×
Login Sign up

Spooky Stories Collection

It’s spooky story SZN! Discover writing resources full of tricks and treats to craft hauntingly good tales.

sort by Down cheveron
Alphabetically Most Popular Recently Added
Grades 3–12
Sparks
Monster Mash Up

by 826 National

Fantasy/SciFi

IT’S ALIVE! In this Spark, students will play a version of the classic Exquisite Corpse activity to create new monster characters.

view
Grades 6–8
Lessons
The Cryptid Convention: Character Creation

by 826 National

Fantasy/SciFi
Informational

Students will act as members of The Cryptid Convention—the world's only secret, not-so-secret society devoted to discussing new cryptids—and write an informational poster about an original cryptid.

view
Grades 6–8
Lessons
Spooky Stories From Around the World

by 826 National

Fantasy/SciFi
Narrative

Spooky stories are universally beloved. Read a selection of spooky stories from countries around the world, and then write your own!

view
Grades 4–8
Sparks
Details Detective

by Julianna Lee Marino, 826NYC

Narrative

In this Spark, students put on their detective hats and sleuth out places to add more details into their writing.

view
Grades 4–8
Projects
Who Ya Gonna Call: Writing Spooky Stories

by Julianna Lee Mariano, 826NYC

Narrative

Calling all ghostbusters! In this project, students will write their own ghost stories, focusing on tone, classic horror tropes, and plot twists.

view
Grades 1–3
Sparks
Spooky, Silly Stories

by 826 National, inspired by Julianna Lee Mariano, 826NYC

Narrative

Calling all ghostbusters! In this Spark, students will learn more about what makes a spooky story and then develop their own creepy characters, with a silly twist.

view
Grades 8–12
Lessons
Talking to Ghosts: Stories in the Cities of the Dead

by Aran Donovan, 826 New Orleans

Informational
Media
Poetry

Students (virtually) explore a local cemetery and write a monologue from a famous person buried there, including facts from their research and imagined details from a mapping exercise.

view
Grades 5–6
Lessons
Misunderstood Monsters

by Lindsay Ringwald, 826LA

Fantasy/SciFi
Narrative

In this lesson, students will imagine a narrative in the form of a craigslist advertisement to showcase a typically scary monster as a down to earth creature.

view
Grades 1–5
Lessons
Me…a Villain?
by Cartoon Network

by Nicolien Buholzer, 826LA

Fantasy/SciFi
Narrative

In this lesson, students consider the perspective of a villain they love to hate. They will create a compelling backstory for the character and write short stories from the villain’s point of view.

view
Grades 11–12
Projects
We Are Here, Walking Towards the Unknown

by Ryan Young, 826 Valencia

Fantasy/SciFi
Narrative
Poetry

Students write personal and fictional narratives inspired by Frankenstein. Prompts include: misunderstood monsters, fears and horrors, a science experiment gone wrong, and rewriting the story.

view
Grades 7–12
Sparks
Ghost Stories with Karen Russell

by Karen Russell, novelist and short story writer

Narrative

A hauntingly good pair of prompts! Students will reconsider the purpose of ghosts by either describing a haunted setting or writing from the perspective of a misunderstood ghost.

view
Grades 5–6
Sparks
Monster Scattergories

by Lindsay Stinson, 826LA

Fantasy/SciFi
Narrative

Students will learn to be empathetic towards those who are different by brainstorming scary characteristics of specific monsters and then developing more positive aspects to their nature.

view
Grades 5–8
Videos
Climactic Cliffhangers with Mac Barnett

by Mac Barnett

Narrative

Mac Barnett, a New York Times-bestselling author of stories for children, illustrates how to end a story...or not.

view
See all