The Sparkly Notebook

Mastering the ELA Standards in Middle School

ELA Activities

Try out these four EASY back-to-school activities

Try out these four EASY back-to-school activities in your ELA classroom. They are sure to get your students talking and having fun!

It’s official! The school year has started and you are probably ready to jump into some curriculum! But as you know, kids may not be ready to “jump back in” as quickly as you want. It is always best to have a couple of back-to-school activities ready to go!

As you know by now, I LOVE digital escape rooms! I think they add so much flavor to the classroom and students tend to love the challenge behind each one…even if they are about poetry, literature, or grammar!

Check out these two digital escape rooms below as well as a couple of other back-to-school activity ideas!

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BACK-TO-SCHOOL ELA ACTIVITIES

Back to School DIGITAL ESCAPE ROOM – Figurative Language

Back to School Digital Escape Room - Figurative Language

Try out this Common Core-aligned DIGITAL Escape Room! It will give you a solid idea of what your students know in figurative language and will have them starting the year in a fun and competitive way.

This digital escape room requires the students to complete five tasks:

  • Task 1: Figurative Language Sort
  • Task 2: Figurative Language School Supplies
  • Task 3: Riddle Me This – Decoding Activity
  • Task 4: School buses on the GO Figurative Language
  • Task 5: Piece It Together – Puzzle Activity

ELA Back To School DIGITAL Escape Room

Back to School Google Classroom Ready Digital Escape Room for Reading Comprehension

The students will be actively engaged in some friendly competition with this Digital Escape Room while showing you what they already know about reading comprehension.

This digital escape room requires five tasks:

  • Task 1: Nemo’s First Day – Chronological Order
  • Task 2: Where Do I Sit? – Reading Comprehension
  • Task 3: Riddle Me This – Decoding Activity
  • Task 4: Football Friends – Plot Structure
  • Task 5: Piecing It Together – Puzzle Activity

“I Wish My Teacher Knew” Activity

I wish my teacher knew...

This activity is fairly simple but provides a lot of value. Often, we teachers get so busy starting the school year, we fail to ask the students what THEY want out of the school year…what THEY want out of us as teachers. 

So, to start, try out this activity. You simply hand out a couple of sticky notes to each student and allow them to write down a couple of personal facts that they wish their teacher (aka YOU) knew about them. Sometimes, students open up right away and tell you some very interesting information. Other times, they may allude to something that you will have to learn more about as you progress through the school year. 

Add another question or two if you feel so inclined. You could ask them one of their specific goals for the year or what they specifically need from you as the teacher. One year, I asked the students what their weakness is with regard to school and how I can help them with these weaknesses. It was very eye-opening for me as a teacher.

No matter which questions you choose, this activity helps your students feel cared for and helps you start building a relationship with each one of them.

Mnemonic Name Activity

This one is fun and inspires lots of creativity. Students essentially create their own mnemonic devices for their names. I encourage them to use high-level words that share the same letter or sound as their first name. These crazy names usually help me learn my students’ names rather quickly! So, it is a win-win!

Try it out!

You can even use specific vocabulary from the school year if you so desire! This will require a bit more work up front, but could be worth it when the students learn more vocabulary words this year!

When you are eventually ready to jump right into that curriculum of yours…

Be sure to use the standards to align your curriculum. If you want help doing this, check out one of the following blog posts below!

Using Standards to Drive Your Curriculum

A Standard-Aligned Curriculum that Promotes Mastery

Happy teaching!

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Two end-of-year activities that you maybe haven’t thought of…

These two engaging end-of-year activities are not typically done in the classroom but could be just what your students need!

Sometimes I feel like the end of the school year is one crazy mess. 

I am running around trying to get final assessments done while also checking my standards list…while ALSO participating in the end-of-the-year activities the school has in place.

It’s a crazy time and because it is crazy, I feel like I watch my students leave my classroom like a sleep-deprived, over-worked mother, running after her child in the morning with a half-put-together ham and cheese sandwich…”Okay! Have a good day sweetie!”

Only in this case, I am handing my students their final scores, papers, crafts, and a quick pat on the back as they leave for the summer…”Okay! Have a good summer! It was a joy having you in class!”

(Me continuing to shout down the hallway)

“Make sure you read throughout the summer!”

“GOOD LUCK NEXT YEAR!”

Ha! You get the picture, right?

What if we reframe our thinking and spend our last week of school focusing on the fun memories of the previous year…or better yet, skills or tasks that help prepare students to CONTINUE learning and ACCOMPLISH goals throughout the summer?

Read on to learn about the two end-of-year activities I enjoy doing with my students…

End of Year Reflection Activities

How often does the school make time for students to reflect on the previous year? Most schools have a yearbook of some kind and maybe an assembly showcasing some of the school’s successes.

But maybe for some students, it can be more simple than that. What if we asked students to simply reflect on one class. 

  • What was your favorite lesson? Why?
  • What is your craziest memory from class?
  • What was your biggest accomplishment?

Sometimes these types of questions alone can do so much for a student. It encourages them to focus on little successes they have had while also guiding them to recognize their favorite topics, favorite subjects, or specific people who had major influences on their learning.

The Sparkly Notebook offers this End of Year Reflection Activity bundle which could help you incorporate reflective lessons into your last week or two of class. Not only do students reflect on their own experiences, but tend to provide excellent feedback to the teacher as well. 

For me, I have learned which of my lessons were most popular amongst my students, which lessons offered the most opportunity for accomplishment, as well as some of the silly, small details that students enjoyed most about my class. We also spent a good amount of time reflecting (and handing back all the things) that I didn’t feel completely rushed on that last day.

Check out the End of the Year Reflection Bundle here!

These two engaging end-of-year activities are not typically done in the classroom but may be just what your students need!

Growth Mindset Skills as End-of-Year Activities

Another option may be to set goals for summer activities. We are always so focused on school material that it is easy to forget that these kids actually enjoy doing other things! Ha!

Maybe for the last couple of days of classes, students could set a series of goals for one activity they are going to participate in during the summer.

For example, let’s say a male student in your class is going to participate in swimming lessons during the summer. He could make a goal to flutter kick across the entire pool by week three, swim half of the distance of the pool by week six, and swim the entire length of the pool by week eight.

Students are going to have different goals based on their levels of experience and interests.

Once students set their goals for the summer, complete a series of growth mindset lessons to teach them the mental mindset necessary to accomplish their goals.

Think about it!

Some of your students are going to go home and not have a lot of structure at home. They may not know how to persevere when the going gets tough, nor have a person to push them through with positive support.

So, teaching them growth mindset skills right before summer could help them accomplish their goals. It also will give them something to come talk to you about when the summer is over and they return to school!

Grab the Growth Mindset Activity Bundle here.

These two engaging end-of-year activities are not typically done in the classroom but may be just what your students need!
If you want to learn more about how to foster the growth mindset in our students, check out this post.

We learn time and time again…

that setting goals and true reflection are seeds to personal growth. With the two end-of-year activities above, you can ask students to reflect on the good things that happened throughout the year as well as set goals for the summer.

I know from my experience that my students love to do both of these things when it relates to things they truly love, so I wouldn’t worry about a lot of pushback from students when completing these activities. 😉

Have fun and have a great summer!

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5 Teacher Appreciation Activities for End of Year

Try out one of these five teacher appreciation activities to offer students an opportunity to say thank you as well as educate them on the importance of gratitude.

Teachers have been working hard all year and as we creep into the last few weeks of school, there is no better time than now for students to be offered an opportunity to show their appreciation to their teachers.

It may seem a little awkward at times…right? I know when I have done teacher appreciation activities, it feels weird…as if I am asking MY OWN students to appreciate ME and ONLY me! 

However, these activities can be about more than just the appreciation activities themselves. Rather, it is about teaching students to recognize those around them that have helped them succeed. It is about teaching them to be grateful for those important individuals and offering gratitude to those who help them through the important stages of life.

Appreciation is a life skill…a soft skill that is necessary to lead a fruitful life.

So, if you are nervous about conducting a teacher appreciation activity in your own classroom, don’t be. Students need to learn how to be grateful just as much as they need to learn adjectives and adverbs.

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5 Teacher Appreciation Ideas for the End of the Year

Write a Letter

A letter is such a simple way to show appreciation. A letter can be so much more personal than a lot of other options and thus, is a great choice for a teacher appreciation activity.

Ask students to choose a teacher for whom they are thankful and write a detailed letter about what that teacher means to them. As a bonus, this requires students to practice standard English as well as penmanship. You can even walk your students through editing steps to practice the entire writing process.

Arts and Crafts

I know, for me, I loved being able to do a simple craft in the middle school classroom. It allowed my students to have some creative freedom and make something meaningful for a current or previous teacher. Although it may be best for students to design their own crafts (because let’s be honest…they are sometimes way more creative than we are) it may be good to have a couple of ideas in your back pocket just in case.

In the past, I have had students make posters or simple signs. I have also had some students group up (if they had the same teacher or teachers in mind) and make a video montage of pictures or personalized messages. I’ve also had some students make paper wreaths for teacher doors.

Design a Canva Flyer or Sign

Canva is a graphic design tool that is great for flyer and sign design. Students can learn the platform (something that will probably come in handy for the future) and then practice their new skill set by making a flyer or sign for a teacher’s door.

The free version of Canva is great for student practice and there are several free tutorials. However, I think your students will surprise you with how quickly they pick up the design techniques even without the tutorials. 😜

Group Teacher Appreciation Thank You Cards

This one can be as hard or simple as you desire it to be. Grab a large poster board for each teacher in the grade and allow students to write their own messages on each board…yearbook style. You can give students the freedom to draw designs on the cards as well or keep it simple and only allow short messages.

Color Poems – I Love You the Purplest Story

Teacher Appreciation color poems activity

Finding creative teacher appreciation activities that are sentimental and simple isn’t always easy, and this color poem activity is not your typical cliche activity. It will give teachers something to cherish and love forever. It’s a companion for “I Love You the Purplest” by Barbara M. Joosse. Students will read or listen to the story and write their poems. Grab the digital or printable version here.

From the bottom of my heart…

I know as you finish out this school year, there are going to be times when you feel extremely appreciated and other times when you don’t. I am simply here to say that you are doing great my friend! You are changing the world one student at a time and that matters! YOU matter.

So, from the bottom of my heart…

Thank you.

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P.S. If you are looking for a few more engaging ELA activities to finish out the school year, check out this blog on 3 highly engaging end-of-the-year activities. Enjoy!

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St. Patrick’s Day ELA Activities

These Engaging St. Patrick’s Day ELA Activities are standards-aligned. St. Patrick’s Day falls right in the season of test prep for the BIG tests at the end of the year. However, that does not mean you cannot enjoy the day with some fun, standards-driven activities. These Engaging St. Patrick’s Day ELA Activities will also have students showing their mastery levels while forgetting they are even working. 

With these Engaging St. Patrick’s Day ELA Activities, you can focus more on watching for mastery levels than reigning in students to complete their assignments. They will want to work on these!

  1. St. Patrick’s Day READING COMPREHENSION Digital Escape Room

    This activity is perfect in a traditional school setting or virtually. Therefore, it is ideal for any type of classroom environment. You can choose to have students compete in groups or independently. There are many ways to use this!

    There are a total of 5 activities in this Escape Room. It includes 3 reading comprehension activities and 2 puzzles. The students will work on chronological order, plot structure, and reading comprehension in this activity.
Engaging St. Patrick's Day ELA Activities
  1. St. Patrick’s Day FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Digital Escape Room

    This activity is great in a traditional school setting or virtually. Therefore, it is ideal for any type of classroom environment. You can choose to have students compete in groups or independently. The options for use of it vary.

    There are a total of 5 activities in this Escape Room. It includes 3 figurative language activities and 2 puzzles.
  2. St. Patrick’s Day FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Color-by-Number Activity

    This print-and-go activity is perfect for figurative language review with the students. It will have them decide which figurative language is being used with each sentence example. First, students will label the figurative language. Then the students will get to color the picture based on their answers.

    There are a total of 60 questions on Figurative Language. It also includes a cheat sheet for the students to use when answering the questions. This activity set is the perfect classroom activity. It can also be used as a task for your early finishers.

    It includes: Simile, Metaphor, Alliteration, Personification, Onomatopoeia, and Hyperbole
Engaging St. Patrick's Day ELA Activities

I hope these engaging St. Patrick’s Day ELA activities help you plan your lessons for the week of March 17. 

As always, please reach out to me with any questions or anything you need.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I hope you and your students have a fun day full of green and four-leaf clovers! 💚

With love,

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PS.. – As you plan your lessons for ELA, these Literacy Strategies will be helpful!

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