Sometimes, we need short writing assignments, rather than long ones to fit everything into our ELA class time. Writing strong verb paragraphs is an effective narrative writing exercise for middle school ELA because it is quick and fun. As ELA teachers, we have so much to cover each nine weeks. It seems impossible to have students write narratives, poems, arguments, as well as expository and informative pieces, which are all part of the ELA standards.
Tammy and I have been teaching for a long time, and while we certainly don’t know it all, we have figured out a few things. One way that we cover the writing standards is by adding short and fun writing exercises, like strong verb paragraphs.
What are strong verb paragraphs?
Strong verb paragraphs are paragraphs that consist of seven sentences that only allow strong verbs in the middle five sentences. Students can write these paragraphs independently or with a partner. Along with an interesting narrative prompt, provide students with the following rules.
- Write a paragraph that has seven sentences.
- Only your first and last sentences can have helping verbs or a linking verb in them. The other sentences must have strong action verbs.
- Choose the most vivid verbs, ones that help your reader picture something. You may use the list of helping verbs to help you avoid them.
- Underline the verb in each sentence.
- Do not repeat any action verbs in your paragraph. In other words, each sentence needs to have its own original verb.
- Read back over your paragraph to make sure you do not have any fragments or run-on sentences.
It is helpful to provide students with a list of helping verbs and linking verbs. Also, before allowing students to jump in and write their own strong verb paragraph, provide them with a good example. You can even write one together as a class first!
Why have your students write strong verb paragraphs?
This exercise teaches students to choose their words wisely, essentially making them better writers for life! Writing the paragraphs takes one class period, instead of weeks, making this the perfect writing exercise for middle school ELA classes. What makes these fun are the prompts that you provide and the challenge to complete it correctly. At first, your students may find it hard to write sentences without linking verbs or helping verbs, but encourage them that as they practice, they will get better. Another thing that makes this exercise fun is that kids usually love hearing their paragraph read aloud. They will beam with pride as their story is read aloud and usually laugh at all of the funny sentences that their classmates wrote too. Here are some sample narrative prompts for strong verb paragraphs:
- Write a paragraph telling about a time an alien visited our school.
- Write a paragraph telling about a time a food fight broke out in the lunchroom.
- Write a paragraph telling about a time a group of kids spent the night in a haunted house.
Before Writing the Paragraphs, Begin with Sentences
Before your students write strong verb paragraphs, you may want to begin with sentences. Present students with sentences that have a verb that isn’t specific and then read another sentence with a strong action verb that can be visualized. Look at the following examples:
Suddenly, my dog, Meatball, ran through the living room.
Suddenly, my dog, Meatball, bulldozed through the living room.
I made my way through the sea of people to take a better look.
I wormed my way through the sea of people to take a better look.
The next step is to teach students to take sentences that have linking verbs that tell and not show and teach them to transform those sentences into sentences that show instead of tell. Turning sentences with linking verbs into sentences with action verbs is a little bit harder, but once students see examples and watch you brainstorm and model how to do this, they will feel confident in crafting these sentences themselves.
Take a look at the following examples:
Example sentence with a linking verb that tells: He was mad.
To guide students in revising this sentence, ask students what actions mad people do. Make a list of these actions, and then rewrite the sentence replacing the linking verb was with these words.
He slammed his book down on the desk, stomped across the room, and slammed the door on his way out.
Explain to the class that with this sentence, you don’t have to tell that the boy was mad. We know it based on his actions. The sentence with the strong verbs shows instead of tells!
Here’s another example:
The troll was ugly.
The ugly troll’s green teeth jutted out over his long, flaky chin. The warts on his nose multiplied by the hour, and his razor-sharp toenails scraped the ground when he walked.
After these whole class and individual practices with sentences, you’ll be ready for the strong verb paragraphs. Consider writing one as a whole class together first, then assigning one to a small group or to students working with a partner.
Click here to grab a printable copy of the strong verb paragraph rules. If you want a complete resource, complete with a presentation for teaching, strong verb mini lessons, printable strong verb prompts, and example paragraphs, check out our Strong Verb Paragraph resource on TpT.
We use strong verb paragraphs during the first nine weeks. If you would like to see exactly what we teach in the first nine weeks, click here to download our free first nine weeks plans. If you’d like to see our yearly plans, click here to download a glimpse into our 7th grade ELA yearly plans.
If you’re looking for an effective process-approach method to teach your students to write text dependent analysis essays, we have a complete course, complete with instructional videos for you and EVERYTHING needed to teach the entire process to your middle schoolers. Click here to enroll in the first section of the course completely free! If you like the free course, consider asking your administration to purchase the complete course.
11. Using BINGO Cards for Reading and Vocabulary in Middle School ELA
/in Podcast/by Tammy SutherlandListen up to hear a great idea to motivate middle school students when it comes to reading independently or learning new vocabulary words. With an easy printable BINGO card, ELA class can become much more fun! Be sure to check out all of our shownotes, including links to free printables on our blog at https://elacoreplans.com/bingo-cards-in-middle-school-ela/
Download this episode!
BINGO Cards in Middle School ELA!
/in Teaching Tips/by Tammy SutherlandHow we started to use Bingo cards in Our ELA Classrooms
In an effort to find a fun way to encourage students to read, we started using an ongoing Bingo game for novels. We used these cards for student’s independent novel choices and book club books. The Bingo charts were such a hit that we started using them for our vocabulary words and for Greek and Latin roots too! We are excited to tell you all about how it works!
Fun!
Now, we all know why BINGO cards work. Let’s face it, middle school kids love prizes. Some of our favorites to use in class are candy, stickers, and unique pens and pencils!
We’ve found that on Amazon, you can order packs of stickers that don’t cost too much. We order the kind that can be put on water bottles or phones or laptops. Kids love them! We put up a pocket chart to display these stickers, and some kids would rather have one of these than candy.
How to Use The Reading Bingo Cards
Here is how the Bingo cards work. Each student is given a card. The cards have statements that require students to find certain sections, characters, connections, or literary devices in their reading. For example, one square may say, “Find a section of the novel that has a flashback.” So, as students are reading, if they notice a flashback, they go to that bingo square for flashback and record the page number and the first few words of the flashback.
If that section of the book is being discussed in class or in a small group for book clubs, the student can bring up the flashback and the group or the class can discuss what the flashback means and why it was important. When a student has filled in five squares in a row, they of course have BINGO, and they receive a prize! That keeps them motivated and engaged.
Now We Add Vocabulary Bingo Cards!
Students loved the novel bingo cards so much, we decided to try BINGO cards with our vocabulary words. The vocabulary Bingo card can be used with any vocabulary word list. Each block on the card has two letters of the alphabet. The first box has letters a and b, the second block has letters c and d, and so on. All of the letters are repeated on the squares once. Students fill in words that they see in their independent reading. They also record words they hear a teacher say or words they correctly use in their speaking or writing. They must write the words in the box that has the letter that the vocabulary word begins with. So if one of their words is disdain, they will write that word in the box with the letters c or d. To document, students must do the following.
And, like with the book club bingo cards, when students get five in a row, they earn a prize! We also do one bonus point on a vocabulary test along the way. They show us the card and we initial and add the point on the next test.
We would like to give you these vocabulary bingo cards free of charge! Click here for the free cards in our TPT store!
The Vocabulary Curriculum We Use
The two main things we incorporate into our vocabulary curriculum are repetition and mnemonic devices.
Way back in 2006, we created a bell ringer called Daily Dose. Since then, we have changed, updated, and improved it. What makes this resource so successful is that it contains a word of the day that is accompanied by a funny mnemonic story. This is what ensures that kids remember the word. We swear by our silly mnemonic stories that accompany our vocabulary words! We have both had students whom we taught 20 years ago tell us that they still remember words and the silly story that goes with them. “Mrs. Temple, I remember that word smug and how that man was so caught up on himself and smug that he put his face on all of his mugs.”
The other component to a successful vocabulary component is repetition. In our Daily Dose bell ringer, there are 90 words for the first ninety days of school. Then the remaining 90 days are spent reviewing the 90 we’ve already learned. There is no sense in piling on 20 vocabulary words a week for students to memorize for a test and then forget. If your students can walk away from your class at the end of the year truly owning 30-40 new vocabulary words, that is astounding.
Each and every Daily Dose bell ringer provides a word, a mnemonic, the word in context, along with editing questions and a standards based question.
Recently, we created a new 8th grade vocabulary words of the week resource, and unlike Daily Dose, it is not a bell ringer. But it still has the silly mnemonic stories and repetition.
We have recently started using the Bingo card game with these vocabulary programs. Our students enjoy this added component!
Below you will find the links to these vocabulary resources in our TPT store. If you don’t already have a vocabulary program that you like, you can try out one of ours!
6th Grade Daily Dose – Click on the Preview button for a sample!
7th Grade Daily Dose – Click the Preview button for the sample!
8th Grade Daily Dose – Click the green Preview button for the sample!
8th Grade Vocabulary Word of the Week
10 Best Middle School ELA Halloween Lessons
/in Podcast/by Tammy SutherlandListen to hear our favorite middle school ELA Halloween stories and activities that we’ve tried over the years. You’ll walk away with so many ideas, it will be hard for you to choose which one to try in your own ELA classroom this Halloween! All printables mentoned in today’s show can be found on our blog at https://elacoreplans.com/middle-school-ela-halloween-lesson-our-collection/
Download this episode!
9 Narrative Writing Exercise on Suspense
/in Podcast/by Tammy SutherlandThis episode will provide you with a quick and super fun narrative writing lesson that can be completed in one class period! The lesson focuses on creating suspense. It would be perfect for a spooky October day, but can be used any time of year. Be sure and find all of our shownotes and free printables and links on our blog at https://elacoreplans.com/how-to-create-suspense-writing-lesson/
Download this episode!
How to Create Suspense Writing Lesson
/in Teaching Tips/by Shannon TempleSuspense is one of those literary elements we all want to know how to use, especially when we are telling or writing a good story and want others to pay attention. This SHORT narrative writing exercise will teach students how to create suspense, and it is guaranteed to be one of your favorite lessons of the year!
You’ll want to start by talking to your students about what suspense is and how authors create it. You can have a discussion about stories or books they’ve read that made them sit on the edge of their seats with anticipation. You can also talk about movies that foster suspenseful engagement.
I usually complete this lesson in the first nine weeks right after we’ve read suspenseful stories like “Lamb to the Slaughter,” “The Tell-Tale heart” “The Monkey’s Paw,” or my favorite, “Duffy’s Jacket”.
We make an anchor chart titled How to Create Suspense, listing all of the ways that authors of these stories create suspense. We also discuss literary elements like dramatic irony, unreliable narrators, and foreshadowing. We talk about how authors use pacing techniques to slow down their stories in the right places in order to capture their readers with just the right amount of tension. Once we’ve learned all of the literary devices and techniques that create suspense, it’s time to use this quick narrative writing exercise, allowing students to create their own tiny stories full of suspense! This would be perfect for October or close to Halloween, but truly, it is a lesson that can be used any time of the year.
I found this quick narrative writing lesson years ago online, and it is one that I’ve always held on to just because the kids LOVE it. It truly teaches them how to use pacing to create suspense. I have even found that it helps me when telling stories, as the exercise has taught me how to hold attention at the right places. Here’s how it works.
How to Create Suspense Narrative Writing Exercise Directions
After students are done writing, they will most likely be eager to read their stories to the class. Allow time for this and celebrate all of the different ways that they created suspense. To debrief, discuss how the pacing was used to create tension and how they can use this strategy in future narratives.
We also combined this lesson with our favorite Thanksgiving writing activity, write about Thanksgiving from the turkey’s point of view. If you want a way to use this writing exercise on suspense in a humorous way around the holidays, this Thanksgiving version is for you! You can download the FREE resource from our TpT store by clicking here.
Why Short Narrative Writing Exercises Make Sense for Middle School ELA
One reason these narrative writing exercises are so beneficial to us is because they are short. This lesson on suspense can be completed in one class period. As middle school ELA teachers, we have so much to cover in one year. Our students also have short attention spans, and middle schoolers feel accomplished when they can complete an assignment in class, without having to finish on their own.
For us, short narrative writing lessons are essential to teach the narrative writing standards. We teach in SC, and our students have to write a text dependent analysis essay on the end of the year on our state standardized test. The very real pressure of preparing students for that type of writing assignment can be stressful. Responding to a TDA is a FEAT for middle schoolers, but teaching students to analyze, explain, and provide evidence for their analysis truly is important because this is the type of writing they will be expected to do throughout high school and college. The problem is that it takes all year to effectively prepare our students to be proficient analyzers alone, not to mention proficient writers. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time to spend on writing narratives too. That’s why we sprinkle in short narrative writing assignments like the one discussed in this blog.
If you teach in a state that requires students to write a text dependent analysis essay, and you need some help in how to teach them in an effective, process approached way that works, we have a complete course on effectively teaching students how to write a text dependent analysis, including a free mini course providing the first steps of teaching students the difference between summary and analysis. Our free course has presentations, handouts, and lessons that you can use ASAP in your classroom. If you like what’s in the free course, ask your administration about purchasing our complete course on teaching students to write TDA essays. You’ll have everything you need to effectively teach every step of the process!
Middle School ELA Halloween Lesson~ Our Collection
/in Holiday Lessons, Teaching Tips/by Shannon TempleIf you are looking for a fun Middle School ELA Halloween lesson, we are here to share our best and most memorable ones from over the years. We’ve been teaching for quite some time, to say the least, so we have collected several fun and engaging middle school ELA Halloween lessons. In fact, we have so many fun ones to choose from that now is is hard to figure out the one that we want to use in our classrooms each Halloween season.
Of course, any good scary story is perfect for a memorable middle school ELA Halloween lesson. Dim your classroom lights, play some spooky organ music while your students are entering the room, start your fog machine. Okay, maybe not a fog machine, but you could put up a picture of fog on your screen! Then, read one of the following stories. We’re going to sprinkle in some of the spooktacular fun we’ve had while reading these favorites of ours! It’s worth the read!
Perfect Stories for a Middle School ELA Halloween Lesson
Whatever Halloween story that you choose, see if you can do something a little fun along with it. I promise you, not only will your students have fun, but you will too. Teaching ELA can be so stressful at times; it’s important to have fun along with your students. It really will help you love your job even more! Just make sure it’s nothing too scary!
In addition to these stories, we also have plenty of fun and memorable writing activities that would be perfect for a middle school ELA Halloween lesson! At some point in our career, we’ve completed all of these. They’re all so great that it makes it hard to choose which one to do this Halloween! Our list is below, and we will start with a lighthearted one, one that isn’t spooky at all but involves candy!
Perfect Writing Activities for Halloween
We are so happy to have you here reading our blog! We want to say thank you by providing you with this FREE resource that will give you all of the printables that you need for lunes, Pop Rock poetry, body beast poetry, candy corn haiku, and even a few others. We’d love for you to follow us on TpT, Instagram, Facebook, and of course our Podcast, which is titled Two Middle School ELA Teachers.
One more thing…(We’ve been teaching so long, we just have soooo many things to share!) Another way that you can spend Halloween class time is with an episode of The Twilight Zone. In fact, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” mentioned earlier is a Twilight Zone episode. That show was popular when we were kids, but the episodes are now on Netflix. We’ve created a wealth of resources to accompany four different episodes, and these are all seriously standards based… Students will write objective summaries, determine themes, and more. You can check out our Twilight Zone bundle in our TpT store if you’d like by clicking here. Oh, and one other resource we have that would make the perfect middle school ELA Halloween lesson is our Dead Verbs funeral activity! This is a great lesson to teach students the importance of word choice!
I think that’s about it. It looks like Halloween Day is on a school day for most this year! We hope you have a spooktacular time in your own ELA class this year for Halloween!
Narrative Writing for Middle School ELA – Development of a Theme
/in Teaching Tips/by Tammy SutherlandDuring the first nine weeks, we cover narrative writing. This is a way to teach standards like how to develop a theme. We use quick narrative writing assignments simply because we have SO much to teach. Teaching narrative writing makes sense for us to do in the first nine weeks because we read a lot of short stories and can peek at how authors of these stories develop their theme. during this time. If you’re interested in seeing what we do for the first nine weeks of school and how we fit everything in, we have a free resource in our TpT store called 7th Grade ELA, a Glimpse into our Yearly Plans, that maps it all out and even gives helpful links that you can use.
Now, let’s get started on this quick narrative writing lesson!
What standards will you cover?
One of the standards for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades is for students to analyze the development of theme. The narrative writing exercise we are going to tell you about today will cover that standard while at the same time provide a creative and fun narrative writing opportunity.
Here’s what you do! Put your students in small groups – three works best. Give each group a theme statement. Tell them that their job is to write a quick story that teaches that theme. Before writing, they need to do some planning. They will ask themselves questions about the characters, setting, and plot.
In order to create this theme, who should my characters be? What type of personalities should they have? What should their flaws be? Their strengths?
Where should this story take place in order for readers to conclude the theme?
What should be the main conflict? How should the story begin? What will be the turning point of the story? How will we end it?
Once students have done their planning, they should write their quick story. Make sure students understand that this story is just a writing exercise, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. Their job is to quickly write a story, developing the theme they were given.
After writing the story, give students some questions to think through HOW they developed their theme. Why did you choose the characters you did? What did you use the most to develop the theme? Did the setting contribute to the theme or could the story take place somewhere else?
After the stories are written…more look more at how the theme was developed
When time is up, take up each groups’ story. Give each group a copy of all of the theme statements, each one labeled with a number Read each story out loud, one by one, and have the class guess which theme belongs to that story by matching the number corresponding to the theme statement to the story.
Once the students have had time to choose the theme, reveal the true theme statement that the group was assigned. Then, engage the group who wrote the story in explaining how they developed the theme.
Some things to help you use this activity today…
This is a list of theme statements that you can use.
We also have a product in our TpT store that includes a PowerPoint to teach theme and development, handouts for the students, and even a poem with a prompt for analyzing the development of theme in it. There is even a sample essay included. And, it of course all of the things we talked about! A meaningful and engaging way to allow your students to understand the ways authors develop theme is now at your fingertips!
Happy teaching!
7. Strong Verb Paragraphs ~ An Effective Narrative Writing Exercise for Middle School ELA
/in Podcast/by Tammy SutherlandThis is the first episode in a series on using short narrative writing exercises in your middle school ELA classroom. We will be telling you all about strong verb paragraphs – how to write them, why they work, and how you can impliment them immediately. Check out all of the mentioned freebies in our show notes at https://elacoreplans.com/strong-verb-paragraphs-effective-narrative-writing-exercise-for-middle-school-ela/
Download this episode!
Strong Verb Paragraphs ~ Effective Narrative Writing Exercise for Middle School ELA
/in Teaching Tips/by Shannon TempleSometimes, we need short writing assignments, rather than long ones to fit everything into our ELA class time. Writing strong verb paragraphs is an effective narrative writing exercise for middle school ELA because it is quick and fun. As ELA teachers, we have so much to cover each nine weeks. It seems impossible to have students write narratives, poems, arguments, as well as expository and informative pieces, which are all part of the ELA standards.
Tammy and I have been teaching for a long time, and while we certainly don’t know it all, we have figured out a few things. One way that we cover the writing standards is by adding short and fun writing exercises, like strong verb paragraphs.
What are strong verb paragraphs?
Strong verb paragraphs are paragraphs that consist of seven sentences that only allow strong verbs in the middle five sentences. Students can write these paragraphs independently or with a partner. Along with an interesting narrative prompt, provide students with the following rules.
It is helpful to provide students with a list of helping verbs and linking verbs. Also, before allowing students to jump in and write their own strong verb paragraph, provide them with a good example. You can even write one together as a class first!
Why have your students write strong verb paragraphs?
This exercise teaches students to choose their words wisely, essentially making them better writers for life! Writing the paragraphs takes one class period, instead of weeks, making this the perfect writing exercise for middle school ELA classes. What makes these fun are the prompts that you provide and the challenge to complete it correctly. At first, your students may find it hard to write sentences without linking verbs or helping verbs, but encourage them that as they practice, they will get better. Another thing that makes this exercise fun is that kids usually love hearing their paragraph read aloud. They will beam with pride as their story is read aloud and usually laugh at all of the funny sentences that their classmates wrote too. Here are some sample narrative prompts for strong verb paragraphs:
Before Writing the Paragraphs, Begin with Sentences
Before your students write strong verb paragraphs, you may want to begin with sentences. Present students with sentences that have a verb that isn’t specific and then read another sentence with a strong action verb that can be visualized. Look at the following examples:
Suddenly, my dog, Meatball, ran through the living room.
Suddenly, my dog, Meatball, bulldozed through the living room.
I made my way through the sea of people to take a better look.
I wormed my way through the sea of people to take a better look.
The next step is to teach students to take sentences that have linking verbs that tell and not show and teach them to transform those sentences into sentences that show instead of tell. Turning sentences with linking verbs into sentences with action verbs is a little bit harder, but once students see examples and watch you brainstorm and model how to do this, they will feel confident in crafting these sentences themselves.
Take a look at the following examples:
Example sentence with a linking verb that tells: He was mad.
To guide students in revising this sentence, ask students what actions mad people do. Make a list of these actions, and then rewrite the sentence replacing the linking verb was with these words.
He slammed his book down on the desk, stomped across the room, and slammed the door on his way out.
Explain to the class that with this sentence, you don’t have to tell that the boy was mad. We know it based on his actions. The sentence with the strong verbs shows instead of tells!
Here’s another example:
The troll was ugly.
The ugly troll’s green teeth jutted out over his long, flaky chin. The warts on his nose multiplied by the hour, and his razor-sharp toenails scraped the ground when he walked.
After these whole class and individual practices with sentences, you’ll be ready for the strong verb paragraphs. Consider writing one as a whole class together first, then assigning one to a small group or to students working with a partner.
Click here to grab a printable copy of the strong verb paragraph rules. If you want a complete resource, complete with a presentation for teaching, strong verb mini lessons, printable strong verb prompts, and example paragraphs, check out our Strong Verb Paragraph resource on TpT.
We use strong verb paragraphs during the first nine weeks. If you would like to see exactly what we teach in the first nine weeks, click here to download our free first nine weeks plans. If you’d like to see our yearly plans, click here to download a glimpse into our 7th grade ELA yearly plans.
If you’re looking for an effective process-approach method to teach your students to write text dependent analysis essays, we have a complete course, complete with instructional videos for you and EVERYTHING needed to teach the entire process to your middle schoolers. Click here to enroll in the first section of the course completely free! If you like the free course, consider asking your administration to purchase the complete course.
5. Three Reasons Why Bell Ringers Make Sense in the Middle School ELA Classroom
/in Podcast/by Tammy SutherlandUsing bell ringers in the middle school ELA classroom can help you keep your sanity when it comes to trying to fit everything in! This episode will help you learn the advantages of using bell ringers or warm ups at the beginning of class, and we will talk about the ones that we rely on in our own classrooms! Be sure and check out our show notes at https://elacoreplans.com/three-reasons-using-bell-ringers-in-the-middle-school-ela-classroom-makes-sense/
We will put a link there to ten FREE bell ringers that we believe work for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade!
Download this episode!