Halloween Cloze Reading Passages for Vocabulary, Syntax and Comprehension

These HALLOWEEN Cloze Reading Passages encourage students to use context clues and make inferences to determine a sentence’s correct word or phrase. Cloze reading exercises can help to improve reading accuracy and comprehension by focusing on vocabulary and syntax.

INCLUDED IN THIS HALLOWEEN CLOZE READING RESOURCE

• Five Halloween Cloze reading passages (personal narrative and informational)
• Reflection sheet
• Lists of suggested words
• Directions on how to use Cloze reading passages in the classroom.

What is Cloze Reading?

Cloze reading takes the fill-in-the-blank strategy up a notch. It requires a deeper level of comprehension.

In Cloze reading passages, words are selectively removed from the reading passage. Multiple answers may fit the space, requiring students to rely on context clues and their understanding of syntax to determine the suitable options. While there is no one right answer that can fill the space, there are words that fit better than others.

Cloze reading is a great tool to help students draw inferences and promote critical thinking about word choice and syntax.

How Can Teachers Use Cloze Reading Passages in the Classroom?

One way to use a Cloze reading passage is to provide students with a paragraph or passage with blank spaces. Do not provide the words that you would include in the blanks.

1. Have individual students read the passage.
2. Then have them fill in the blanks independently.
3. Have students share their responses with a partner or small group.
4. Then have small groups share with the whole class.
5. Discuss students’ word choice digging into vocabulary, synonyms, context clues, and more.

See this blog post about how Close Reading is different from fill-in-the-blank and sentence frames