FREE Halloween Writing Activity with Rubric

Free Halloween Writing Activity with Rubric

The month of October is full of exciting fall and Halloween activities in the classroom. From pumpkins to witches – there are always so many fun things to choose from! You probably have that one lesson you teach every year at this time. For me, we always write book reviews on our favorite books and display them in the hall for others to see. It is our hope, as a classroom, that we inspire other students to read one (or more) of our favorite books.

Halloween Themed Book Reviews

I call this writing activity “Wrapped Up in a Good Book” and you can download it for free from my store. In this lesson, we discuss opinion writing – also referred to as argumentative writing for upper grades. I always teach the traits of opinion writing such as…

  • focusing on the reasons – why or why not
  • giving reasons and evidence to support your opinions
  • using opinion starters and phrases, etc…

Students choose their favorite book and either check it out from the school library, classroom library, or bring it from home. Then, they fill out a brief book review sheet.

This is also a great time to review fiction vs. non-fiction and the many different genres of writing. I also show students how some of their chosen books fit into more than one genre category.

After that, students use the book review form to write a summary and review of their book. This form includes the same types of questions asked on the book review sheet, so students basically just fill in the blanks (using their *best* handwriting). I always print students a small book cover to glue on their book review. I print the book covers as wallet size – 2 x 3 images and they fit perfectly! I back their book review with colored construction paper and students give their book a star rating by coloring in 1 to 5 stars (with 5 being the best).

This is a book review sheet students can use to write reviews of their favorite books.
This activity makes a great October bulletin board, too!
Free Halloween Writing Activity with Rubric

Halloween Themed Book Reviews (EDITABLE VERSION)

This year I tried something new. I created an editable book review form so that students could type their book reviews. This editable version is not included in the free download in my store, BUT you can download it for free here! Aren’t you glad you stopped by? 🙂

Click HERE to download the free editable template.

This is a free download of an editable book review form for students.

I wasn’t sure how well the editable version would work, but I was definitely pleased with the results! Students did an excellent job typing their book review and we’re very proud of their end result.

This is an editable PDF for students to use while writing book reviews.

Hopefully, you can incorporate this short seasonal writing activity into your October lesson plans. You will need to download the entire product from my store here. If you want to use the editable version also – click here.  Happy Halloween!

I also have November and December book reviews. Click on the images below to take a closer look!

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Free Halloween Writing Activity with Rubric

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