April Lesson Plans for Middle School ELA

April lesson plans for middle school ELA need to be VERY engaging. April can be a difficult month. Spring has arrived, and students (and their teachers) find the pull of the warm breezes and golden sunshine more than a little enticing. With this draw away from the classroom, it becomes all the more important that your curriculum has a draw of its own.

So today let’s talk about lessons and materials that keep our students’ focused. Check out these April lesson plans for middle school ELA.

During the month of April, my classes focus on these important skill sets:

Reading and writing poetry as well as understanding fake news. It is important that students begin to see poetry as something that occurs in daily life (songs, spoken word, free verse novels) and not something old and obsolete.

Poetry Units – Each of these poetry units contains 8 engaging lessons for middle school classrooms. Students will enjoy this differentiated and relevant unit. This unit helps students analyze a variety of poetry forms – poems, songs, spoken word, and create their own poems to be presented at a poetry café.

Find these great poetry units and resources at Shopify CAD and Teachers Pay Teachers USD.

Students also need to practice their critical thinking and analytical skills about what they see in the media and online. I have students analyze various media sources (websites, news articles, videos, etc) to determine what is real and what is fake.

Fake News Unit – This resource contains 5 high-interest lessons to help students understand what fake news is and how to spot it. This resource contains individual PDFs of student pages to assist with online learning i.e. Google Classroom™ as well as Google Slides™ formatted lessons for 1:1 schools. Find this resource on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.

Included Lessons:

What is Media Literacy?
What is Fake News?
How to Spot Fake News.
Fake News Stations (5 Different Topics)
Creating Fake News Final Assignment

Reading Journal Entries – This independent reading journal assignment is a collection of 6 Independent Reading Tracking Forms and 1 Reading Journal Assignment. These reading tracking forms help students stay organized and purposeful during independent reading time. Easy-to-use assessment forms are included to ensure student accountability and less teacher marking stress. Find this resource on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.

Seasonal Lessons

April Fools’ Day Non-Fiction Article – Students will enjoy learning about this yearly tradition in this April Fools’ Day Non-Fiction Article. Find this resource on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.
April Fools’ Day Pranks – Have fun with your students with these April Fools’ Day pranks. There are 5 different activities included: multiple choice questions, graphic organizers and a 3, 2, 1 Chart.
Easter Creative Writing Assignment – In this Easter Creative Writing Assignment, students will select one of the provided character roles — Easter Bunny, Easter Egg Basket, Zookeeper, Candy Store Owner, Chocolate Inventor — and create a written or visual product based on the character’s specific writing prompt. Find this resource on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.
Easter Digital Escape Room – This Easter-themed digital escape room provides students with the opportunity to work independently or with their peers to solve 11 Easter-themed challenges. This escape room is non-religious and focuses on chocolate, candy, and animals. Find this resource on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.
Earth Day Non-Fiction Article – Help students learn why we celebrate Earth Day in this non-fiction article. Find this resource on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.
Poetry Digital Escape Room – This poetry-themed digital escape room provides students with the opportunity to work independently or with their peers to solve 10 spring-themed challenges. Find this resource on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.