Use this creepy, freaky, and spooky digital short stories unit to engage your students in reading and writing. This is the perfect unit to use around Halloween, but it can be used at any point in the year!
This is a Google resource and students complete all the work on the computer. This works well with distance learning, 1:1 classrooms, remote teaching, Google Classroom, or online education.
INCLUDED IN YOUR PURCHASE:
A SOUND OF THUNDER BY RAY BRADBURY
Send your students back in time to hunt dinosaurs with Ray Bradbury’s short story, "A Sound of Thunder".
Included:
• A 23 slide Google Slide presentation to guide you through the lesson. It includes discussion questions, author biographical information, link to comic book version of the story, answers to questions for whole-class review, information on the Butterfly Effect and descriptive writing.
• 3 slide question assignment for students (includes 3 basic comprehension questions and 5 analysis questions.
• Detailed answer key slide for questions
• Bradbury uses detailed imagery to describe the dinosaur. Students will examine his descriptive writing and write their own paragraph on a different topic. A descriptive writing pre-planning slide and good copy slide are provided.
A full text of the story is not included for copyright reasons. Search “A Sound of Thunder Full Text” on an Internet search engine to find the short story if you do not have a copy.
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THE OPEN WINDOW BY SAKI
Enter Vera's mischievous world of ghost stories with the short story, "The Open Window", by Saki. Included:
• A 32 slide Google Slides presentation that guides you through the lesson. It includes an author biography, discussion questions and answers, analysis notes, and video clips!
• A digital pre-reading vocabulary in context assignment that gives students the background knowledge they need to understand the story.
• A plot diagram assignment where students outline the story according to the plot diagram.
• Digital analysis questions that allow students to dig deeper into the story to show their comprehension and analysis.
• A creative letter writing assignment where students take on the role of Mr. Nutell who writes a letter to his sister after he leaves Vera's house.
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LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER BY ROALD DAHL
This short story has always, without fail, been a hit in every English class I have taught. The students love this story and never see the end coming! Included:
→ A 26 Slide Google Slides presentation that guide you through all elements of the lesson including author biography, discussion questions, analysis (dramatic irony, theme, etc.), a video interpretation, and much more.
→ Digital analysis questions that allow students to show their understanding as well as dig deeper into analyzing the text. A teacher answer key is included.
→ An interactive digital plot diagram assignment where students drag cards to the appropriate place on the plot diagram to reveal a mystery word.
→ A creative digital writing assignment where students take on the role of Mary Maloney and write diary entries at different points in the story.
→ A creative digital assignment where students take on the role of Jack Noonan and fill out a police report after visiting the Maloney household.
→ A 30 minute film version of the story with a comparison assignment.
***Due to copyright restrictions, I am unable to include the full text of the story. You can access the story in many textbooks, or you can search "Lamb To The Slaughter Full Text" in an Internet search engine to locate a printable copy of the story! ***
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THE LANDLADY BY ROALD DAHL
Use Roald Dahl's creepy short story, "The Landlady" to get your middle/high school students in the Halloween spirit! Included:
• 26 Slide Google Slides presentation to guide you through the lesson. It includes author and short story background info, predictions, vocabulary, analysis notes, and much more. • Digital analysis questions that allow students to show their comprehension and analysis of the text.
• An interactive digital vocabulary activity that has students pair examples from the text with challenging terms to their definition to reveal a mystery word.
• A digital character analysis activity where students use text evidence to support character traits for the two main characters.
• A digital newspaper article writing assignment where students write a headline article for what happens to Billy after the story ends.
• A link to watch a film interpretation of the story.
*** Please note that due to copyright reasons, the full text of the story is NOT included. If you would like a copy of the story, you can search "The Landlady Full Text" in an internet search engine. ***
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THE TELL TALE HEART BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
Introduce Edgar Allan Poe's most famous short story, with everything you need to teach "The Tell Tale Heart". Included:
→ A 25 slide Google Slides presentation that will guide you through the entire lesson!
→ Links to two videos which relate to the story
→ The full text of the story
→ Various digital worksheets and activities including:
→ Tell-Tale Heart Literary Terms
→ Figurative Language with answer key slide
→ Tell-Tale Heart Vocabulary
→ Tell-Tale Heart Comprehension Questions with answer key slide
→ Prequel Or Sequel Writing Exercise
→ The Tell-Tale Police Report
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THE MONKEY'S PAW BY W.W. JACOBS
Be careful what you wish for! "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs is a mysterious and frightening tale that is sure to catch your students' attention. Included:
• A 30 slide Google Slides presentation that guides you through all elements of the lesson with an author's biography, discussion questions, analysis, and much more.
• A digital pre-reading vocabulary in context assignment that gives students the background knowledge they need to understand the story.
• Digital analysis questions with 5 analysis questions that allow students to dig deeper into the text.
• A digital character analysis assignment using the "It Says, I Say, And So" method.
• A final digital creative assignment where students finish the cliffhanger by writing an alternate ending to the spooky story.
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THE LOTTERY BY SHIRLEY JACKSON
Have your students examine a horrifying tradition in Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery".
Included:
→ A 25 slide Google Slides presentation that guides you through the lesson with discussion questions, author biography, analysis notes, and much more.
→ Digital analysis questions that allow students to dig deeper into the story and show their comprehension and analysis. Teacher answer key included.
→ A digital symbolism activity that has students look at the significance of objects and names in the story. Teacher answer key included.
→ A link to a film interpretation of the story with a comparison assignment.
→ A digital assignment that has students explore and evaluate a tradition in their own life as a text-to-self connection to the story
→ A final creative digital project where students create a newspaper for this town with a variety of article types (Headline, obituary, letter to the editor etc.)
→ A digital rubric for marking the project.
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