Alabama Department of Archives and History
How Would You Feel? The Bravery of Civil Disobedience
As part of their study of the US Civil Rights Movement and the Montgomery bus boycott, class members read Dr. Martin Luther King's "Integrated Bus Suggestions." They then craft a short story about the first week of Montgomery bus...
Curated OER
Newberry Award Reading Project
Fifth graders complete a project for a Newberry Award winning book. This ambitious lesson outlines the expectations for students regarding their project. Included is a list of possible books and a variety of writing, art, music and...
Curated OER
Everyone Gets a Laptop
Students view a news segment on a local school district giving every student a laptop. After viewing, they interview the school principal and discusses what he expects the outcome to be. They interview parents and students in their own...
Curated OER
Teaching Correct Pronouns
I or me? Are your middle school grammarians struggling with pronoun case? Try this trick. Instruct your learners to look right before or right after the pronoun choice for the words and, or, nor. Have them cover the conjunction and the...
Curated OER
Venn Diagram for Compare/Contrast
Use this lesson to focus on a compare and contrast writing structure in your middle school language arts class. Here, young writers compare and contrast two texts using graphic organizers. They use a double bubble format for their...
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Gayle Forman
Sometimes a novel is the best way to tackle a tough topic. A helpful educator's guide for the novels of Gayle Forman discuss tough topics such as teenage suicide. Discussion questions and writing activities encourage readers to think...
Curated OER
All About Me
This is an awesome resource for any elementary or middle school teacher about to start a new school year! This resource includes an extensive list of activities for introducing the members of your class to each other. Some of the ideas...
Curated OER
Panorama of the European Union
Explore the concept of the European Union interactively. Young travelers go on a European Union scavenger hunt through the "Panorama of the European Union" map publication. The scavenger hunt worksheet provides answers and detailed...
Texas Center for Learning Disabilities
Chapter 3 Teacher Guide and Student Log
Following the procedures and routines established in the first of a series of 24 lessons that use as an anchor text, readers of Tony Johnston's Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio, form study teams, develop and verify predictions...
Texas Center for Learning Disabilities
Chapter 7 Teacher Guide and Student Log
Class study teams practice generating Level 2, Putting it All Together questions for Chapter 7, "The Lunch Box," of Tony Johnston's Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio.
Texas Center for Learning Disabilities
Chapter 4 Teacher Guide and Student Log
"Piano Lessons," the fourth chapter in Tony Johnston's Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio provides an opportunity for class members to work in their study teams to develop and answer Level 1, Right There questions about the novel.
Bright Hub Education
"The Kid in the Red Jacket": Book Activities
Learning stations aren't just for little ones; middle schoolers can have fun while learning about the main character in the book, The Kid in the Red Jacket. Outlined are three different activities that are completed as each small group...
Curated OER
How to Write a Biography
Looking for a great lesson on how to write a biography? Here, middle schoolers draw from magazine articles, novels, historical figures, and current events to choose a person, or character to write about in a biography. They follow a...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Campaign
The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...
Curated OER
Learning Inference
Making inferences can be a tricky proposition for middle schoolers. In the lesson plan presented here, pupils practice the skill of drawing a conclusion and making a judgment - which are what making an inference is all about! There are...
Dream of a Nation
Big6 Research Project
Do research projects at your school look like a class of eighth graders staring at a blank screen? Use the Big 6 research method to guide middle schoolers through the process of finding a topic, searching for and evaluating sources,...
Anti-Defamation League
Identity-Based Bullying
What is identity? What is bullying? What is identity-based bullying? After discussing these questions as a class, pupils engage in partner discussions before participating in a small group activity to act out bullying scenarios. Then,...
Curated OER
Top Ten List
Students are shown clips of Letterman's Top Ten Lists. They develop their own Top Ten List based on how not to be a friend. They share their lists with the class and brainstorm qualities that they would want to find in a friend.
Curated OER
Storytelling in the Oral Tradition
Seventh graders research Greek mythological characters. They write about problems faced by middle school-aged children and how the character would handle them. Students also create story boards to accompany their oral narratives.
Health Smart Virginia
Stressed Out
Stress, eustress, distress. A step-by-step plan leads middle schoolers through a lesson plan about coping with stress. To gather background information, scholars watch a presentation, examine a list of positive coping skills, and read...
ReadWriteThink
Writing Free Verse in the "Voice" of Cesar Chavez
Introduce middle schoolers to free verse poetry with a lesson that has young poets read two free verse poems and list the common characteristics of the form. They then read a passage from Cesar Chavez's biography and a free verse poem...
Curated OER
Pass the Poetry
Students read various poems daily. For this poetry lesson, students are exposed to poetry each day in a variety of ways. There are several ideas on how to incorporate poetry into the classroom on a daily basis as well as a list of...
Curated OER
Identifying the Theme in a Story
Students recognize Theme through the use of simple, short stories. Using Pro Quest, students begin by researching the literary element, theme, and how it can be identified. They then identify the themes in Aesop's Fables and other short...
The New York Times
A Worker's Compensation
Middle schoolers read about the history of Labor Day in a newspaper article. They discuss difficulties American employees of the past had to face, learn about labor rallies, and conduct Internet research. Part of the intention of this...