5 Games to Use in Middle School ELA

By Presto Plans

At this time of year in the middle school ELA classroom, it can feel like everything hits at once. Between seasonal illnesses, report cards, and the everyday juggling act at school and home, the workload can pile up fast.

This is where the magic of games really shines in the middle school ELA classroom.

It’s easy to assume games are just for fun and not built for real learning, but that’s not always true. When chosen intentionally, they freshen things up without adding more work for you. Low-prep games can reinforce key skills, spark meaningful discussion, and get students collaborating in ways that deepen understanding.

If you’d like to break up the routine in your middle school classroom, this post is for you!  Here are my favorite low-prep games to use in ELA.

1. Escape Rooms or Challenges

Escape rooms or collaborative challenges offer an engaging way for students to practice targeted ELA skills. Working in groups, students actively apply collaboration and problem-solving skills as they solve puzzles, unlocking clues to help them “escape” the challenge! 

What I love most about escape rooms is their versatility. You can use them to target all kinds of ELA skills! For example, this type of challenge is an excellent way to reinforce students’ understanding of figurative language, grammar, or vocabulary. Escape rooms also work really well as an end-of-novel review, or even as a quick, standalone activity to support students with a specific skill. 

In this FREE figurative language escape challenge, students must color-code a passage that includes figurative language using a key code. Then, they must count up the examples of each to determine which key they need to escape.

2. Four Corners

If you’re looking for a quick ELA game to brighten up a class discussion or debate, try out Four Corners! In this no-prep activity, each “corner” of the room represents a response to a visual prompt. Students consider which of the “four corners” best describes their opinion, and move to the corresponding location in the classroom. Once they have made their choice, students should be prepared to defend their thinking - and then play again!

Four Corners incorporates plenty of movement - ideal for a busy class! This high-energy game also helps middle school students build essential ELA skills in a fun and low-pressure way. As they play, they will practice providing evidence to support a claim and explore different perspectives. I find Four Corners works especially well as a back-to-school icebreaker, or to give the class a chance to reconnect after a break or holiday. 

To add a creative spin on this engaging ELA game, try splitting your class in half and introducing a funny debate topic! These 40 outside-the-box discussion prompts (Is a hot dog a sandwich?) have been designed with quick class debates in mind! 

3. Word Puzzles

If you’ve ever found yourself struggling to “fill up” a few awkward minutes at the end of class (especially if you’ve wrapped up your main lesson, but don’t want to start something new), word puzzles can be the perfect solution. Having some clever word puzzles up your sleeve can give students something purposeful to focus on - without creating extra work for you! This style of puzzle provides students with a fun, accessible way to support problem-solving, critical thinking, vocabulary, or spelling skills. 

Brain teasers encourage students to play with language and think outside the box. They can also help students - including English language learners - learn more about common phrases and idioms. For example:

• Display the word HOT below the word COLLAR ("Hot under the Collar")
• Show the word ON, followed by THOUGHT THOUGHT ("On second thought")
• Repeat the word AID three times in a row, with the first word circles ("First aid")

I like to keep a collection of word puzzles on hand - that way, I have quick and easy bell-ringers, early finisher activities, enrichment tasks, or brain breaks ready to go when I need them!

4. Sorting Games

Organizing topics, ideas, and examples into categories can help students deepen their understanding of all kinds of ELA skills. Sorting games encourage collaborative discussion and help students recognize patterns and apply their learning. 

I like to incorporate sorting games as a hands-on way to reinforce key concepts or to review essential skills before adding a new step. For example, if your students recently learned about different types of figurative language, a figurative language sorting game can provide a quick, visual way for you to check their understanding.

To do this, I like to begin by providing groups of students with an envelope. Inside are a number of cards, each featuring an example sentence that contains figurative language. Once they have read each example, students then categorize it by figurative language type - simile, metaphor, oxymoron, hyperbole, personification, and so on.

This approach can also add a fun twist to spelling, grammar, and reading and writing lessons. Sorting games are an effective way to help students identify active and passive voice, literary genres, parts of speech, and sentence types (including fragments and run-ons)!

5. Reading Mysteries

Reading mysteries are extremely fun and also offer a unique and collaborative way to boost reading skills! Working in groups, students examine a “case file” of evidence - working together to solve a fictional case by piecing “clues” together. Reading mysteries encourage close reading and provide a low-pressure way for students to practice essential ELA skills, such as making inferences.

Each reading mystery begins with a creative backstory that sets the stage for the mystery. For example, when Mrs. Henry discovers that Gerome, her beloved garden gnome, is missing, students must comb through a collection of evidence - including a newspaper article, an airplane ticket, a list of medical appointments, emails, and social media posts - to determine who stole him! You can try this one out for FREE by clicking here.

I find that reading mysteries can add a little friendly competition in middle school ELA. Having a few low-cost prizes on hand (fun pencils or erasers, small candies, or stickers) for the “winning” team can be a fun, lighthearted way to reward students’ hard work!

I hope this list gives you some fresh ideas about games you can try with your middle school ELA class! If you’re looking for more creative and engaging activities to share with your students, check out these other posts and activities:

Games & Challenges for Secondary English Classes by Room 213

Book Tasting Escape Room Activity by The Classroom Sparrow

Game Board Activity for Any Story or Novel by Tracee Orman

ELA Test Prep Nonfiction Reading Escape Room by The Daring English Teacher

Creative Methods to Make Reading an Enjoyable Experience in High School English

If you've ever found your students' eyes glazing over a reading assignment or saw your chosen texts met with a collective, "meh," you're not alone. Before we even get started on this blog post I will be honest. I was not interested in reading when I was in high school. For this reason, I feel quite passionate about finding creative and fun ways to engage my students during any reading task. If you love reading, it might be difficult to understand why some people find reading to be a chore. Let's face it, when students are required to read assigned texts, their enthusiasm dwindles quickly. The information in this blog post will hopefully help to keep students engaged in the adventure of reading and help teachers create connections, foster participation, and critical thinking skills. 

 

Integrate Multi-Media 

One creative way that I have found to encourage literary excitement is through the use of audio, film clips, podcasts or music related to the text that we are reading. Reading sometimes leads to wandering minds. I, however, have found that listening to an audio book in addition to reading a physical text helps students to stay focused. If your school library does not have a copy of the audio book, you can always try to locate it on YouTube. I have done this many times. The best part? It's great for different learning styles. For auditory learners, hearing a text read aloud can turn a boring piece of text into a vivid experience. For visual learners, hearing the text being read helps to make connections between the sound and the script. I have never had any students complain about listening to the audio book, while we read a class novel study. For this reason, integrating multi-media into my classroom reading experiences is a win-win. 

Offer Choices & Encourage New Genres

When students are able to select their own books, they are a bit more invested. So, empower your students by offering them more choice. Instead of assigning a single book to the whole class, give your students a curated selection of books, or even a bit of free choice (with parameters). While offering choice, you can also expand their reading repertoire by using stations. This is a great way to introduce new choices to students, based on the different choices available within your school library. I created these genre reading stations (see image below). 

 Make Reading Visible and Social 

Classroom culture plays a huge role in shaping attitudes towards reading. You can do this easily by displaying books around the classroom, creating a mini-library, a cozy reading section, or by modeling your own enthusiasm for reading. Believe it or not, students do like to hear what teachers are interested in and what books they are reading. This might even spark a classroom discussion! When reading comes a part of the classroom conversation, it shifts from a boring task to a shared experience, which can be very motivating for students (especially the students that don't particularly enjoy reading). 

Reading Games

Classroom reading games offer structure, motivation, and of course, friendly competition. This can make a reading experience more enjoyable and rewarding. For this reason, I created a Book Tasting Reading Escape Room, which allows students to experience a variety of books, authors, genres, characters and more. This escape room was designed to be similar to a 'book tasting,' where students are encouraged to find books that pique their interest and that they might enjoy reading. 

Challenge #1: Author trivia 
Challenge #2: Literary characters
Challenge #3: Genre scramble
Challenge #4: They were books first
Challenge #5: Notable quotes

The goal of this reading game is to encourage students to work together and discover some new things, while also using their previous reading knowledge to assist their team to win challenges. You might consider using this escape-style game when you are leading up to a classroom novel study, an independent novel study, or as a fun way to encourage team-building in an English Language Arts classroom. 

 

 Make Real-World Connections

Sometimes, making reading relevant is just a matter of connecting it to the present and the lives of students. Try framing texts with contemporary themes or social issues to spark curiosity and debate. Making reading fun isn't about lowering your expectations of the reading material; rather, about reigniting a natural interest of stories, ideas and language. It's about giving students permission to approach any text with curiosity, to explore personal responses, and to enjoy discovering what they enjoy reading about most. 

Here are a few ways to make real-world connections when reading:

• Text Connections: This is a really easy way for students to connect with their book and relate to something that they are reading to themselves, their peers, other texts, or the real-world. 
• Current Event Pairings: Link themes from the text to news stories or societal discussions. For example, a novel that explores injustice can lead to conversations about current or civil rights movements.  

•  Author Backgrounds: Sharing interesting information about authors' lives or their social context can help to humanize a text. 

• Project-Based Learning: Upon completion of reading a text, ask students to research a topic related to their reading, such as historical periods, cultural practices or ethical dilemmas. To reach an even wider audience, have them present their findings to the whole class.  
  
  

I hope that these ideas have inspired you to change up your classroom routine and inspire your young readers. Try to remember that encouraging reading in high school is less about forcing pages turned and more about creating an environment where stories feel alive and relevant (this is what was missing from my high school English experience as a teenager). When students are empowered and engaged, their relationship with reading transforms in ways that will extend beyond the classroom walls. 

 

Here are some other creative writing ideas:

Creative Activities for ANY Novel or Short Story 

5 strategies to boost critical thinking & preview AI use  

 

How to Differentiate Without Extra Work

 

Do you struggle with the concept of differentiation, either because you aren’t sure how to do it well - or how to do it without committing to hours of work? The desire to help our students is real, but so is the fear and confusion around differentiation. Because let’s be honest: it can seem daunting when you assume it requires you to triple your workload. 

Another worry around differentiation is that some students might feel bad because they know got the “easy” version.

But here's the good news: Differentiation doesn’t have to require different versions, just carefully designed ones. In this post, I’ll show you how to differentiate without extra work.

A Differentiated Approach That Works for All

One effective way to differentiate is to use tasks that are flexible enough to meet each student where they are while still targeting the same learning goal. In fact, a well-designed lesson and activity can often meet the needs of learners at multiple ability levels.

This works when you:

• Use one task with multiple entry points
• Provide extension prompts instead of harder worksheets
• Offer optional scaffolds like sentence starters
• Assess the quality of thinking, rather than the quantity of writing (you can assess writing in another assignment)

What This Looks Like in Practice

Let’s imagine this is your learning goal: students will analyze how authors reveal character through intentional choices. You provide students with approximately five short texts that they will close read and give the same directions for all:

1. Choose at least two of the following passages.
2. Do a close read of the passage
3. Note, in the margin, what the passage reveals about the character.
4. Underline or highlight at least two specific details from the passage that reveal this trait

Then, you add something like this:

IF YOU FINISH EARLY…

• Choose another passage and complete the above steps, and/or
• Go back to a passage that you already read and underline or highlight more details that develop the character
• Offer a different interpretation of a character’s trait than the one you initially suggested.

With a selection of passages to choose from, ones with varying complexity, every student can access the task at an appropriate level without changing the assignment itself.  Also, students who need more of a challenge can choose to either analyze more of the passages or go into more depth for the ones they already did.

Regardless of which passage a student chooses, they can respond in a manner that allows them to work on the skills they are ready for. Some will focus on an obvious trait. Others will connect several details or explore subtext. Some will just hit the target while others will show great insight. The task stays the same, but the depth of the response changes.

This is one way to differentiate without extra work.

Let’s look at an example:

PASSAGE: Jacob sat at the kitchen table long after his cereal went soggy. His backpack leaned against the wall, gaping open. Every few minutes, he looked over at it, picked up his phone, then put it back down again. When his mother called, “You’ll be late for school,” he said, “I know,” but didn’t move. He just kept staring at the backpack.

Developing reader:
Jacob is nervous about something. He is not eating and keeps looking at his backpack and phone.

On-level reader:
Jacob seems anxious because he keeps staring at his backpack and picking up his phone instead of eating and getting ready. Maybe something in the backpack or on his phone is bothering him. When his mom tells him he’ll be late, he says he knows, but still doesn’t move, suggesting that he may be nervous about something he has to face at school.

Advanced reader:
Jacob's actions suggest that he is feeling anxiety over something. His repeated glances at the open backpack suggest that it contains something that carries emotional weight, such as a test, an assignment, or a reminder of what waits for him at school. Likewise, the way he keeps picking up and putting down his phone implies he may be waiting for a message or replaying something he has already seen. Even when his mother tells him he will be late, Jacob does not move, which shows that his hesitation is driven by internal tension rather than distraction. The soggy, uneaten cereal suggests he may be too nervous to eat, reinforcing the idea that anticipation of what is coming is bothering him.

With this approach, students can read the same passage and instructions, but illustrate different levels of thinking.

HOW DO YOU ASSESS THIS?

If the goal is: Students will analyze how authors reveal character through intentional choices, assess whether or not the student can

• Make a reasonable inference about a character
• Identify relevant evidence
• Explain the connection

You can use a simple rubric like the one above to give students feedback. Better yet, get them to assess themselves before you do. 

Or put a class list on a clipboard and circulate while students are working. Ask them to identify a trait, make an inference, and show you a piece of evidence. Note if they are developing, meeting, or exceeding expectations.

Creating groups for differentiated skill building:

Another effective way to differentiate without extra work is via stations. The information you collect will allow you to create some tiered stations activities that provide students with the help they need.

You will have five groups, but only three levels. Depending on the makeup of your class, it might look like this:

Group 1 - Developing (low):

Group 2 - Developing (high) 

Group 3 - Meeting Expectations (low) 

Group 4 - Meeting Expectations (high) 

Group 5 - Exceeding Expectations 

Next, choose five short passages that can be read during the time groups are at the stations. 

Now you set up your stations in a way that allows each group to work on the skills they need to work on. Your station rotation will include a teacher-led one where you can adapt your instruction based on each group’s level.

Station 1: Teacher- Led Station: You will use this station to give each group the instruction and skill-building they need based on where they are.

Station 2 - 5 will have a passage that reveals character, and each group will have different instructions to complete while there. This way, they can work on the skills that they most need to work on. The lowest groups continue to build the skills they need to master the task, while the more advanced groups will move on to more complex tasks.

The Developing Group gets these instructions:

1. Carefully read the passage
2. Identify one character trait.
3. Find a detail or quotation from that text that best illustrates this trait.
4. Complete the sentence frame. (You can provide multiple frames to choose from)
   {The character’s name} is ___ . For example, __________.

The Meeting Expectations Group gets these instructions:

1. Carefully read the passage
2. Identify at least one character trait.
3. Choose one quotation that best supports the trait.
4. Find at least one other detail or quotation that illustrates this trait.
5. Write 2–3 sentences explaining how the details you chose support the trait.

The Exceeding Expectations Group gets these instructions:

1. Carefully read the passage
2. Identify anything you learn about the character
3. Select the best evidence to support your analysis of the character.
4. Write a short paragraph that explains what you have learned about the character and the methods the writer uses to develop them.

Using the teacher-led station to differentiate easily

Let’s look at an order you can use to best help the students. Your lowest group will start with you at the teacher-led station. You will have a passage for them that is relatively quick to read and easy to analyse.  You will work with them on close reading, identifying evidence, and analyzing that evidence. You will have sentence starters for those who need them.

Your second lowest group will come to you next and you can look at the work they did at Station E and correct any misconceptions. Then, you can repeat what you did with the first group.

When other groups get to this station, you may look at their previous work or switch out the passage and or work on different aspects of the task. With stronger groups, you may be discussing the nuances of analysis and pushing them to improve their writing. Each of the top two groups will get another station after they have been with you, allowing them to apply what they learned and to do a better job as they do.

If you have followed this order, I would ask each group to pass in the work they did at the last station. This allows you to see, hopefully, their best work. You can start your assessment during your last session with group #3.

After this station rotation, you will have a much better handle on where your students are. You may be ready to move them all to a more complex assignment. When you do, hopefully, each student will be ready to meet expectations while others will continue to exceed.

THE SAME TASK CAN HELP YOU DIFFERENTIATE WITHOUT EXTRA WORK

Differentiation can reduce barriers for students without increasing workload for teachers. With thoughtful design, the same task can challenge and support every learner in your room. Hopefully you know feel like you can differentiate without extra work.

If you love this idea but don't have time to create the materials, click below because I've got you covered!

 

Check out these strategies for scaffolding skills:

Strategies to teach the elements of fiction

Strategies to boost critical thinking

Scaffolding the process of literary analysis

And from Tracee Orman: Creative activities for any novel or short story

 

Student-Created Playlists: An Engaging Reading Strategy for ELA Teachers

By Tracee Orman

 Are you tired of giving chapter check quizzes with terrible results or seeing blank stares when you try to stir up a discussion about your current literature unit? 

One of my favorite ways to combat this is using an activity I created when iPods became popular in the early 2000’s: creating playlists related to the text. It does not matter what we are reading, whether it is Shakespeare or The Hunger Games, students absolutely LOVE incorporating music into class.

Here are four ways you can use my playlist idea in class:

1. Chapter (or Section) Review

After students read a chapter(s) or section of the text, have them choose 1-3 songs that relate to the text. It can relate through a character (personality, dialogue, actions), an event, or even through a theme, symbol, or abstract idea. 

This can be done as a bell-ringer, exit slip, or anytime throughout the class period. The key is to make sure students can EXPLAIN how the song relates to the chapter. 

Here’s an example from To Kill a Mockingbird, chapter 7, by Harper Lee:

Mr. Radley cements the knothole at the end of the chapter, thereby ending the connection the children have to the gift-giver. The song “End of Beginning” by Djo can relate to this because their communication with the gift-giver was just beginning, and now it has ended, just like the speaker in the song reminisces about how things were before.

2. Character Analysis

Have students do a deep dive into characterization by assigning them to choose 1-3 songs that describe or encompass the character. They may find a song that seems like it would be perfectly sung by the character themselves. Make sure they explain the relevance between the two.

An example for Romeo Montague in Act I of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare:

“Perfect” by Ed Sheeran includes the lines “I found a love for me, / Darling just dive right in...I found a girl, / Beautiful and sweet” which seem rather appropriate for Romeo to sing about Juliet. In scene 5, Romeo says of Juliet, “"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”  

This activity forces students to reread the text to find connections between the lyrics and the character. When you require them to use quotes from both the lyrics and the text, you get them to read double the material, but in a way that they don’t mind at all. 

3. Review of the Plot/Events

You can assign the same thing, but instead of finding a song that relates to a character, have students choose a song that embodies one (or more) of the important events in the text. 

Have them copy down the lyrics to a song and, line-by-line, compare it to the events of the novel, story, or play.

Look at this example from The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare using Taylor Swift’s song “Look What You Made Me Do”:

  “I don’t like your little games / Don’t like your tilted stage / The role you made me play of the fool / No, I don’t like you” from the song can express Cassius’s feeling toward Caesar’s growing popularity with the people and rise to authoritarianism. From Act I, scene ii, Cassius says to Brutus “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world / Like a Colossus, and we petty men / Walk under his huge legs and peep about / To find ourselves dishonorable graves.”

 

  Later in the song, the lines “...all I think about is karma...but one thing’s for sure / Maybe I got mine, but you’ll all get yours” could be straight from Marc Antony’s mouth when he vows to get revenge on all the conspirators for killing Caesar. “Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood” (Act III, scene i).

4. End of Text Review/Summary

At the end of the book, story, or play, have students create a movie soundtrack. Each song they select should reflect a certain scene from the story. Have them explain the scene and why they chose it. They can include quotes from the story and the song to relate the two.

This is an example soundtrack from Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (see image):

This activity allows students to replay the story in their mind, setting it to music. It’s a fantastic way to review the story or as an end of the unit project.

Another way to summarize the story is having students create the album artwork for their playlists. You can have them include symbols from the story, recreate a scene, or touch on one of the themes.

My students always want to share their playlists with the class. Of course, it’s impossible to share all of the songs during class, but I have let students choose one song from their playlist and play it in class (as long as it’s appropriate). You can do this while they are creating the album artwork.  

You don’t need to purchase anything to implement this idea, but if you want the handouts and online shareable activity already done for you, you can check out my pack Character Playlists for Any Book or Story. It’s highly rated and teacher-tested. It is included in my bundle of creative worksheets to use with any text found here: 

You might also like these creative activities to use with any story:

One-Pager Assignment for Any Book by Presto Plans

Theme Park Literary Analysis Activity for Any Book by The Daring English Teacher

Thanks for reading!