Alphabet a-z (lowercase)’ mini-lesson plans for full details.

2. Early starters: students have experience with the alphabet but need phonics practice.
Each lesson introduce 5 lower-case letters of the alphabet (first lesson will be a, b, c, d, e). Use flashcards to do this. Start by working on the sounds of the letters and then move onto letter clusters (e.g. sh, ee, etc).
» See our ‘Alphabet’ and ‘Letter clusters’ mini-lesson plans for full details.

3. Early readers.
Work on reading and writing simple sentences with lots of practice activities.
» See our ‘Early reading’ mini-lesson plans for full details. (click on “Early reading” tab)

4. Elementary readers: students can read and write simple sentences well.
Work on reading and writing short texts and stories.
» See our ‘Reading short texts’ mini-lessons for full details. (click on “Reading short texts” tab)

5. Play the “Happy Halloween” song
We are going to do an ‘active listening’ activity with a song about Halloween. Before playing the song, give out the song worksheet. Point out the pictures and get everyone to read to you the words under each picture.

Then explain that they are going to listen to a song and the words (lyrics) to this song are on this sheet. Read through the lyrics with the class and explain any difficult vocabulary. Then play the song and have everyone write in the missing words. Once complete, go through the answers as a class.

Finally, play the song one more time and encourage everyone to sing along!

Lyrics for “Happy Halloween”

Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween!

Happy, Happy Halloween!
Happy, Happy Halloween!
Happy, Happy Halloween!
Happy, Happy Halloween!

Chorus:
Look out of the window tonight,
What will we see on Halloween night?
Go outside in the street tonight,
Who will we meet on Halloween night?

Verse 1:
Look there’s a ghost (Whooooooooo!)
Look there’s a monster (Rhhaaaaaa!)
Look there’s a witch (Cackle cackle!)
Look there’s a black cat (Meoooowwww!)

But don’t worry – they’re just kids! Wearing costumes!

Happy, Happy, Happy Halloween!
Happy, Happy, Happy Halloween!

Chorus

Verse 2:
Look there’s a wizard (Ho ho hoooo!)
Look there’s a mummy (Grrrrrrrrrr!)
Look there’s a bat (Eeekk! Eeekk!)
Look there’s a zombie (Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!)

But don’t worry – they’re just kids! Wearing costumes!

Happy, Happy Halloween!
Happy, Happy Halloween!
Happy, Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween!

[hide_on_uk]Short sample (members get full-length song):
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[hide_on_us]Short sample (members get full-length song):
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6. Read classroom reader “Happy Halloween!”
Before class, download and print off the reader “Happy Halloween!”. As you go through each page, point to the key vocabulary in each picture and elicit the Halloween characters and the sounds that each one makes. Encourage your students to get up and act out each of the characters that come up in the story, for example:

Teacher: (pointing at the ghost on page 2) What’s this?
Students: Ghost!
Teacher: Yes, that’s right … (reading) … “Suddenly, a ghost appeared!”. And what sound does a ghost make?
Students: Whooooooo!
Teacher: Oh yes, very scary! Emi, can you show us your ghost? … (Emi gets up and starts doing her ghost impression)… Brilliant! Now, everyone show me your ghost! … (everyone get up and does their ghost impressions)
etc.

Continue through the story, asking what all the characters are. Get the students really involved in the story by asking lots of questions (e.g. about the [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us], clothes and other objects in the pictures) and even ask yes/no questions about what each character is, for example:

Teacher: (pointing at the monster on page 3) Is this a mummy?
Students: No! It’s a monster!
Teacher: Oh Yes, that’s right! And does it go “Meoowwww!”?
Students: No! “Rhaaaa!”
etc.

After reading the story, give out a reader worksheet to each student and have everyone identify the Halloween characters that were in the story. Then go through the answers as a class.

Alternatively, watch our video version of the reader (Internet connection required).

7. End with some fun Halloween activities
End the class with some fun Halloween games and actives – choose from the list below:

Melt the witch game: Materials: A moveable chalkboard, [hide_on_uk]colored[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]coloured[/hide_on_us] chalk, sponges, bucket of water. Directions: Draw a witch’s head, or whole body on the chalkboard. Fill the bucket with water and sponges. Have children stand close enough to the board to be able to hit it accurately with a wet sponge. Place water bucket and sponges near this spot. Tell the children to take turns throwing wet sponges at the witch to try and “melt” her away. As the witch becomes wet and water drips down the board, it will appear as if she is melting. Be sure the children are squeezing out to the sponges before throwing.

I went into a haunted house: Students sit in a circle. Student A says, “I went into a haunted house and saw a witch”. Student B continues: “I went into a haunted house and saw a witch and a zombie”. Continue around the circle adding more Halloween characters. Any student who forgets a character or gets the order wrong sits out the round.
Pass the vampire bat: Supplies: one straw for each child / bat shapes cut out of tissue paper.
How to play: Divide the class into 2 teams and line up each team. Students pass the tissue bats down the line, teammate to teammate, by inhaling and exhaling on the straw to hang onto or release the ornament. No hands! The first team to successfully pass the bats up and down the line wins!

Wrap up:

1. Assign homework: “Label the skeleton”
There are two versions of this worksheet – number 1 is more difficult than 2, as it doesn’t provide the missing words. Select the worksheet according to your students’ abilities. Hold up the homework worksheet and model what to do – point to one of the body parts of the skeleton and ask what it is. Then write the word to label that body part.

Give out the worksheets and say, “Put your homework in your bags”.

2. Do “Quick check” and say goodbye
Time to leave the class. Make sure everything is put away and the students have gathered their belongings. Have them line up at the door and place yourself between the door and the students.

For each student hold up a Halloween flashcard and have the student say what it is.

When they give you the correct answer say goodbye and let them leave. If their answer is wrong, have them go back to the end of the line – they will have to try again once they reach the front!