October 31, many Americans celebrate Halloween by dressing in costumes and telling spooky tales. Children go from house to house鈥攖o “trick or treat”鈥攃ollecting candy along the way. Communities also hold parades and parties.聽Halloween is also known as All Hallow鈥檚 Eve. It originated as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, meaning “summer鈥檚 end.” The autumnal holiday, with elements of magic and mystery, celebrated the link between seasonal and life cycles.聽Halloween, as we know it now, reflects the assimilation of various cultures. Learn more about Halloween with these resources.
Celebrate Halloween with from ReadWriteThink.org.
In , students connect to the oral tradition of epic storytellers by sharing their own oral tales of ghosts and goblins and monsters. Use this “聽told by聽, in the collection,聽.
Read about Halloween traditions and celebrations through newspaper articles found in聽. Start with the articles highlighted in the special topic feature on聽.
Students analyze scary stories to “break the code” of horror writing in and use what they learn to write scary stories of their own. Visit this page for .
Here is a look at the origins of some of the we know today.
Curious about the 起点传媒and Library of Congress connection? Through a grant announced by 起点传媒Executive Director Emily Kirkpatrick, 起点传媒is engaged in new ongoing work with the Library of Congress, and 鈥渨ill connect the ELA community with the Library of Congress to expand the use of primary sources in teaching.鈥 Stay tuned for more throughout the year!
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