Classroom in the Middle

  In Missing May, the novel by Cynthia Rylant, the whole story turns on a road trip.  The trip is suggested by Cletus, a classmate of Summer’s (the main character’s).   Cletus suggests that Summer, Ob, and himself travel to see a medium who, he has heard, can communicate with the dead.  The medium’s home/church is […]

If you’re looking for mini-lessons or quick reviews of the text structures, these free activities from Classroom in the Middle might be just what you need.  The free download from my Teachers Pay Teachers store includes three text structure activity sheets with activities based on photos and reading passages.   Practice with four text structures is provided […]

  With the possibility of the first woman president in the US just around the corner, it seems like the perfect time for reading about other women who ran for president in the past.  There were more than you might imagine!  I’ve included links below to three news articles about this interesting and diverse group […]

Task cards are a favorite item for teachers to stockpile.  They’re so versatile and can be used over and over again.  Task cards work great for a full lesson, for individual practice, or for small group activities.  So it’s not a surprise that task cards are one of those things that teachers collect over the […]

The end of the year is in sight; testing is finished.  But, with weeks of school still to go, it’s the perfect time for a novel study – at least from a teacher’s perspective. Kids, on the other hand might need some convincing!  One way to do that is with plenty of activities leading up […]

Mysteries is another great theme that kids really get into!  In this guest post at Minds in Bloom are suggestions for a unit that combines reading, writing, and other language arts skills with a fun mysteries focus!  Included are suggestions for using fiction and informational text, finding resources, and using incentives.  And of course there is a […]

    Love to read plays but just don’t have the time!  Read my suggestions for practicing close reading skills while reading a play with the class; just check out my guest post on HoJo’s Teaching Adventures!  While you’re there, you might want to pick up my close reading FREEBIE, too!  And thank you to […]

  After reading a whole-class novel, many teachers like to add follow-up activities such as class discussions, essay writings, posters, or other projects.  To make the most of these activities, it helps to have some specific topics in mind.  Since I’ve just finished working on materials for Gordon Korman’s novel SCHOOLED, I thought I would […]

  Today, I’m looking at a simple advertisement as a way of introducing close reading. An ad can be used as an effective illustration of the layers of meaning in a picture or text.   One way to do close reading is to have the kids read the text three times, focusing on a different […]

    To write with specific, vivid verbs, students need practice, and they also need exposure to good examples.  To practice writing skills like this one, I like the idea of starting with a short story that the kids will enjoy.  The update of “The Boy Who Drew Cats,” in Fairy Tale Comics would work […]

Sometimes a handy chart just makes things easier.  This seems to be especially true for something like close reading!  There are so many steps and so many variations on how to do close reading that just getting it all organized can be a lot of work for teachers!  And keeping track of what they need […]

    So you’ve just finished reading a novel or a short story with the class, and it’s time for a fun small group activity.  But you also want to review the basic story elements and get the kids thinking about the characters and the theme of the story.  How do you combine the two? […]

Fairy Tale Comics, edited by Chris Duffy, is a book that middle grade kids will love for its comic book style.  There is even one story done by the designer of the SpongeBob SquarePants movie characters!  Middle grade teachers will love this book too, because the stories in Fairy Tale Comics are perfect for demonstrating […]

Another great picture book for older kids.   Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band, by Kwame Alexander, is another picture book that will appeal to kids of all ages.  Once students have learned a little about the Jazz Age and have become familiar with names like Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, they are ready to […]

    I’m posting at Education to the Core today.  A big thank you to Emily for that!  It’s all about fun activities for students to do with a class novel.  Lots of suggestions; check them out here.    

    A barking dog seldom bites.  What does it mean?  Well, first of all, it means that just because a dog barks and sounds scary, that doesn’t mean that he is going to bite anyone.  To me, this seems like a good place to start – have students explain the literal meaning of the […]

  The Library Card, by Jerry Spinelli, can make a great introduction to a summer reading program. What better way to motivate kids to check out the library over the summer than these mysterious short stories with their magical library cards?   The Library Card consists of four short stories that will appeal to middle grade kids. […]

    A scavenger hunt is a fun way to follow up on a class novel.  Kids will get to explore a range of reading materials, and you may end up with some good readings to use  in class – great for some “paired passages” activities!   Plan a visit to the library where you […]

Theodore Taylor’s novel, The Cay, is a great one for working on the concept of theme.  You can talk about themes in a variety of categories – man against nature – with the storm, man against society – with the war, man against technology – with the ship and the torpedoes, and man against self […]

  Lois Lowry’s novel Number the Stars is a great novel to read as a whole class and then lead into a variety of other reading, writing, and even research activities.   For extended reading, Number the Stars could be paired with current events articles to provide a mix of fiction and non-fiction.  For example, […]

For a simple and convenient way for students to keep track of story elements as they read a novel, try this foldable story elements bookmark – a freebie from my TPT store.  It’s the most popular freebie from Classroom in the Middle!       Front of page:   Back of page:  

  Two novels that tie in well with Veterans day for middle grade kids are Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry,  and The Cay, by Theodore Taylor.  Both books are about kids who are dealing with the effects of World War II on their families and would fit in with a discussion of how kids cope […]

See my guest post on Minds in Bloom!   It’s about using close-up photos to introduce the reading skill of making inferences.      

  The Cay, by Theodore Taylor, is a good choice for teaching the story element of setting.  Since the two islands where Phillip lives in The Cay are so different, students can practice looking closely at each setting, by focusing on details from the novel, to compare the two.   Curacao, the island where Phillip […]

There is more to teaching characterization than just having students name character traits.  Another important characterization skill for students is to recognize how a character changes over the course of a novel.   The Cay, by Theodore Taylor, is a great novel for teaching this characterization skill. The main character, Phillip, matures and undergoes many […]