Middle School Non Fiction Teacher Resources

Middle schoolers differentiate between fiction and non-fiction, discuss historical fiction, which combines both genres, choose historical novel from list and read independently, and write original short stories that combine elements of...

In these English lesson plans, students use video, the Internet and non-fiction essays to research the history of the English language. They write a short research paper and design a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their findings.

Seventh graders brainstorm a list of criteria that makes a webpage useful for research and not useful for research. They complete the activity, "Real or Hoax," and discuss fiction and non fiction stories and determine which websites are...

Use the internet to research the differences between families in the past and today. In groups, they identify the reponsibilities and roles of each member of the family. As a class, they compare and contrast non-fiction and fiction and...

Students recognize Theme through the use of simple, short stories. Using Pro Quest, students begin by researching the literary element, theme, and how it can be identified. They then identify the themes in Aesop's Fables and other short...

Sometimes a whole story can change based on the perspective of the person telling it. Practice identifying and analyzing point of view in various reading passages and writing assignments with a language arts packet, complete with Common...

Learners explore the penguin life cycle. In this penguin life cycle lesson, students read the book The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins. Learners look at the pictures and make predictions. Students identify facts about penguins and do...

Students write a Thanksgiving Day Story using some or all of the words included in the worksheet. These stories can be fiction or non-fiction (Personal Essays). They are graded on sentence structure, paragraph structure, grammar,...

Middle schoolers write their story in first person as a non-fiction story, or they can write the story in third person as a fictional story and use different characters. They can choose an idea from one of the story starters provided.

Students evaluate the essays of their classmates. In this evaluation lesson plan, students write two non-fiction essays on two different topics that they may choose. After a lecture on the aspects of the paper that will be evaluated,...

Middle schoolers focus upon the Civil War era using research methods of drawing information from primary sources. Literature and photographic images reflect, communicate, and influence human perspectives of historical events. The lesson...

Complete an in-depth study of the works or a specific author. Working in pairs, students read at least four works by the same author. After completing the reading, they create an essay comparing and contrasting the works and create an...

Young scholars study the life and times of Shakespeare. They read and analyze one of his plays and use the Internet and videos to gain an understanding of how Shakespeare engaged his audiences, then and still today.

Students listen to headline from National Enquirer or other tabloid, listen to story "Journalism in Tennessee," compare and contrast connections between Twain's idea of journalism with present day journalism, define vocabulary, and...

Students discover how environmental factors impact the survival of a population. In this landscape design lesson, students create a new animal and discuss the relationship between the animal and its environment before creating a habitat...

Students explore the events and reactions surrounding the Dust Bowl crisis during the 1930's. They discuss how the events of the Great Depression affected America's democracy and how it transformed America.

Students engage in a reading activity to learn about the Appalachia Mountains. The use of literature is important to provide context for the geography lesson. This lesson is strong because it allows the teacher to teach across the...

Students are read an apache folktale and discuss the characters in the story. Using the text, they identify the factors that make it a folktale and not a fairy tale. On a map, they locate where the Apache people live. As a class, they...

Students research and describe the stories of Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. They analyze historical sources from different points of view and present an analysis of two historical contexts.