Middle School English Language Arts Lesson Plans
Time4Learning’s award-winning approach to teaching middle school language arts involves motivating 6th, 7th, and 8th graders with interactive lessons and multiple activity types. Middle school language arts focuses on phonics, fluency, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension, writing processes and more. The goal for the program is to help students develop strategies for active reading and clear writing. The standards-based curriculum will prepare middle schoolers for the rigors of high school level English courses.
On this page, you will find helpful information about:
English Language Arts Lesson Plans for Middle School by Grade
6th grade language arts lesson plans: Time4Learning’s 6th grade language arts curriculum is broken up into two parts: 133 language arts lessons and 205 language arts extensions. At the end of this coursework, 6th grade students should be reading non-fiction texts with ease as well as analyzing them more deeply. They will use resource materials both for research and for writing assignments that can be backed up with evidence.
7th grade language arts lesson plans: Time4Learning’s 7th grade language arts curriculum is broken up into two parts: 122 language arts lessons and 74 language arts extensions. At the end of this coursework, 7th grade students should be examining texts more closely and analyzing the relationships within text and between multiple texts. They should also be gaining mastery of most grammar rules to create writing that is clear, concise, and well-structured.
8th grade language arts lesson plans: Time4Learning’s 8th grade language arts curriculum is broken up into two parts: 134 language arts lessons and 82 language arts extensions. At the end of this coursework, 8th graders should be mastering complex reading passages, understanding and using figurative language, providing an objective summary of text, and use the writing process to take compositions from prewriting and planning through revision.
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Middle School Language Arts Concepts Covered
Time4Learning’s award-winning online curriculum offers standards-based middle school language arts lessons for grades 6-8. Middle schoolers love using technology to learn, which means that building reading, writing, and vocabulary proficiency is fun and engaging. Students work at their own pace to gain mastery in everything from grammar to literary analysis, learning to think critically all along the way.
Our middle school English lesson plans help pave the way for the expectations of high school English courses. Using a combination of animated lessons, instructional videos, worksheets, quizzes, and tests, students will cover the following strands of instruction in grades six through eight:
Grammar and Mechanics – The goal of middle school ELA lesson plans is to help students demonstrate a command of the conventions of English grammar when writing and speaking. At this level, students will fine tune their understanding of the rules of capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and word usage. Time4Learning uses a combination of visual and auditory lessons and activities so that students of all learning styles can make sense of grammar rules and usage.
Reading Comprehension – While at the elementary level, students are still using decoding strategies to build fluency, at the middle school level they are more focused on interpreting what they are reading and making observations about it. Middle schoolers are exposed to ideas from a wide variety of media, so they will need the skills to interpret text from diverse formats. This is also a time when critical thinking becomes especially important, as middle schoolers will need to separate truth from error by recognizing claims that are backed up by evidence.
Literary Analysis – While junior high students can be somewhat hesitant about literature, the pressure-free environment of online lessons allows them to examine good writing at their own pace. Students will be assessed on their comprehension of the literature selection by answering questions about the main idea, making inferences, the author’s purpose, summary, mood, characterization, character’s point of view, sequence of events, theme, and supporting details. They are usually required to form an individualized response to their analysis, as well.
Writing – At the middle school level, writing instruction is incorporated with the other strands of language arts to help students see how the components of grammar, reading, and comprehension are tied closely with developing writing skills. Through a series of writing activities that incorporate direct instruction, a practice, and an assessment component, middle schoolers learn to organize their ideas into structured sample compositions. They will also use technology-aided tools such as graphic organizers to help them with prewriting and planning.
Vocabulary – Not only are middle schoolers gaining an increasingly complex vocabulary, they are learning to make inferences about the definitions of new words based on context and use. Students will also use dictionary skills and knowledge of parts of speech to identify word meaning and homophones. Multiple activity types ensure that students get reinforcement that replicates the real-world scenarios where they would be introduced to new vocabulary.
Additional Middle School Language Arts Resources
While the Time4Learning curriculum of language arts unit plans for middle school students constitutes a comprehensive, standards-based program, many parents have asked about additional resources for achieving specific goals. We are happy to share other resources that would be beneficial to families needing additional support for special learning needs or acceleration for gifted learners.
Other resources that middle school parents and students may find helpful for building general language arts skills include:
- Literature worksheets for commonly assigned middle school chapter books
- Vocabulary games for building skills in analogies, idioms, root words and more
- Spelling words by grade level
Online Curriculum for Homeschool, Afterschool and Summer Use
While Time4Learning’s middle school lesson plans are used by thousands of homeschoolers across the U.S. and the world, many public school students are using our lesson plans to improve their language arts skills after school or during summer to always excel/stay ahead in school.
I have used Time4Learning twice now. The first time I used it so my daughter can practice on the weekends because she needs extra help in math. I also used it this summer, for summer school. It’s a great program; keeps my kids’ minds fresh.
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