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These Spookley the Square Pumpkin activities provide first graders with engaging opportunities to apply reading comprehension skills. This resource helps you turn a familiar read-aloud into meaningful reading practice with story elements, sequencing, character traits, and more. With both printable and digital activities, it’s designed to fit into your existing routines—centers, small groups, or whole-class work.
Students revisit the story through structured, skill-focused tasks in the context of a familiar story. These activities are built for flexible use: add them to your literacy centers, assign them during small groups, or use them as independent tasks throughout the week. With both print and digital formats, it’s easy to support students across different classroom settings and routines.
Printable Activities Include:
Digital Spookley the Square Pumpkin activities available on Google Slides and Boom Cards:
The Spookley the Square Pumpkin digital slides are ready to assign in Google Classroom or Boom Learning, making them an easy option for independent practice or small group work.
For the printables, start small by choosing a few pages to support your current comprehension goals. Or, print additional activities to use throughout the week.
Laminate pieces like the sequencing cards or shape activities for repeated use.
Store your materials in a labeled folder or bin so they’re easy to find next fall—no scrambling required.
This resource includes two digital formats to support independent practice and classroom flexibility:
Google Slides – Each slide includes audio instructions, making it easy for students to follow along independently. Tasks include drag-and-drop sequencing, character analysis, prediction prompts, and more—all designed to reinforce reading comprehension strategies introduced during your whole-group lessons.
Boom Cards – Interactive, self-checking activities that build comprehension. Students can match story events, identify character traits, and sort pumpkin shapes in a game-like environment.
These digital options are ideal for literacy centers, early finishers, or small groups. You can use them on their own or alongside the printable pages to offer consistent skill practice in multiple formats.
Explicit Comprehension Instruction – Students practice key strategies like summarizing, sequencing, and identifying story elements, helping them build a solid foundation for understanding texts.
Text Structure Awareness – Activities follow clear, familiar formats (e.g., “somebody, wanted, but, so, then”), guiding students to recognize and use narrative structures.
Application of Prior Knowledge – Skills like making connections and asking questions encourage students to relate the story to their own lives, which deepens comprehension and supports meaning-making.
Here’s a list of first-grade Common Core standards that the Spookley the Square Pumpkin activities align with:
Reading Literature (RL.1)
RL.1.1 – Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RL.1.2 – Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
RL.1.3 – Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
RL.1.4 – Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
RL.1.5 – Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information.
RL.1.7 – Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
RL.1.9 – Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
Foundational Skills (RF.1)
RF.1.4 – Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Writing (W.1)
W.1.3 – Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.
Speaking & Listening (SL.1)
SL.1.1 – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts.
SL.1.2 – Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
“This was a perfect independent follow-up to our read-aloud. I assigned the Google Slides version, and my students could work through it independently. So easy and 1st-grade friendly!” – Melanie M.
“My students were so engaged! They loved revisiting the story through the activities, and I appreciated how easily I could reinforce key reading skills without having to create anything from scratch.” – Cynthia S.
Turn your favorite October read-aloud into meaningful reading practice, without taking away your prep time. These Spookley the Square Pumpkin activities help students revisit the story while practicing essential skills like sequencing, character traits, and story elements. With both print and digital formats included, you can use them during small groups, centers, or whole-class lessons—whenever you want to reinforce comprehension in a familiar, engaging context.
This resource is part of a fall science and literacy bundle that also includes:
Pumpkin Life Cycle Activities
Printable worksheets and minibooks that help first grade students learn each stage of the pumpkin life cycle through labeling, sequencing, reading, and writing.
Pumpkin Lab Posters
Posters and matching recording forms for a variety of pumpkin experiments, perfect for guiding students through your pumpkin lab day.
When you purchase both the Spookley activities and the Pumpkin Life Cycle resources, you’ll receive the Pumpkin Lab Posters for free. Together, these resources make it easy to plan your fall projects.
20 Best Pumpkin Read-Alouds for First Grade
Pumpkin read-alouds picked for first grade classrooms, perfect for science, pumpkin vocabulary, and reading comprehension.
1st Grade Pumpkin Writing Ideas
Creative writing activities that help students describe, imagine, and explain pumpkin topics.
"I am so happy I signed up for the Literacy Stations Library Card! As a first-grade teacher, finding engaging and effective resources for my students can be a challenge, but this membership has been a game-changer."
"The activities are fun, interactive, and align perfectly with the curriculum standards. I love how easy it is to incorporate them into my lesson plans, and my students have improved their spelling skills significantly since we started using these activities."
23 reviews for Spookley the Square Pumpkin Activities – Comprehension, Writing, and Crafts for First Grade
Donna S. (verified owner) –
Great resource to use with distance learning.
Ann B. (verified owner) –
Cute, my class loved doing it.
Patty K. (verified owner) –
Love it!
Kim H. (verified owner) –
Great book companion activities!
Cristy B. (verified owner) –
Great, kids loved the story
Danielle R (verified owner) –
So cute, thank you! Love how they could hear the directions
Leslie D. (verified owner) –
I love this story, so I was excited to find activities to use virtually!!!
H S (verified owner) –
My students loved it. It was perfect for first grade. Thank you!
Barbara B. (verified owner) –
This was a great follow up activity for my read aloud
Susan D (verified owner) –
The students enjoyed using the pictures to retell. It was a great resource to back up the mini lesson
Holly O. (verified owner) –
This was a good resource to add to my pumpkin unit and Spookley activities.
Kristin S. (verified owner) –
Great Product!!
Kaitlyn B. (verified owner) –
My students loved these activities!
Deborah S. (verified owner) –
This resource was exactly what I needed!
Cynthia S. (verified owner) –
This was a wonderful resource to go along with the book! My first graders LOVED these activities!
stacy G. (verified owner) –
Great resource for the book. Thank you
Denise Y. (verified owner) –
We had so much fun using these activities after watching spookly.
Denise D. (verified owner) –
My kids loved doing Spookley activities!
jana R. (verified owner) –
Thank you for sharing! Love the story and this was a perfect addtion.
Holly H. (verified owner) –
Great resource.
Kirsten F. (verified owner) –
Great companion resource to the book.
Stacy G. (verified owner) –
I love Spookley! My students did too and these activities were great!
Jennifer B. (verified owner) –
Fun and engaging!
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