The Schoolhouse

Free Fall Word Ladders, Grades 1 to 5

Try five free fall word ladders right here, one for each of grades 1 to 5. Every grade's full set has 50 Halloween and fall ladders.

Halloween’s over. Fall isn’t. (Neither is the leftover candy, ha!)

The costumes go back in the closet. But there’s still apple season, raking season, and pumpkin pie season ahead. So the word ladders stay seasonal a little longer.

The word ladder routine is five quiet minutes: start with a word, change one letter at a time, follow the clue at every step, and climb to a brand new word.

The Halloween and fall sets keep every part of that. Plenty of the clues are pure fall, too: pumpkin pie, acorns, rakes, and hayrides.

Try a fall word ladder

Here are five from the sets, one from each grade. Read each clue, change one letter, and climb to the bottom word.

Grade 1: from wag to pie
  1. Start here.
  2. Fake hair you can wear.
  3. A farm animal that oinks.
  4. A dessert with a crust, pumpkin or apple.
Show the answers

wag, wig, pig, pie

Grade 2: from fall to heal
  1. Start here.
  2. Tipped over and dropped, like a pumpkin.
  3. To touch, or to sense.
  4. The back of your foot.
  5. To get better after being hurt.
Show the answers

fall, fell, feel, heel, heal

Grade 3: from laws to oaks
  1. Start here.
  2. They open and close when you bite.
  3. Glass pots with lids.
  4. You row a boat with these.
  5. Strong trees that drop acorns in fall.
Show the answers

laws, jaws, jars, oars, oaks

Grade 4: from yards to rakes
  1. Start here.
  2. A deck of fifty-two.
  3. Feels concern and looks after someone.
  4. Sweet baked desserts often covered in frosting.
  5. Leaf-gathering yard tools.
Show the answers

yards, cards, cares, cakes, rakes

Grade 5: from hoots to goats
  1. Start here.
  2. Footwear laced past the ankle for a hayride.
  3. Vessels that carry people over water.
  4. Farm animals known for climbing steep places.
Show the answers

hoots, boots, boats, goats

What’s included in each Halloween and fall set?

Each grade has 50 Halloween and fall word ladders across 25 print-and-go worksheet pages, with two ladders to a page. Every set includes:

  • A clue under every step.
  • Four levels, from writing two words to writing five words with only the top word given.
  • Standard and Assisted versions of every worksheet page.
  • A complete answer key.

A word ladder worksheet card from the grade 3 Halloween and fall set: CROW at the top, empty letter boxes with clues at each step, and CHEF at the bottom

Standard or Assisted: what’s the difference?

Both versions use the same ladders and clues. The Assisted version adds an arrow pointing at the letter that changes, giving students an extra cue while they work through each word.

Choose fall word ladders by grade

The words grow with the grade. First graders climb from WAG to PIE. Third graders turn LAWS into OAKS, one letter at a time. By fifth grade the ladders are five letters wide, like HOOTS to GOATS, with vocabulary that earns its place on the page. It’s a gentle theme, more cozy than creepy.

The Halloween and fall word ladders bundle collects all five, 250 ladders in all. Both lines, seasonal and year-round, live together on the word ladders collection page if you’d like to see them side by side.

Free printable

Free Halloween word ladders to print

Here's a free sampler from the Halloween and fall sets. It has one real page from each grade, first through fifth, and 10 ladders in all. Each one was picked for its Halloween words and clues. It comes in Standard and Assisted, just like the full sets, with an answer key. No sign-up, no account.

Download the Standard PDFCentered arrows between the steps.
Download the Assisted PDFArrows point to the letter that changes.

Each PDF has eight pages: a cover, how to use it, one student page per grade, and the answer key.

Terms of use: Free to print and use with your own students. Please share a link to this page rather than the PDF files. Not for resale.

Cover of the free Halloween and fall word ladders sampler for grades 1 to 5, with a button for each grade pack

Try the routine with the free year-round sampler

Running word ladders all year? The free word ladders sampler has two year-round ladders per grade in both versions, with directions and an answer key.

A fall routine

It slots into the same homes as always: morning work, early finisher folders, literacy centers, the sub tub. If you already run the year-round set, nothing new needs teaching. If you don’t, a few weeks of fall ladders is a low-stakes way to find out whether the routine fits your room.

Planning for December already? Three winter ladders to try are in Winter Word Ladders for Grades 1 to 5.

So tell me: what does November look like in your room? I’d love to hear which routines hold up between Halloween and the holidays.

Warmly,
Kristen

Keep reading

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The Word Ladder Routine

Word ladders in the elementary classroom: a five-minute routine for phonics, spelling, and vocabulary, plus printable no prep worksheets for grades 1 to 5.

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The First Five Days

What I prioritize for success in the first week of school: connection before content, quiet icebreakers, and five days of going slow on purpose.

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