There is no limit to the amount of fun ELA activities English teachers need to keep their squirrely middle schoolers actively engaged. That’s why I’m thrilled to bring you 5 new middle school ELA games to add to your toolbox!
Olivia Gold, a creative middle school ELA teacher from Florida, joins us today to share 5 interactive middle school ELA games to engage students and get them excited about learning!
“Are we doing anything fun today?”
That question used to irritate me. I’m not a cruise director or an event coordinator. Is it really my responsibility to make class “fun”? But then I noticed something. The more fun and engaging my class became, the more my students remembered from our learning. The more activities and games I included in our review days, the higher my students scored on their quizzes and tests. Clearly, there was something to be said for fun! (Plug from Ashley: Our book Keeping the Wonder: An Educator’s Guide to Magical, Engaging, and Joyful Learning provides lots of researched validation for FUN in the classroom!)
Since then, we have used interactive middle school ELA games to review all of our class standards. Here are five fun ELA games you can use this week!
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iNTERACTIVE Games for Middle School ELA
ela Game 1: Reading Strategy Relay Race
At the beginning of the year, we are all about our reading strategies. We chant our reading strategies, the kids make up beats to play along with them, and we focus all of our energy toward memorizing five or six strategies that will carry us throughout the year. I especially love the Notice and Note Signposts, created by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. Their strategies have been easy for my middle-schoolers to understand, and I can tell that my students are thinking more deeply about what they read! To help my students memorize these strategies, we play a relay race within the first few weeks of the school year. I take a bunch of ball-pit balls (being careful, of course, not to actually say “balls,” because, you know . . . middle school), and I use an oil-based marker to write all of the strategies on the plastic balls. Then I put the balls into a kiddie pool and fill it up with water. I split my class into teams and have them line up, single-file. One student from each team races to the kiddie pool and attempts to find one of the reading strategies we have memorized. Then they run back and tag the next person in line. Once they have collected each reading strategy, the team sits down to show they have collected them all. It’s a fun way to let out some energy, but more importantly, it cements these strategies in my students’ minds before we start really diving in.
ELA Game 2: Reverse Grammar Charades
This interactive ELA game takes no prep and is tons of fun for active middle-schoolers. First, send one student out of the room. Then give the class a grammar part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.). When the student returns, the rest of the class should act out the part of the speech, using motions, dance moves, or even sound effects–as long as they don’t say a word. For example, if the class is trying to illustrate a verb, they might jump up and down, jog in place, or clap their hands wildly. If they are trying to illustrate a noun, they might point to objects in the room or to each other. The results are so silly, but it’s an effective review of a basic concept that many students forget before they come to us in middle school.
ela Game 3: Greek and Latin Forehead Scramble
This is another fun way to get fidgety students out of their seats! Before class, write Greek and Latin roots (that your class has learned) on index cards, and write their definitions on separate cards. When your students arrive, use tape or headbands to place these cards on their foreheads with the words facing out. (Make sure they don’t see their own cards–I always forget to take my mirror off the wall!) Then have the kids walk around the classroom, looking at their classmates’ cards. As they pass each other they should act out the words they see on their peers’ foreheads. As people begin to guess what their word might be, they should try to find the person with the “matching” card. For example, if one student thinks they have astro on their forehead, they should look for the person whose card says star. When students think they have found their person, they should high-five and sit down. Once everyone is sitting, they can look at their cards and see how well they did. This is an entertaining and effective review because it really gets kids thinking about the meanings of the roots! For more ELA vocabulary games, check out this vocab games post!
ELA Game 4: Public Speaking Faux Pas
I used to think I hated public speaking, but it’s really grown on me over the years. During my student teaching, my supervising teacher taught me a light-hearted game that raises awareness of common public speaking but also builds students’ confidence in front of a classroom:
Before your students arrive, write some common public speaking problems on index cards or slips of paper. For example, one card might say, “You stare at the back wall as you speak,” while another might say, “You play with your hair and fidget with your clothes.”
When your students come to class, put the cards in a bag and have the kids take turns drawing cards out of the bag. When they draw a card, they should then stand in front of the class and talk to their classmates as they act out the foible on their card. I have found that my middle-schoolers have a hard time coming up with random things to talk about, so sometimes I will give them a topic like “Are socks with sandals an appropriate fashion choice?” or “Is a hot dog a sandwich?” (I wrote a list of 10 silly prompts in this blog post.)
After they finish speaking (thirty seconds is plenty of time), the rest of the class can guess what the speaker was trying to do incorrectly. The activity is hilarious–but also super helpful. I’ve been playing this game for over ten years with my students, and it never gets old. If you love the idea but want to save time, you can grab some pre-made cards here!
ela Game 5: Figurative Language Pin the Tail
This game actually works for a ton of ELA concepts, but figurative language is one area where my students always need some serious review. First, tape a handful of 8 ½”x11” papers around the room at various heights. Label these papers simile, metaphor, hyperbole, allusion, personification, etc. Then divide your class into groups of 2-3 students each. Blindfold 1 person from each group and give the blindfolded person an index card with an example of figurative language. (You can put a loop of tape on the back of each card.) The “seeing” students should give directions to their blindfolded teammates until the index cards are all taped to the correct types of figurative language. Each group should sit down when they think their card is correctly placed. Once everyone is sitting, you can go over the answers to assess students’ understanding and figure out which types of figurative language may need additional review.
Overall, these interactive middle school ELA games have been a big source of joy and engagement in my classroom. I hope your students have as much fun with these games as mine have! You can follow my middle school ELA shenanigans over at @DistinguishedEnglish on Instagram!
Thank you Olivia! If you are looking for even more interactive middle school ELA games, keep reading here:
- How to Liven Up Your Socratic Seminar and Get Students Talking with games!
- 5 More Middle School ELA games!
- Fun ELA Activities: The ABCs of ELA Engagement!
We all know English teachers are magical, but what’s your biggest ELA engagement superpower? Take this quiz to find out!
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