Hallowe’en: Creative Writing Lesson Ideas & Guidance
Lesson Activities - Literacy Focus
Introductory Notes - A History of Halloween
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Hallow is an Old English word for a holy person or saint. Since the 8th century the festival of All
Hallows’ Day (later known as All Saints’ Day) has been celebrated on November 1st within
Western Christianity.
The night before All Hallows’ Day was once known (in the early 1700s) as All Hallows’ Even (or
All Saints’ Eve), rather like Christmas Eve. The name was later contracted to become Hallowe’en
(hence the apostrophe!) or Halloween - celebrated on the evening of October 31st.
The earliest origins of Hallowe’en lie in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (“sah-win”) which
celebrated the end of the harvest in Gaelic culture. People (ancient pagans) stocked their
supplies in preparation for winter.
Ancient Celts believed that on October 31st the ‘boundaries’ between the worlds of the living and
dead were broken or blurred - the dead would come back to life, wreak havoc amongst the
people, cause sickness and damage their harvested crops.
The festival usually involved large bonfires (thought to attract insects and, in turn, bats) and
people often wore masks or costumes to appease or mimic evil spirits.
The tradition of “trick-or-treating” is an activity which became a widespread part of Halloween
celebrations during the 1930s. The earliest known record of a similar tradition is from Englishspeaking North America in 1911.
Trick-or-treating is thought to have similarities to the Christian celebrations of All Souls’ Day
(November 2nd) when poor people would visit the homes of wealthier families, being given small
‘soul cakes’ in exchange for the promise that they would pray for the souls of the families’ dead
relatives.
Carving lanterns (or Jack-o’-lanterns) dates back to 17th century England, when it is thought that
children carried carved turnip lanterns (turnips being a staple and traditional food) from door-todoor, asking for All Souls’ Day soul cakes.
There are several Old English and Celtic myths and legends about the Jack-o’-lantern tradition;
one Irish folklore tale tells of a lazy farmer, Jack, who tricked the devil and trapped him. Another
myth portrays Jack as a thief who makes a deal with the devil so as not to be killed, but he also
tricks the devil. In both of these stories Jack only lets the devil go when he agrees not to take his
soul, but after a natural death Jack’s soul is then in limbo between heaven and hell - a wandering
soul with a carved lantern (traditionally a turnip lantern, turnips having been Jack’s favourite
food), wandering the Earth looking for a resting place.
The term jack-o’-lantern also meant ‘night watchman’ or “man with a lantern”, a term used in
the 17th century; later the meaning also changed to refer to the will-o’-the-wisp - atmospheric,
ghostly balls of light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps and marshes - also
thought to be the spirits of the dead or supernatural beings.
Wearing Halloween costumes became a popular tradition in America in the early 1900s.
Costumes are typically those of ‘supernatural monsters’ such as devils, witches, skeletons,
ghosts and vampires.
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Hallowe’en: Creative Writing Lesson Ideas & Guidance
1. Lesson Starters
Select or adapt all or a choice of Starter suggestions, time permitting
1. [5 mins.]
Introduce the concept of Halloween with pupil discussion about what Halloween is. Print or
present (on an interactive whiteboard) the Halloween Images sheet provided, or choose
appropriate images from the internet or available book(s) to initiate or stimulate discussion.
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Pupils turn to their talk partner or the person next to them, or discuss in small groups.
Pupils take turns to feed back their ideas (collate on a whiteboard if you wish).
What do they think they already know? What are their experiences of Halloween?
What would they like to find out more about?
Prompt discussion about why people celebrate Halloween, what its history could be etc.
2. [3-5 mins.]
Ask pupils to brainstorm and/or write down as many words and phrases (on dry-wipe boards or
post-it notes) that they feel describes or plays a part in Halloween. These words may relate to
the images you may choose to show from the supporting document, internet or other resource.
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Share the Halloween vocabulary that pupils have generated.
Use the Printable Vocabulary Cards provided to stimulate discussion if required.
3. [5-10 mins.]
Remind pupils of the creative and descriptive language which improves our writing - use of
adjectives and adverbs, metaphor and simile, personification, imagery, alliteration and so on.
Ask pupils to choose 2/3 key Halloween words or concepts and construct a phrase or sentence
using descriptive and figurative language. Demonstrate and/or support this by writing a
sentence or two on the board, for example:
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The bloodthirsty bat was as black as ink, flitting spookily across the night sky.
A pale ghost drifted silently past the cracked, broken window.
The cheerful, grinning jack-o’-lantern welcomed hopeful trick-or-treaters to the house.
The skeleton’s white bones jangled and clacked as it rose out of the dark, damp grave.
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Hallowe’en: Creative Writing Lesson Ideas & Guidance
2. Main Focus - Option 1: Creative Writing (Short Story)
Remind and/or discuss with pupils age-appropriate expectations for writing, including any writing
targets they may have individually. Ask pupils to recall the key stages of an engaging piece of story
writing, in particular the fictional genre and the ‘thriller’ or ‘horror’ genres associated with Halloween:
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Revise the 5 key writing frame prompts for story structure: opening, build-up, dilemma,
climax, resolution.
Remind pupils that a good short story needs to be exciting from the outset - starting as close
to the plot ‘climax’ as possible - usually with few characters and scenes and just one ‘conflict’,
leading quickly towards an unexpected resolution or ending.
Remind pupils about the importance of (age-appropriate) descriptive vocabulary: adjectives
and adverbs, metaphor and simile, personification, imagery and alliteration.
Short story steps (select for age- and attainment- appropriate levels) include:
o A catchy and exciting opening first line and paragraph
o One or two characters and a carefully chosen narrative point-of-view
o Meaningful dialogue with carefully chosen vocabulary to maximise ‘dramatic effect’
o Descriptive and figurative language for setting and context
o Carefully detailed setting and tonal language which helps to tell the story
o Conflict, tension or unexpected consequences build towards a crisis or climax
o A resolution is reached, which ideally the reader shouldn’t see coming!
Ask or encourage pupils to use the sentences generated and shared from Lesson Starter #3 within
their writing, perhaps as an opening sentence (for more or less able pupils) or within the main text.
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Read, give out or display the Short Story Starter sheet for pupils to continue and/or adapt.
Differentiation suggestions: ‘lower ability’ and SEN pupils may write only the next paragraph for the
story starter, extend work on simple sentences from Starter #3 or write descriptive sentences based
on the Halloween Images sheet; ‘middle ability’ pupils will continue the story through to an exciting
climax; ‘higher ability’ (or more able) pupils will continue the story through to a dramatic ending.
“I took a deep breath. The old, wooden gate creaked horribly as I slowly opened it, even though
I was trying to be as quiet as possible. Seeing as I’d promised my mum that I wouldn’t go near the
empty house down the lane, I didn’t want anyone to hear me! It was also suddenly very dark; the
moon had disappeared behind some threatening looking clouds, almost like it was trying to spook me!
I wrapped my Count Dracula costume cloak a bit tighter around me.
“I’ll show those silly mates of mine!” I thought as I warily crept up the path to the big front
door. Everything was so overgrown and the paintwork on the house and door was peeling. I’d never
really noticed the gargoyles above the door before, but now they seemed to be watching me with their
ghoulish, grinning stone faces. Maybe the stories about the house were true after all...”
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Hallowe’en: Creative Writing Lesson Ideas & Guidance
3. Main Focus - Option 2: Shape Poetry (Calligrams)
Explain to pupils that they will be writing a shape poem or ‘calligram’ based on the theme, or
elements of, Halloween. The Halloween Images sheet and Printable Vocabulary Cards may be used
to inspire pupils, or to divide and hand out so that each pupil (or pair/group) has something different
as their focus.
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Revise or introduce the concept of shape poetry, providing visual examples if required
Use a book of poems, such as The Works compilations (or internet resource) for examples
Remind pupils that poetry uses figurative language: adjectives and adverbs, metaphor and
simile, personification, imagery and alliteration.
Rhyming conventions (rhyming couplets) may or may not be used!
Demonstrate and consolidate how the words of a shape poem create the shape itself, and
that the shape is that of the main focus or theme of the poem.
You may direct pupils to, or they may choose between, a ‘form’ for their poem, either
focussing on the text creating the borders or outline of the shape, or instead writing the text
within the main area of the entire shape or image.
Generate a pupil word bank focussing on synonyms, adjectives and adverbs.
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Using the Printable Vocabulary Cards, divide them up into their single components and place
in a suitable container (or bag) so they cannot be seen. Ask pupils to come up one at a time,
choose a word from the container.
Show the word to the class and ask pupils to brainstorm and offer up alternative synonyms
or additional related, descriptive vocabulary. E.g. vampire = Count Dracula, fangs, bat, cape,
bloodthirsty, scary, castle, Transylvania, eternal life, pale skin, cold, piercing eyes, evil laugh.
Alternatively you could conduct this activity as a ‘game’ where the pupil choosing the word
keeps it hidden and has to use alternative vocabulary to describe what that word is as best as
they can without “giving it away” (including whole sentences, not just individual words) - the
rest of the class have to try and guess exactly what that word is. You could conduct this with
the class arranged in groups or teams, scoring points for the most words guessed correctly.
Pupils could also ‘play’ the above game in pairs or small groups rather than as a whole class
(time and resources permitting).
Once pupils are confident about the requirements for their poetry writing and have generated a
word bank of Halloween vocabulary, ask them to write a poem with varying degrees of simplicity or
complexity depending on class differentiation and pupil targets.
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Hallowe’en: Creative Writing Lesson Ideas & Guidance
4. Lesson Plenary
Once pupils have reached the time limits you place on their independent Main Focus activity [25-30
mins. approx.] the plenary is ideal for pupils to present, share and critique their work to their class
[10-15 mins.].
Remind pupils of any feedback and peer-assessment criteria you have in place:
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‘3 stars and a wish’ technique - suggesting 3 things they see as positive about the work and
one suggestion for improvement.
‘Feedback Sandwich’ technique - presenting one suggestion for improvement within two
positive comments (positive - improvement - positive).
Reinforce the language of peer-assessment - be constructive and specific, consider others’
feelings, use well-constructed grammar/be polite!
“The best bit was when you...” “I like the bit when... but I think the other part could have
been better if...” “I liked the part... but have you thought about...” “The description of that
was brilliant... but I wasn’t sure about the bit when...”
Ensure pupils know what you mean by ‘constructive criticism’!
Celebrate each other’s work and consider making a book or display of their stories/poetry.
National Curriculum teaching and learning expectations: KS2 focus
The following key attainment targets are taken from the English Primary National Curriculum (201314) for KS2. We hope that KS1 teachers may use the guidance and resources provided by adapting
suggested activities and outcomes accordingly.
Writing - Composition (KS2)
 Plan their writing by:
o identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form
and using other similar writing as models for their own
 Draft and write by:
o composing sentences orally, progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary
o organising paragraphs around a theme
o in narratives, creating and describing settings, characters, plot and atmosphere
 Evaluate and edit by:
o assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting
improvements
 Read aloud their own writing and perform their own compositions, to a group or the whole
class, using appropriate intonation
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Hallowe’en: Creative Writing Lesson Ideas & Guidance
Printable Vocabulary Cards
Use subject-specific vocabulary as prompts and/or for differentiation purposes
Halloween
ghoul
festival
celebration
harvest
dead
ghost
pumpkin
sweets
lantern
skeleton
vampire
mummy
bat
spider
witch
broomstick
scary
spooky
dark
damp
grave
graveyard
cemetery
night
moon
bonfire
costume
trick
treat
slimy
freaky
cobweb
dusty
fangs
claws
Halloween
ghoul
festival
celebration
harvest
dead
ghost
pumpkin
sweets
lantern
skeleton
vampire
mummy
bat
spider
witch
broomstick
scary
spooky
dark
damp
grave
graveyard
cemetery
night
moon
bonfire
costume
trick
treat
slimy
freaky
cobweb
dusty
fangs
claws
Halloween
ghoul
festival
celebration
harvest
dead
ghost
pumpkin
sweets
lantern
skeleton
vampire
mummy
bat
spider
witch
broomstick
scary
spooky
dark
damp
grave
graveyard
cemetery
night
moon
bonfire
costume
trick
treat
slimy
freaky
cobweb
dusty
fangs
claws
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New Era Education Ltd.
For use by current DB subscribers.