Looking for some engaging lesson plans for the month of October? Middle and high school students can have some holiday fun without sacrificing learning. Here are ten lesson plans to try!
COLOR BY GRAMMAR
Students (and their teachers) need breaks throughout the school year. I use Color by Grammar to add color and fun to station rotations. Students color and relax. . . without realizing they are practicing important concepts. Then, I have easy to display student work for my classroom.
STORY STARTERS
Engage students in meaningful holiday writing activities by incorporating Halloween writing prompts during the month of October. Cut down on grading by helping students select one trait of writing to hone. These spooky story starters are always a hit with secondary students!
SECOND QUARTER PLANNING
In Illinois, I am headed toward the second quarter of school. For grammar lessons, that means that I will be teaching parts of a sentence. In this blog post, I outline my lesson plans for weeks 10-18.
SPOOKY PODCASTS
Do you teach high school students? Help them develop their listening comprehension with this chilling podcast about body farms. Most students haven’t heard of them before, so the topic sparks their curiosity. Use the thought-provoking questions included to guide class discussions. Or, keep it in your back pocket for a high-interest sub day lesson.
BELL RINGERS
My older students often need to hone in on troublesome writing errors such as misplaced modifiers, tricky subject and verb agreement, or pronoun problems. I use bell ringers to start lessons in October, but you could also add those task cards to a gallery activity.
ONE PAGERS
Looking for engaging ways to get students responding to the text? One option that requires critical thinking and literary analysis is the one pager. It’s a refreshing alternative to the traditional essay, and it makes students think in different ways. Read all about some tips for success with literary and informational text one pagers in this blog post.
GROWTH MINDSET
October is the perfect time to check in with your students and model reflection. Use this growth mindset graphic organizer to conference with your students and encourage them as they head toward the end of the semester.
PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE PRINTABLES
Parent-teacher conferences are approaching, and you have some students who don’t love reading. They may be fake reading or just flat out refusing. Parents and guardians can help by reinforcing reading as a priority. Support parents who are interested in creating a positive reading culture at home by giving them this free tip sheet: 12 Fixes to Help Your Child Enjoy Reading.
INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK
Get in the spirit of fall with your interactive notebook pieces. Add “falling” for prepositions to your notebooks to liven up the pages. I’ve even seen teachers turn those pieces into a bulletin board!
VERBALS
In October, you may have already reviewed parts of speech, parts of a sentence, and fragments or run-ons. Next, you may want to dive into verbals. It’s helpful to learn about them before sentence types because students often get verbals and dependent clauses confused. Plus, it’s simple to build verbals into independent reading. Ask students to find participles and participial phrases that are used to enhance sentence variety!