Besides Christmas time, Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year! Why? It gives us so many fun opportunities in and out of the classroom. Students love learning about spooky things such as spiders, bats, and monsters! Decorations are fun to display and there are lots of great outing experiences to partake in. I also love putting out all of my favorite Halloween mentor texts for the students to read! Come check out some of my favorites to add to your classroom!
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Halloween Mentor Text #1: Los Gatos Black on Halloween
Los Gatos Black on Halloween is absolutely an adorable bilingual story perfect for sharing all of the Halloween goodness that is Halloween. Best of all, the story is written in poetry! The witches ride their broomsticks, and the monsters throw a ball in the Haunted Hall. The mummies come out of their coffin and the skeletons rattle their bones as they dance through the door. So many pieces of Halloween to explore in this beautifully illustrated story!
Since this adorable story is written with Spanish words sprinkled throughout, it’s a fantastic book to use this October to practice context clues! On each page, students can use the clues to identify the translation of the Spanish word in the context of the story. Perfect for making a chart during a mini-lesson or filling in a graphic organizer during a small group lesson! Definitely make sure this book is part of your curriculum this spooky season!
Mentor Text #2: The Spider and the Fly
The Spider and the Fly is such a unique story that surprises my students every time I read it. This is the classic tale of the battle between a spider and a fly. Throughout the story, written all in poetry, the spider persuades the fly to come into his house. He tells her about his amazing staircase and all of the curious things she will find inside. However, the fly is smarter than the spider and denies him, for she knows what will happen to her if she says yes. Think the story is going to have a happy ending? Think again! You’ll have to read the story to find out why!
This beautifully written story is written all in rhymes and includes a unique and sophisticated level of vocabulary for students to read and understand. I would highly recommend using this book to teach rich vocabulary to your class and how it enhances the story experience. Go through and pick out words that are unique and unusual and have students discuss why the author used those words and how they help bring the story to life! Can the students write their own version of the spider and the fly using unique vocabulary words?
Halloween Mentor Text #3: How to Make Friends with a Ghost
How to Make Friends with a Ghost is an adorable story of a 2nd person account explaining step by step on how anyone can be friends with a ghost. The very specific steps walk the reader through everything they need to know about ghosts, how to find them, how to talk to them, what to do with them, and more. This is an adorable story for students of any age to help give your Halloween time a fun spin on something spooky!
Since the story is written in 2nd person, this is a great book to read and discuss point of view. It’s quite difficult to find books written in 2nd person to give the reader a full reading experience in this specific point of view. Students can find lots of evidence to support the point of view and even can discuss how the book would be different if written in 1st person or 3rd person. Makes a fun and unique writing activity after reading!
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Mentor Text #4: Stumpkin
If you are looking for a new Halloween favorite, look no further! Stumpkin is one of the cutest Halloween mentor texts you’ll find, I promise! Stumpkin is a story about a group of pumpkins set out at a small shop in a big city. It’s almost Halloween and all of the pumpkins are excited to have a special home to be displayed for the holiday. They stand proud and ready on their spot, but one pumpkin notices he’s a bit different than the others. He is missing a stump. Who would want a pumpkin without a stump? Over the week all of the other pumpkins get picked up and brought to their new homes, but not Stumpkin. Finally, Halloween day comes and Stumpkin is still left until one special person comes to pick him up. Will Stumpkin has his happy Halloween ending?
This is the perfect book to teach main idea to your students this October! The story has a clear plot with many supportive details.
Halloween Mentor Text #5: Sir Simon
I don’t know who laughed more at this book, me, or my own kids. But Sir Simon is definitely a new favorite of the family’s Halloween mentor texts! This adorable and beautifully illustrated story is about a ghost who finally gets to haunt their first house. And he is so excited because he finds out that it’s old people moving in, the easiest to haunt! But what he finds out is there’s a kid in the house too! He convinces the kid to help him haunt the house in hopes to get out of doing all of the work, but the kid isn’t too good at being a ghost! Grab this book and read to find out how the kid and Sir Simon become great friends!
This book is perfect to teach compare and contrast or even perspective. The ghost and the child both have chores to do throughout the book. The two characters have a lot in common but many important differences as well. You can easily use this information to teach compare and contrast with the story or use it as a quick perspective lesson as well!
Mentor Text #6: Pumpkin Jack
Pumpkin Jack is a classic story to read every October! The story is about a young boy who carves a pumpkin and names him, Jack. He loves Jack but as the weeks go on, Jack seems to be changing. He is beginning to rot. So the boy takes Jack and places him in a spot by the tree for the winter. The next spring, after all of the snow has melted, he notices some seeds on the ground. He plants them and can’t believe what he finds!
This is such an adorable story and a perfect storyline to help teach sequencing to students! Each event in the story is important to the plot and provides great practice for students to put together the events back in order. I know your students will want to hear this story over and over again this October!
Halloween Mentor Text #7: The Pomegranate Witch
It isn’t October without children being frightened of someone in the house down the street, right!? The Pomegranate Witch is just that story! The kids in this classic Halloween tale are afraid of the witch who protects her pomegranate tree but the kids are so thirsty for that fruit that they will do anything to get a taste! From hiding out and battling the witch herself, read to find out who wins!
This is a great story to help teach plot! The story provides many different important events as well as a very specific climax to the story! It’s great to break down and identify each event that creates the plot and which events are important and which are unimportant! A perfect mini-lesson this Halloween!
I hope you found new Halloween mentor texts to add to your classroom collection! If you are looking for Fall or November mentor texts, make sure to check those out too! Make sure to hop back up and grab your FREE print/digital graphic organizers to use with these or any Halloween books this season! If you want to save this post for later, just pin the image below!