Evaluate general reading comprehension, facilitate vocabulary development, and support the development of critical thinking skills with this bundle of formative assessments covering Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Graves and Goblins,” a piece of special appeal to high school students interested in Halloween, supernatural fiction, and the relationship between the living and the dead. A plot-based quiz, a close reading analysis worksheet, a vocabulary application activity, a crossword puzzle, a word search game, the public domain narrative, and answer keys are included. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats.

By engaging with these materials, students will perform the following tasks:

• Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
• Define words and phrases as they are used in the text
• Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
• Choose the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences
• Infer the intended effects of the author’s word choices and narrative techniques
• Discern tone in context
• Classify the narrative as an example of a particular genre
• Examine how characters think, behave, interact, and develop
• Apply knowledge of literary devices with an emphasis on metaphor, euphemism, personification, and more