Middle-school students are still obsessed with Halloween. Take advantage of their interest in this fun holiday with Wixie ideas that meet essential learning goals. Here are six ideas for Wixie projects that will get your middle-school learners engaged in the curriculum and creating to learn.

Creating blackout poetry encourages students to practice close reading and see how word choice affects meaning. The Curriculum Activities library includes a folder of familiar Literature excerpts students can use to create these fun and unique poems, including one from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

To write a blackout poem, students cover up words until the leftover words on a page form a poem. Students can add original artwork or even stickers from the Image library to capture the essence of their poem. Challenge students to use images to further enhance the meaning of their words. 

You can find more blackout poetry templates by using the keyword “blackout” or by browsing the Blackout Poetry folder in the Curriculum Activities library.

October is also National Book Month! Combine literature your students are reading with Halloween and encourage students to create an autopsy report to delve into what motivates the behaviors and attitudes of a character in their story.

The book layout in Wixie makes it easy for students to create spooky graphic novels that are perfect for Halloween. The picture format and lighter text requirements of a graphic novel will appeal to your reluctant and more advanced writers to further develop their writing skills.

Ask students to develop their own unique graphic novel to share. If students need a little push, give them prompts such as:

Students can use the Book project prompt options to author a graphic novel from a blank canvas or use one of the spooky book templates available.

Introduce your students to the surrealist artwork of Hieronymus Bosch, whose work depicts themes that represent the good and bad in the world. Since many of his pieces are disturbing, you may want to share his work through Nancy Willard’s Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch.

Use Wixie to have students develop their own surrealist artwork. Wixie’s Paint tools include symmetry options, allowing students to paint an outline for a scary juxtaposition.

Once the artwork is finished, use Willard's model to have students write quatrain poetry to further describe their spooky scenes.

Folklore is filled with mythical creatures like the cyclops, sasquatch, Chupacabra, and gorgon. Halloween is a perfect time to dive into the creatures of ancient myths and legends. Have students craft an interview with a mythical beast to explore perspective and better understand events in a story.

Use a cluster diagram that includes evidence from text to capture ideas about the character and events.

When they are ready to write, inspire them to consider questions like:

Have students write answers to each question as if they were the mythical beast. Encourage them to use quotes and evidence from the text to demonstrate close reading and comprehension.

Students can use Wixie to create scenes for each question and answer, along with thought bubbles. Students can also use the microphone tool or a talkie widget to use voice to ask questions and/or respond in character.

Twice as many kids are killed while walking on Halloween as on any other day of the year. While your middle school learners might not go trick-or-treating, they can help keep other kids safe.

To inspire students, have them simply create a fun protagonist using the costume design template. Then have them use that character to create safety messages and public service announcements to share with the community. 

Students can use Wixie to easily design and share animated GIFs on their phones or videos that can be embedded on the school website or shared on local access television.

Spooky characters can help students develop empathy skills as they view the world through their characters' eyes. Approaching empathy through silly monsters is a great way to provide a safe space to practice and discuss emotions and feelings.

No matter what you choose to do, take advantage of your middle schooler's passion and independence by asking them to create, design, and share work with a public audience.