Autumn is the perfect season to bring fresh energy into your middle school ELA classroom. With cooler weather, colorful leaves, and plenty of seasonal inspiration, it’s an ideal time to spark creativity and keep students engaged in reading and writing.

In this post, we’ll explore five engaging autumn classroom activities for middle school ELA. Each activity is designed to be flexible, fun, and easy to adapt for your students, so you can bring the spirit of the season into your curriculum without adding extra stress to your planning.

We will discuss:

1. Games
2. Creative Writing
3. Short Stories
4. Poetry
5. Art/ELA Crossover Activities

Let's connect!

• Membership: Join the All in One Middle School Membership!
• Full Year Curriculum on TPT
• Teaching Writing Workshop Course – Available on TPT
• Subscribe: Get updates and free products when you subscribe
• Facebook Group: Middle School Language Arts Teacher
• Instagram: @all.in.one.middle.school
• Info on products: Follow me on TPT
• My website: www.allinonemiddleschool.com
• My TPT Store: All in One Middle School – TPT
• YouTube: Teach My Class with All in One Middle School – free lessons and First Chapter Fridays
• Email: linda@allinonemiddleschool.com

Helpful Links

Companion Blog Post for this Episode

Autumn Vocabulary Escape Room

October Write Around the Room

One-on-One Coaching for Observations and Lessons

Teaching Writing Workshop Course

Click here to join the Middle School Language Arts Facebook Group

Join me for season 3!

One podcast a month will focus on 5 activities that you can easily implement in your middle school classroom for this month/season.

In this episode, we will discuss 5 engaging bell ringers for your students.

We will discuss bell ringers for:

• Seasonal activities
• Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Poetry
• Reading Skills

Let's connect!

• Membership: Join the All in One Middle School Membership!
• Full Year Curriculum on TPT
• Teaching Writing Workshop Course – Available on TPT
• Subscribe: Get updates and free products when you subscribe
• Facebook Group: Middle School Language Arts Teacher
• Instagram: @all.in.one.middle.school
• Info on products: Follow me on TPT
• My website: www.allinonemiddleschool.com
• My TPT Store: All in One Middle School – TPT
• YouTube: Teach My Class with All in One Middle School – free lessons and First Chapter Fridays
• Email: linda@allinonemiddleschool.com

Helpful Links

Companion Blog Post for this Episode

Free Bell Ringer Ideas

Seasonal Bell Ringers

One-on-One Coaching for Observations and Lessons

Teaching Writing Workshop Course

Click here to join the Middle School Language Arts Facebook Group

Join me for season 3! One podcast a month will focus on 5 activities that you can easily implement in your middle school classroom for this month/season. In this episode, we will discuss 5 engaging activities to do on the first day of school.

We will discuss:

1. Icebreakers
2. Meet the Teacher
3. Read Alouds
4. Letter to Your Future Self
5. Classroom Scavenger Hunt

Let's connect!

• Membership: Join the All in One Middle School Membership!
• Full Year Curriculum on TPT
• Teaching Writing Workshop Course - Available on TPT
• Subscribe: Get updates and free products when you subscribe
• Facebook Group: Middle School Language Arts Teacher
• Instagram: @all.in.one.middle.school
• Info on products: Follow me on TPT
• My website: www.allinonemiddleschool.com
• My TPT Store: All in One Middle School - TPT
• YouTube: Teach My Class with All in One Middle School - free lessons and First Chapter Fridays
• Email: linda@allinonemiddleschool.com

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Join the All in One Middle School Membership!
• Back to School Products
• Hexagonal Thinking Icebreaker Activity
• Back to School Activities: Meet Your Teacher I
• Scavenger Hunt Icebreaker
• Free Back to School Flip Book
• One-on-One Coaching for Observations and Lessons
• Teaching Writing Workshop Course
• Click here to join the Middle School Language Arts Facebook Group

I might be in the minority, but I absolutely love teaching poetry. I especially love having kids write poems because I get to know my students on a deeper and more meaningful level. One of the steps to becoming a good poet is to be a good reader of poetry. However, many middle school kids don’t know where to start. Therefore, you need a good plan of action for poetry analysis. The key? Keep it simple. Read here for tips for poetry analysis in 4 easy steps.

We will discuss:

• Starting with songs
• Starting with small steps
• Poetry Analysis sheet to streamline the process
• Discussion

Let's connect!

• Subscribe: Get updates and free products when you subscribe
• Facebook Group: Middle School Language Arts Teacher
• Instagram: @all.in.one.middle.school
• Info on products: Follow me on TPT
• My website: www.allinonemiddleschool.com
• My TPT Store: All in One Middle School - TPT
• Email: linda@allionemiddleschool.com

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Join the All in One Middle School Membership!
• Poetry Activities for Middle School
• Free Poetry Analysis Sheet
• Free Poetry Discussion Questions
• My YouTube Channel – FREE lessons where I teach your class, plus First Chapter Fridays!
• One-on-One Coaching for Observations and Lessons
• Teaching Writing Workshop Course
• Click here to join the Middle School Language Arts Facebook Group

Teaching poetry...we either love it or hate it. I'm in the "love" category. Why? Poems are simply songs without the music...and middle schoolers love music. Once they understand that, and once we simplify the poetry writing process, they usually are in the "love" category as well. One way to simplify the process is by giving kids specific types of poems to write.

We will discuss how to write:

• Found Poems
• Calligrams
• Mask Poems
• Inanimate Object Poems
• Color Poems

Let's connect!

• Subscribe: Get updates and free products when you subscribe
• Facebook Group: Middle School Language Arts Teacher
• Instagram: @all.in.one.middle.school
• Info on products: Follow me on TPT
• My website: www.allinonemiddleschool.com
• My TPT Store: All in One Middle School - TPT
• Email: linda@allinonemiddleschool.com

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Join the All in One Middle School Membership!
• How to Write 5 Engaging Poems - Blog Post
• Poetry Choice Board
• Poetry Activities for Middle School
• Free Poetry Writing Activity
• Blog Post on the 5 types of poems (with visuals)
• Blog post “How to Write Poetry in 5 Steps”.
• One-on-One Coaching for Observations and Lessons