Short Story for Halloween: "The Youngest Doll" 10 Reading Activities

Looking for a fresh short story for Halloween? This magical realism short story, "The Youngest Doll" by Rosario Ferré, is the perfect Halloween story, especially for students who have already read all of the usual "creepy stories".

There are 10 activities to choose from to go along with the story; 4 in-depth activities and 6 mini-project options:

1. Before reading, students complete a webquest that allows them to discover information about the historical and cultural setting of the story "The Youngest Doll" by Rosario Ferré.

2. As students read, they draw pictures of 12 sets of lines from the story to help them create mental images to deepen their understanding of the reading.

3. During and after reading, students select direct quotes that create characterization of each of the 3 main characters.

4. After reading, students explore how the author developed the characters using the cultural setting of the story.

Mini-project options:

5. Create a plot line and theme.

6. Find a related news article and explain the connection to the story.

7. Select audio and visual for a movie based on the story.

8. Write and complete a quiz using 4 levels of questions.

9. Write and/or film a news report explaining events at the end of the story.

10. Create a collage for the tone of the story.

The entire bundle can be completed individually, in pairs or groups, or as a class. Each activity is also stand-alone, so you can pick just one and only take a day for the lesson, or use all of them and extend the lesson for several class periods.

This product does include multiple qr codes so students will need internet access for a lot of the activities.

Several of the mini-projects require online access and/or newspapers and magazines.