Somehow it’s October! I feel like the routines are just starting to feel tighter and things are picking up momentum. The first summative assessment of the year is coming up soon. But after that, what? Halloween, that’s what! Candy, costumes and chaos. Do I lose their attention and watch the routine crack and fall away, or lose my mind trying to hang on to those things? Nope - neither! Why, you ask?

Because I use the #1 Best Movie Talk for October to keep them engaged and acquiring.

Closet Space has everything teens want: creepy dolls, suspenseful dark scenes, weird silence, and possible mutant clones.

I thought about how to share my strategies for getting the most out of this movie talk and out came a truly fabulous unit plan to get you through the weeks leading up to Halloween - loaded with essential vocab on everyone’s must-teach list.

Start with prepositions of place, because this movie is PERFECT for them. Where’s the doll? On top of the shelf, inside the closet, outside the closet, to the right, to the left…and so on. I use the chat mat and a picture talk (see below!) to help my kiddos acquire them quickly with support. The vocab word work helps them review high-frequency structures like tiene, abre, cierra, pone, busca, se divierte, and tiene miedo.

So how do I make this gem last a week or more?

Extension activities, aka gamified reading!

• Agarra el Número - kids read and translate in small groups line by line, then race to find the number of the

  line before another group gets it! Re-read AND practice numbers at the same time!

• Story Game Cards - 5 or more different variations to read, review and play with these 36 game cards

• Tres - En - Raya Conversando - I use this one last because it’s output-based, but it’s super sheltered for success.

  It’s great to use if you want to cold-call (I do this after TONS of practice) and do speaking formatives.

If I time it right, I wrap up this movie talk unit by about October 27, so that I’ve got time to introduce Día de los Muertos and do the scavenger hunt and calavera project I love. Plus, we can do a compare and contrast between the products and practices of Halloween and DDM - why is one creepy and the other reverent?

I hope this helps give you an idea and spark of enthusiasm heading into what can be a daunting month! I’d love to hear from you - have you ever used Closet Space? How do you typically do October in your classroom?

Wishing you all the very best,

Catherine 👻

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