Each year I find it difficult to reach all my little writers. Some students love writing right away, while others need a little bit more convincing. To help increase my students' interest and engagement in a writing center, I like to add holiday themed activities and decorations. Halloween is a great time to add in a little fun to help students write using lots of adjectives, sound words, and interesting characters. A few little props and materials can really bring your writing center to life!
Setting the scene for a holiday themed writing center can be quick and easy. To create this look, I used a Spider Web Plastic Table Roll to cover the table. Next, I taped Boo Bunch Halloween Cutouts and Halloween Bats using Mavalus Tape. The Halloween Chair Covers are super adorable and would be great to also use as a reward for a student doing a great job. Add in a few spiders and your spooky writing center is ready for little writers!
Students love to write with special materials. I like to store writing materials in Medium Galvanized Metal Pails because it is the perfect size for pens and markers. For this spooky writing center, I added different types of Googley Eyes using Glue Dots to the pails. It is one of my favorite parts of this writing area! Students loved writing with Witch Broom Pens, Witch Shoe Pens, and Mini Halloween Pens. I love to allow students to write in pen during writing center to help ensure that they are not spending a lot of time erasing mistakes.
Halloween is a great time to have students use sound words and lots of adjectives. Create a Haunted House Craft Kit to place at your writing center or allow each student to create their own. Encourage students to write a story based on the haunted house. What would you see? What would you hear? How would you feel? The Boo Bunch Halloween Cutouts are perfect characters to include in the story. Who wouldn't want to write about those adorable characters?! Once they were done writing, students used the Monster Party Glasses as they reread their stories making sure they fixed any errors. Why monsters? Because monsters catch every little thing!
I always place sight words that we are working on at the writing center. This helps ensure that students are writing the words correctly when working independently. I really wanted the Sight Words to have a little bit of a spooky feeling, so I decided to place them in Spider Web Baskets with White Spider Web Material. This would also be a great place to add in any vocabulary that could be beneficial to your writers.
Now it is time for students to share their writing with peers. I like to have students read using a Mini Flashlight to imitate telling ghost stories. This is one of my absolute favorite activities each year because students are engaged and eager to listen to their peers. I love to listen to their voices change simply due to using a fun little tool.
