No need to trick-or-treat for Halloween resources this October 31st! This 2nd grade History of Halloween nonfiction reading bundle for standards RI.2.1 (ask & answer questions), RI.2.2 (main topic and key details), and RI.2.5 (identify and use text features) has just what you need. Whether they are pumpkin carving or decorating haunted houses, dressing up in costumes or practicing their Halloween traditions, it is important for students to learn about the history of Halloween and where this holiday came from.
Cover important standards with this festive resource all about the history of Halloween. From the Celtic festival of Samhain to All Saints Day, from All Hallows Eve to modern day Halloween dive into the history of Halloween as we know it. There’s nothing scary or spooky about this History of Halloween resource! With three different text levels about the history of Halloween, this lesson is accessible for multiple students. Introduce different types of questions, practice writing your own questions, and answer both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Learn all about text features RI.2.5 with a fun action filled scavenger hunt while also reading about the history of Halloween. Spend the day reviewing major text features (RI.2.5) with a fun text feature task card library scavenger hunt. Learn all about identifying the main topic and supporting details while also reading about the history of Halloween. Coloring pages, exit tickets, and more await you in this fun text feature lesson!
This printable resource bundle has 54 Unique pages and 341 total pages.
Documents are available in full color, ink-saving color, black and white, and ink-saving black and white
Answer sheets are available where applicable
Lesson Plan provided
TELL ME MORE
Introduce the topics with two posters. One decorative poster is the cover for the unit. This poster includes the subject for the unit the history of Halloween with a cute Halloween-themed illustration. There is another poster that introduces the main vocabulary for the unit Halloween. This poster also includes a definition of the word Halloween. This poster is available in a smaller version if you want to save ink. You can use this poster to help you introduce the subject.
The nonfiction text about the The History of Halloween is available in high, mid, and low versions. The text content is the same but the words and sentence structures are different from text to text. Each text has introductions, main body paragraphs, and conclusions. The same vocabulary words are used throughout the texts.
Speaking of vocabulary, there are 16 vocabulary cards. Eight vocabulary words and eight definitions with photos. The words are: jack-o’-lantern, festival, Catholic, Pope, celebration, Saint, ancient, and tradition. These words are used frequently throughout all the resources to make sure kids get lots of practice with them. Play a game such as Pictionary or charades with the cards or reinforce understanding. There is also a vocabulary drawing paper included to help kids visualize the word meanings. Students will chose tricky words and help to visualize the meaning by drawing a picture to help them remember. An additional paper with sentences using the vocabulary words is also included. Students will practice reading the vocabulary words in the sentences. There is also a paper where students can practice filling in the correct vocabulary words to compete a sentence. A word box of the vocabulary words is provided.
What learning goals are addressed in the resources?
RI.2.5 Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text about Halloween efficiently.
This resource includes a Halloween-themed lesson plan for RI.2.5 Know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently. This lesson plan explains how to use all the resources in this lesson. You can, of course, pick and choose which parts of the lesson plan you want to follow. If you have taught a previous version of this lesson using one of my other resources, you will find this layout to be similar.
Introduce RI.2.5 Text Features with a helpful poster which offers a quick review of some major text features. This poster shows each of the features being used on the poster. The poster it customized to fit the theme of the unit, Halloween! You can use this poster to hang in the room as a reminder during the lesson. Or you can hand out it out to students to put in their notebooks or reading binders.
Once kids have reviewed the text features, it’s time to practice. The text feature worksheet offers a quick way for students to check their understanding of text features. Students can circle the text features in the unit’s nonfiction text The History of Halloween. They will then answer the writing prompt which talks about one of the text features found in the text.
Then spend the day reviewing major text features (RI.2.5) with a fun Halloween-themed text feature task card library scavenger hunt (Library not included). Students will search for books with the text feature on their task card. They will record the title of the books on the recording sheet and then get another card. There are 30 unique task cards with words and ideas from the Halloween-themed text.
Early finishers have an Halloween-themed coloring page with a short writing prompt as well. There are three different main topic exit tickets for a quick assessment of student understanding.
RI.2.2 Identify the main topic of the multiparagraph text about Halloween as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.
This resource includes a Halloween-themed lesson plan for RI.2.2 Identify the main topic of the multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text. This lesson plan explains how to use all the resources in this lesson. You can, of course, pick and choose which parts of the lesson you want to follow. If you have taught a previous version of this lesson using one of my other resources, you will find this layout to be similar.
Introduce RI.2.2 Main Topic & Key Details with three definition cards: Main Topic, Key Detail, and Minor Detail. These cards have a Halloween-themed example and cute background. Each card comes in a large version but there is also a one-page printable version that has all three cards on it. You can therefore use these cards as posters to hang in the room as a reminder during the lesson. Or you can hand out the small cards to kids to use in groups or individually.
Once kids know what the main topic, key details, and minor details, it’s time to practice. This resource has a worksheet for students to practice sorting minor details from major details. This sorts include details from the main text about the history of Halloween but sometimes add details as well. An answer sheet is provided. Because it can be somewhat subjective, I allow kids to explain why they thing something is a key detail if they varied from what I thought the answer should be. The important thing is that they understand the core of the concept. It’s not a huge deal if there’s one detail they thing could be sorted differently.
Before we are able to understand the whole text, it’s important we know what a paragraph is about. Next, there is a worksheet where students can work with identifying the topic of different paragraphs. These paragraphs are mostly from the main text about the history of Halloween. They may be reworded slightly to make the topic more obvious. Again there is an answer sheet provided but the answers may vary slightly since this is an open-ended worksheet where they write their own answers.
Now they are ready to read the main text and identify the topic. They can use the adorable the history of Halloween-themed recording sheet to write the main topic and key details for the main text. This recording sheet has space to write the main topic as well as three key details. I tell students that there may be more than three key details, but we only need to record three of the most important. I find that giving them too many details to write often leads to them writing down minor details. I have a student who loves to write details and he often records more than one per box which is also okay. The reason I chose three is because this follows the typical structure of a short text with an introduction, three main body paragraph [3 key details], and conclusion.
Early finishers have an Halloween-themed coloring page with a short writing prompt as well. There are three different main topic exit tickets for a quick assessment of student understanding.
RI.2.1 Ask and Answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Introduce different types of questions, practice writing your own questions, and answer both multiple-choice and open-ended questions.
This resource includes a lesson plan for RI.2.1 Asking and Answering questions. This lesson plan explains how to use all the resources in this lesson. You can, of course, pick and choose which parts of the lesson you want to follow. If you have taught a previous version of this lesson using one of my other resources, you will find this layout to be similar.
Introduce different types of questions with the large question posters and the small question cards. This question cards include a themed background but otherwise are not specific to the text. I purposefully did not include examples specific to this text because I wanted the kids to have the opportunity to generate their own questions for this text without being biased by examples. The examples provided are therefor not related to this text. These question posters include question words who, what, where, when, why, and how.
The history of Halloween-Themed recording sheets are also included. Students are prompted to record their own questions prior to reading. There are six sheets each prompting students to focus on a particular type of question. For example: “Write down 5 “who questions.”” You can have students practice a different type of question with each new resource. Put students in groups and have them focus on asking just one type of question. Or you can have the whole class focus on asking just one type of question. Then rotate them for the next story. Why focus on the type of question? Because sometimes students miss questions because they do not understand what is really being asked. By deconstructing the type of questions, they can better understand what questions are asking them. Writing their own questions is a key part of this.
There are 10 total questions. Five multiple-choice questions and five open-ended questions.
There is a set of multiple-choice questions. These questions are about the included text The History of Halloween. These include 5 questions with 4 multiple choice answers each. There are answer sheets available for this set of questions.
There is also a set of open-ended questions which also include 5 different questions. Students will write their own answers for these questions. These questions are also about the included text The History of Halloween. There are answer sheets available for this set of questions but it should be understood that some of the open-ended questions can be a little flexible with the correct answers especially with why questions.
Early finishers have a Halloween-themed coloring page with a short writing prompt as well. There are three different ask and answer questions exit tickets for a quick assessment of student understanding.
This printable resource bundle has 54 Unique pages and 341 total pages.
Documents are available in full color, ink-saving color, black and white, and ink-saving black and white
Answer sheets are available where applicable
Lesson Plan provided
WHAT'S INSIDE?
This Printable Resource includes:
1 Halloween-Themed Unit Cover Poster
Questions Lesson Plan for RI.2.1
Main Topic Lesson plan RI.2.2
Text Feature Lesson Plan RI.2.5
1 Large Halloween-Themed Poster
1 Halloween themed Nonfiction Reading Text about The History of Halloween [on 3 reading levels high, mid, low]
16 Vocabulary Cards [8 word cards, 8 definition cards] *Some resources have more vocabulary than others
1 Vocabulary Visualization Paper for the history of Halloween
1 Read the Vocabulary Word Paper for the history of Halloween
1 Fill in the Vocabulary Word Paper for the history of Halloween
History of Halloween-Themed Text Features Worksheet
History of Halloween-Themed Text Features Poster
Directions for Library Task Card Scavenger Hunt
30 Unique History of Halloween-Themed Library Scavenger Hunt Task Cards
Library Scavenger Hunt Recording Paper
Early Finisher Halloween-Themed Coloring Page Writing Prompt
3 History of Halloween-Themed Text Features Exit Tickets
3 Definition Cards [Main Topic, Key Detail, Minor Detail]
History of Halloween-Themed Key Details/ Minor Details Sort
History of Halloween-Themed Identify the Topic of Paragraphs Worksheet
History of Halloween-Themed Main Topic and Key Details Recording Paper
Early Finisher Halloween-Themed Coloring Page Writing Prompt
3 History of Halloween-Themed Ask and Answer Questions Exit Tickets
6 Large Types of Questions Posters
6 Small Types of Questions Cards
6 Ask a Question Recording Sheets for History of Halloween
1 Set of 5 Multiple-choice Questions for History of Halloween Text
1 Set of 5 Open-ended Questions for History of Halloween Text
Early Finisher Halloween-Themed Coloring Page Writing Prompt
3 History of Halloween-Themed Ask and Answer Questions Exit Tickets
This printable resource bundle has 54 Unique pages and 341 total pages.
Documents are available in full color, ink-saving color, black and white, and ink-saving black and white
Answer sheets are available where applicable
Lesson Plan provided
The Text level can be compared with: 2nd grade, age 7-8, lexis 810, AR 2.5, DRA 28, Fountas & Pinnell L, reading recover 20, PM readers 22 gold
This unit was originally made for 2nd grade but can be used with many elementary grades and possibly even an advanced preschooler.
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