Short Story Unit Plan - Scary and Surprising Stories - Lessons and Assignments

Short Story Unit Plan - Scary and Surprising Stories - Lessons and Assignments: Elevate your English class with this chilling and thrilling short story unit, guaranteed to send shivers down your students' spines! Perfect for Halloween or any time of the year, this collection of scary and surprising stories will captivate and engage your students. Explore the dark and mysterious world of suspenseful, creepy, and spooky tales with handpicked stories that are sure to keep your students on the edge of their seats with twists to unexpected turns. These stories promise to be a hit with your students!

What Teachers Are Saying About This Scary and Surprising Short Story Unit:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ These plans are amazing. Everything is laid out for the teacher and there are more than enough activities to accompany each story. Thank you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My students have loved the short story selections and get super excited when I announce we are doing another spooky short story. Also the activities for each short story are perfect and creative ways to engage students in literary analysis.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ There were so many stories to choose from which means that I can use it year after year! I loved the presentations and the students enjoyed the activities. It was a fun way to engage the students near Halloween while still working on their skills. Thanks!

Included in This Scary and Surprising Short Story Unit:

➡️ A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury: Send your students back in time to hunt dinosaurs with Ray Bradbury’s short story. The 23-slide PowerPoint presentation provides a guided exploration of the story, featuring discussion questions, author background, a link to the comic book adaptation, and insights into the Butterfly Effect and descriptive writing. Accompanying the presentation are analysis questions and a descriptive writing assignment.

➡️ The Open Window by Saki: Enter Vera's mischievous world of ghost stories with the short story, The Open Window, by Saki. Included is a 32-slide PowerPoint presentation that guides you through the lesson, featuring author biography, discussion questions with answers, analysis notes, and enriching video clips. Engage students in pre-reading preparation with the vocabulary in context assignment, and have them analyze plot with the plot diagram assignment. Foster critical thinking and analysis skills with thought-provoking analysis questions and finish off with a creative letter-writing assignment, where students step into the shoes of Mr. Nutell.

➡️ Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl: Introduce your students to the fascinating fiction of Roald Dahl with this creepy short story. This short story package has everything you need to teach Lamb To The Slaughter and includes resources to assess student understanding, as well as get them working on their creativity and writing skills with reading comprehension questions, a plot diagram, a diary entry writing assignment, a fake police investigation report, and more.

➡️ The Landlady by Roald Dahl: Dive into the chilling world of Roald Dahl's "The Landlady" with this comprehensive short story unit resource. The 26-slide PowerPoint presentation serves as your guide, featuring discussion questions, author background, and analysis. Engage students with analysis questions, a vocabulary activity, and a characterization assignment. Inspire creativity with a newspaper article writing assignment, challenging students to craft a headline article for Billy's post-story fate.

➡️ The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe Short Story Unit has everything you need to teach the classic work of gothic fiction by Edgar Allen Poe and includes resources to assess student understanding, as well as get them working on their creativity and writing skills. You'll find the full text of the story, a figurative language activity, vocabulary, comprehension questions with answer keys, a prequel or sequel writing exercise, a police report activity and more, as well as a PowerPoint presentation to lay the unit out for you.

➡️ The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs: Be careful what you wish for! The 30-slide PowerPoint presentation serves as your roadmap, providing an author's biography, discussion questions, and in-depth analysis. Have students complete a vocabulary activity and an analysis questions assignment. Then, encourage students to dive deeper into the text. Utilize the "It Says, I Say, And So" method to guide character analysis. Finally, spark creativity with a captivating creative assignment where students craft alternate endings to the spine-chilling narrative.

➡️ The Lottery by Shirley Jackson: Have your students examine a horrifying tradition in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery. The 25-slide PowerPoint presentation serves as your guide, offering discussion questions, author biography insights, and analysis notes to deepen understanding. Students will complete analysis questions and a symbolism assignment to explore the names of people, places, and objects. Students will watch a film version and compare it to the short story. Then, they will explore and evaluate a tradition in their own lives. Finally, ignite creativity with a captivating newspaper project, where students craft a variety of article types capturing the essence of the story's town.

Please Note: We are not permitted to include the stories for copyright reasons, but they can easily be found online by searching the title + full text. Please reach out if you need help finding a story.

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