Free Halloween Reader's Theater for Grades 3–5

Looking for a free Halloween reading activity that still gives students meaningful ELA practice? This focused Grades 3–5 collection brings together five free Reader's Theater resources, each built around a different classroom need: mystery and comprehension, whole-class casting, a non-scary fall alternative, reading fluency, and support for ELL/developing readers.

Choose the best fit for your class

  • The Whispering Pumpkin — a six-role Halloween mystery with a Grade 3 focus, clues, comprehension, text evidence, and character growth.
  • The Great Halloween Parade Debate — a whole-class option with 14 meaningful roles for teachers who want one shared performance instead of several small groups.
  • One Wagon, Eight Booths — a not-scary fall Reader's Theater and Halloween-week alternative built around planning, priorities, routes, and problem solving.
  • Five Minutes to Air — a Grades 4–5 Halloween fluency script with purposeful repeated reading and a 3-day Fluency Rehearsal Tracker.
  • Whose Costume Is This? — an easy-to-read Halloween script with short oral turns, repeated language frames, and ELL/developing-reader support.

What the free resources include

Each product includes a 10-scene Reader's Theater script, an Original Mini Reader, an Accessible Mini Reader, vocabulary in context, comprehension questions, challenge questions, a 20-question multiple-choice quiz, answer keys, self-grading Google Forms support, and teacher guidance for pacing and differentiation.

Use these resources for October ELA, fluency practice, whole-class or small-group performance reading, intervention, review, centers, enrichment, or an emergency sub-plan folder.

Need Halloween resources for additional grade bands or gothic/horror titles? Browse the full Halloween Reader's Theater collection.