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Middle School ELA Back-to-School Hub
Welcome to your one-stop Back-to-School Hub! Whether you're planning your first day, launching reading workshop, building classroom community, or establishing routines that will last all year, you'll find classroom-tested ideas, free resources, blog posts, and ready-to-use lessons to help you start the year with confidence. In the hub, you can find:
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Your Syllabus
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Planning your first week
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Blog posts to support you
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Classroom routines that last
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FREE downloads to make your transition back-to-school even easier
Your Syllabus
Of course we don't spend day one reviewing the syllabus, but we do send it home for caregivers and students to review.
A good syllabus includes the year's curriculum at a glance, contact information, grading policy, goals, resources, and an overall positive, encouraging tone. Grab your syllabus set up for you here or as part of my Back to School Essentials for ELA bundle.
Planning your first week
Lesson plans, resources, blog posts, and inspiration to help you navigate the first week of school.
Day 1
Build Community
I always start day one by having my students read a challenging passage out of context. I tell them I'm performing an "experiment on their brains" and give them 60 seconds to read the passage. It's almost impossible to understand... until I reveal that the passage is about doing laundry. Suddenly, the passage is super easy and memorable. This activity builds a community of learners who understand that sometimes reading is hard--we might just need to tap into the right tools to grow. Read all about the activity here. Grab the lessons done for you here.
Day 2
Students Make the Rules
Day two, students are give six sentence starters to finish on sticky notes. They place their sticky notes on matching posters displayed around the room. In groups, students work to synthesize their classmates' answers determining our overall strengths, struggles, goals, expectations, and ways we will work to support each other through it all. You can read more about this activity here. Grab the lessons done for you here.
Day 3
Have a detective adventure!
Help students discover all the classroom procedures you would typically share on the syllabus in a hands-on detective adventure with The Classroom Case Files! In this activity, students act as detectives to analyze evidence you provide about your classroom: your classroom library or a typical book stack, a rubric, samples of student work, a future homework assignment--you choose! Based on the evidence, students determine what the classroom procedures, expectations, and your teaching style might be!
Days 4 & 5
Reading and Writing Autobiographies
On days 4 and 5, it's time to dig a little deeper and start refreshing those reading and writing skills in a low-stakes, high impact, meaningful way. Reading and Writing Autobiographies are the perfect way to get to know your students. Students close read an excerpt from an interview with author Ray Bradbury where he shares his favorite idea generating strategy for writing: making lists. Students then make lists of the things they love most and the things they dislike about reading and writing. Using their lists as inspiration, students write mini-autobiographies sharing both their struggles and triumphs as readers and writers. Read all about this lesson here. Grab everything you need to implement this activity here.
Grab everything you need for back to school here:
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More back to school activities:
Back to School Blog Posts
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Your First Week Back to School Planned
August can feel like a giant Sunday complete with the Sunday Scaries, but with the right planning, you might actually look forward to the first days of school. Back to school can be a magical time when the stress of planning and knowing how to structure your classroom are off your shoulders.
So, here are your plans for week one, ELA teacher friends! Enjoy!
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Five Easy Back to School Ideas for Middle School ELA
Back to school has always been my favorite time of year as a middle school ELA teacher. There is a buzz of excitement in the air as students enter the hallway for the first time, a little nervous and unsure, but fresh and ready for a new year of learning.
I’ve always seen back to school as a huge opportunity for teachers and students. Starting the school year off right provides us with the chance to build a strong community where kids know they’re ideas are valued and their voice matters. For readers and writers, an atmosphere of respect and acceptance is key.
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How I build a Classroom Community on Day One (and you can, too!)
I dropped the boring syllabus and classroom policy review years ago. Let's admit it: kids block out half of the blah, blah, blah on day one. Your syllabus is best learned through doing. Sprinkle the important stuff throughout the first weeks. Introduce homework policies when kids do homework for the first time, and they'll better remember it anyway.
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Instead of syllabus and policy review, I spend the first days of school engaging my students in building THEIR classroom community. I am a part of it, but it's not MINE. There's a big difference.
Classroom Routines that Last
The best classroom management happens BEFORE students enter your classroom. These routines will help your students know exactly what to expect and free up cognitive space for what matters most: learning!
Bell Ringers
If there is ONE thing I would recommend to EVERY teacher, it would be to start your class with a bell ringer. Read about using bell ringers here. Grab bell ringers and templates here.
Build a Writing Community
Writing journals keep all of our writing in one place. You can check out this Ultimate Writer's Notebook here. This writer's notebook includes everything students need to write informative, argument, research, and narrative pieces from brainstorming to mentor texts to revision stations.
Read... a lot.
One of my biggest priorities as a teacher is to establish a reading community where books and reading are celebrated. Read how to create the best reading community here. Check out already done for you, year-long Independent Reading Journals here.
ELA Reference Sheet
This ELA reference sheet is an essential tool that basically saves me when kids ask they same basic grammar questions over and over. I refer them to their reference sheet!
Vocabulary
Instead of simply teaching vocabulary lists, teach students how to unlock the meaning of unfamiliar words using five research-based vocabulary strategies that improve reading comprehension, academic vocabulary, and word knowledge.
Article of the Week Routine
The BEST test prep and tool to build reading comprehension is an Article of the Week routine. Students read weekly current events articles that they receive on Monday in class. They write a RACCE response to a standards based prompt for homework due every Friday. Read about it here. Grab Article of the Week prompts for the year here.
Freebies to help you along the way!
Free downloads to make back to school a little bit easier! Happy Teaching!
