This standards-based English Language Arts guide empowers middle school teachers to integrate climate education topics into their daily reading and writing curriculum. Visit our website to explore more free ELA resources including unit plans, creative writing lessons, reading comprehension activities, short stories, and graphic organizers. Middle school students can explore news articles and teachers can sign up for professional development opportunities. Find all this and more at SubjectToClimate.org!
Free ELA Lesson Plans for Grades 6-8
Explore this Guide
Welcome to our ELA Lesson Plans Guide, designed for sixth to eighth-grade teachers and students. These resources are crafted to align with Common Core Standards (CCSS) and are easily integrated into your existing language arts lesson plans. This guide features engaging activities, literature, and interactive tools aimed at refining media literacy skills, writing skills, and listening skills. Introduce reading strategies and promote environmental awareness in your middle school students. From analyzing articles to writing poetry, this guide is geared towards fostering a love for learning and critical thinking in our middle school learners.
Poetry & Music
Let these free lesson plans and activities spark creativity in your middle school students as they learn about poetry, music, figurative language, and protecting the Earth.
Song Study: Xiuhtezcatl’s “Broken”
Students analyze the song “Broken” by Xiuhtezcatl, then create an art project sharing their feelings about the planet's future. Click the photo to read about Lisa Hasuike the creator of this lesson plan.
More Poetry & Music Lesson Plans
Speaking, Listening, & Visualizing
Empower your students to be climate change leaders in their community through these free resources. Students learn to share their points of view on a variety of topics while also examining others’ perspectives.
Voices Like Thunder
Students analyze a speech by a youth climate activist before researching, writing, and presenting their speech. Click the photo to read about Christina Cawdery the creator of this lesson plan.
More Speaking, Listening, & Visualizing Resources
Vocabulary
Help your students learn terms and definitions that will allow them to speak about climate change and the environment.
Vocabulary Words
This printable and downloadable slide presentation provides images and definitions for climate-related vocabulary terms.
Climate Wordle
This resource puts a climate-themed twist on a favorite vocabulary game. Students can use their climate knowledge to guess the daily word. Play this fun game on the SmartBoard with the whole class, or in small groups as a competition!
Reading & Writing
Explore environmental concepts while developing skills such as informational text analysis and storytelling.
Next Steps
📚 ELA Homepage
📖 Reading List 6-8
🧮 Math 6-8
🌎 Earth Day 6-8
