Learning Network: 10 Writing Prompts for Spooky Season
Plus: Civics, gaming and teens’ ideal schools
The Learning Network
October 14, 2025

Good morning! Spooky season is in full swing and we’ve got you covered — with writing prompts, scary science, decorating tips, movie and book recommendations, and the answer to at least one ethical question about trick-or-treating. — The Learning Network

Spooky Season in the Classroom

A dark, nighttime scene of Halloween decorations, featuring a large, glowing spiderweb and spiders made of lights above a field of illuminated, carved pumpkins.
Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times

We love October. The crisp weather, the changing leaves, the harvest festivals, and, maybe most of all, the bounty of New York Times Halloween content we can turn into curriculum.

This year we’ve got 10 Prompts for Talking and Writing About Halloween, which, together with our previous 25 Picture Prompts for Writing Scary Stories, should be enough to keep your students reading, writing, thinking and talking through the 31st.

Need more? You can find inspiration across The Times, whether via Decorating Tips From People Who Take Halloween Very Seriously in Real Estate; Great Haunted House Novels or 30 Classic Horror Movies to Stream or 13 Scary Good Halloween Songs in the Arts section; a podcast on Why Horror Movies Are Good for You from the Culture desk; or a burning question — “Can I Give Out Full-Size Candy Bars to Children on Halloween?” — recently posed to The Ethicist.

Happy haunting, and don’t forget to check out one more scary student activity, below.

Recent Times Reporting on Education

A teacher stands in a classroom of teenagers and gestures toward a large screen.
Michael Martiron, who teaches advanced placement government and politics in New Jersey, said he has been more careful since 2016. iCivics

More Ways to Teach With The Times

An illustration of a gamer with a headset.
Iris de Moüy
  • Writing Prompts: Boys are spending more time gaming. Is that a problem? What are your biggest pet peeves? What animal would you like to learn more about? And, can you tell a story, real or made up, about this image?
  • Curriculum Connection: Has your class posted questions for this month's guest journalist, Jessica Grose, who writes about Gen Z trends? If not, they have until Oct. 15, after which Ms. Grose will respond.
  • Visual Literacy: Nearly 800 commenters found this image irresistible. Before you scroll down to the “reveal,” what do you think is going on in this picture?
  • Vocabulary Words: Can your students use iconoclast, tact or turgid in a sentence?

An Activity for Your Students: Scary Science

Four photos of animals and insects, including snakes and a spider.

In case you still need seasonal inspiration, we’re bringing back a classic: Haunting Ideas: Halloween-Themed Teaching and Learning With The New York Times, published back in 2017.

Among the many evergreen ideas:

Watch the five short videos — all under two minutes — in the Science Times collectionSpooky Science Stories, Just in Time for Halloween,” then take a classroom poll to decide which was creepiest.

Next, read the Trilobites article “A Scaredy-Cat’s Investigation Into Why People Enjoy Fear” to learn about how “each person’s threshold for experiences that provoke fear is made up of a unique recipe that blends nature and nurture.” Invite students to underline the lines or descriptions in the piece that ring true for them, either because they describe their own relationship to fear and thrill-seeking, or because they reminds them of someone else they know.

Then, invite students to do their own investigations into one of the ideas in this article, perhaps by researching the role of dopamine in thrill-seeking; by observing social conditioning and fear; or by interviewing others to learn more about fear-seeking as a way of testing oneself.

See What Teens Are Saying About Redesigning School

A hallway at the Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School. A picture of the New York Knicks player Earl Monroe is on the wall.
The Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School opened four years ago with a mission to turn one of the most popular youth sports into an inspiration for students. Elias Williams for The New York Times

We asked, “If you could create your own school, what would it be like?,” and we know you’ll be interested in all our favorite answers. But 17-year-old Tyra Wideman-Melton sums up her ideas on a theme that many students echoed:

If I could design a school, I would create one focused on life skills and careers. Not every student can to go to college, so my school would help students learn how to succeed in the world. There would be classes on personal finance, cooking, car maintenance, job skills, and mental health. I would like people from the community to come in and teach students on what their job is like. After school activities would be internships and volunteer work. The cafeteria would teach students on how to cook and plan budget friendly meals.

Students at my school would be ready to take care of themselves and make smart choices by the time they graduate.

Tyra Wideman-Melton, Cumberland Polytechnic High School, Fayetteville, N.C.

We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to LNfeedback@nytimes.com. More next week.

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