Lessons/Animated Halloween Card 🎃

Animated Halloween Card 🎃

Coding and Technology

Students compose a Halloween greeting, reveal it with a text effect, add music, and code both a click reaction and a sequenced character journey.

Pacing
1 class · 30 min
Grade
Grade 3
Opens a private practice project in the Studio — no account needed.
Teacher's Kit included — Lesson Plan · Student Kit · Answer Key · Rubric · See what's inside
Animated Halloween Card 🎃

Lesson cover illustration

Standards-aligned
CCSS · ELACSTAISTEDOK 3
Lesson at a glance
?
?Essential question

How do artists communicate emotion without words?

Students will be able to
  • Create Halloween cards featuring captivating designs and messages.
  • Code animations using functions in sequence and parallel.
  • Add background music to enhance the interactive experience.
Key vocabulary
animatorglidedroop
Assessment
Formative
Use milestone checks, organizer responses, and daily test evidence to guide feedback.
Summative
The greeting is concise, audience-aware, and supported by a consistent Halloween mood. The text reveal, background music, click bounce, and movement sequence each work and have a clear communication purpose.
The student journey

From reading to an interactive project

Elementari is a browser-based tool for creating illustrated, interactive stories and projects. Students plan their writing in the Student Kit, then add it to a digital project in the editor, called Studio.

1
📖

Read

The reading provides background knowledge or a model of writing for students to draw on. The lesson plan explains its connection to the project.

📖The Lamp That Learned to Feel

In 1986, audiences watched a short film starring two desk lamps. Not talking lamps. Not lamps with faces. Just two ordinary metal lamps — a big one and a little one — playing with a ball. And somehow, everyone understood everything. The lit…

Sourcespixar.comoscars.org
Read the full passage
2
✏️

Write & plan

Students use the Student Kit's storyboard to plan and draft their project. Choose High Support, Guided Support, or Independent to adjust the writing scaffolds.

Student mission

Create an animated Halloween card where every bounce shows a feeling.

2Student Kit · sneak peek
High Support
Wishing you a ___ (feeling) night full of ___ (Halloween details)!
Key Words from the Passageanimatorglidedroop
Glossary  a kid-friendly definition for every key term
3
🎨

Design & code

The main eventvaries by project

In the studio, students bring the project to life — adding art and following the exact writing and coding steps shown below. The Studio Compass walks them through it, one step at a time.

🧭Studio CompassStep 1 / 4
Design Your Card 🎨
Pick two Halloween pals like a witch and a ghost. Set a fun backdrop and write a catchy message.
Key words — tap to learnon page start block
Each step checks off & advances on its own
All 4 studio steps · dynamic to the project
1Design Your Card 🎨
2Animated Text and Music
3Character's Bouncy Adventure 🎈
4Character Moves Along 🕺
4
🔁

Polish

ongoing

Teacher and peer feedback pin right onto the project — students revise until it's ready to share.

Feedback on the project2 pins
🍎
Add one more sentence here so readers get the full picture.
👍 2Teacher
A
The interaction is clear — it helps the reader follow the project!
⭐ 3Peer
One-tap repliesNice work!Add detail
5
🚀

Publish

The payoff

Students finish and test their projects. Work submitted through a class goes to the teacher for review; publishing a project makes it public with a shareable link.

🎉When a project is published
A project made by your student
PublishedPublic project link
The Teacher's Kit

The printables that power the build

Open these resources as web pages, then use Print to print them or save a PDF. The Student Kit supports the writing; Studio provides the on-screen build steps.

Open print-ready resources
Start hereTeacher-facing

Lesson Plan

Your teaching plan: learning goals, lesson timing, discussion questions, assessment and coaching notes. Students follow the build steps in Studio.

Web page - print or save as PDF
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Before you teach

Prep before class

A couple of things to gather, a few quick steps to prep — then you're ready to hand it to students.

What you need
  • One device per student or pair
  • Internet connection
  • Student Kit or printed organizer
  • A device per student or pair
  • Headphones or speakers
Prep before class
  1. 1Preview the designated builder story.
  2. 2Review the ordered milestones and Student Kit.
  3. 3Decide whether students work independently or in pairs.
Teacher background

What you need to know

Key terms
animator
an artist who makes drawings or objects appear to move
glide
to move smoothly, without stopping or bouncing
droop
to bend or hang down, the way something sad looks
Watch for these misconceptions
✕
Several effects compete for attention at the same moment. → Choose the greeting as the first focal point and delay or remove competing motion.
✕
The movement sequence jumps or sends the character off the page. → Test each point separately and check the order and destination before combining the blocks.
Standards alignment

Aligned to the standards you teach

Every task maps to a specific standard, so planning and reporting are covered.

Tracking 7 frameworks: Common Core ELA, Common Core Math, NGSS +4
21st-century skillsCritical ThinkingCommunicationCreativityCoding
CCSS · ELA4CSTA4ISTE83 frameworks · 16 standards · DOK 3
CCSS · ELA
Common Core State Standards — English Language Arts
4 standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.5

With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

Also addressedCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.6 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.5
CSTA
CSTA K–12 Computer Science Standards
4 standards
1B-AP-15

Test and debug a program or algorithm to ensure it runs as intended.

Also addressed1B-AP-13 · 1B-AP-11 · 1B-AP-17
ISTE
ISTE Standards for Students
8 standards
ISTE 1.4.a

Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts, or solving authentic problems.

ISTE 1.4.c

Students develop, test, and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.

ISTE 1.6.d

Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.

ISTE 1.5.d

Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

Also addressedISTE 1.1.c · ISTE 1.6.b · ISTE 1.6.c · ISTE 1.5.c

Full task-by-task mapping — including Depth of Knowledge — is in the answer key.

Differentiation & accessibility

Choose the writing support

These are the three support options in the Student Kit. Choose the scaffolds students need while keeping the same project.

High Support

More writing scaffolds
  • Sentence frames break the response into manageable parts
  • Supplied words and ideas help students get started
  • Students still have space to write their responses

Guided Support

A starting point for writing
  • Task prompts and selected sentence starters
  • Writing cues and word banks where supplied
  • Space to develop each response

Independent

Less scaffolding
  • The same project and required writing tasks
  • Open response space without the support frames
  • Students develop their own wording
Accessibility, built inPredictable step-by-step structureOne task at a time · Studio CompassHighlighted response areasLow-stimulation printMovement-friendly pacingDesigned so every student can design, write, and code — with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia in mind.
Questions

Teacher FAQ

Do I — or my students — need to know how to code?

No prior coding knowledge is required to start. Students follow on-screen build steps in Studio. Coding difficulty describes the project's complexity; teachers may still need to help students test and revise. The lesson plan supports teaching, and the Answer Key provides sample writing responses.

How long does this lesson take?

About 40, paced into 45-minute class periods. You can spread it out or compress it — students pick up where they left off, so it doesn't have to finish in one sitting.

What devices does this lesson work on?

Use a Chromebook, laptop, desktop or tablet with a modern browser and an internet connection. The project editor does not support phones. Try the build on your class devices before teaching.

What is Studio Compass?

Studio Compass is the step-by-step guide inside the Studio. It shows students what to do next, identifies the exact coding blocks they need, and confirms completed milestones so they can keep moving independently.

How does this lesson support different learners?

The Student Kit has High Support, Guided Support and Independent writing profiles. They change the amount of scaffolding for the same project. Choose a profile in the kit before printing, and use the lesson plan's differentiation suggestions.

Ready when you are

Bring this lesson to your class

Import your class, assign in one click, and watch them build — the whole kit comes with it.

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Animated Halloween Card 🎃
Grade 3 · 1 class · 30 min