Middle School Teaching Units

I am a middle school Language Arts teacher who created these lessons because I discovered that many of my students are lacking in the basic skills needed (such as punctuation, grammar, and parts of speech) to succeed in Language Arts. Each lesson is designed as an extra reinforcement tool to be added to any language arts curriculum.

Each of the following, Units 1-10, consists of 36 mini lessons (one per week for the entire school year) to be used during the first few or last few minutes of the class period. A great way to keep your students caught up on basic skills! Buying 5 units gives you lessons for every day of a typical school year (180 days). Mix and match, depending on the needs of your students.
Grammar Units (Designed for grades 4-8, except for Spelling - see below)

Unit 1 - Weekly Grammar Mini Lessons: Antonyms and Synonyms $5.00

Unit 2 - Weekly Grammar Mini Lessons: Homonyms $5.00

Unit 3 - Weekly Grammar Mini Lessons: Parts of Speech $5.00

Unit 4 - Weekly Grammar Mini Lessons: More Parts of Speech $5.00

Unit 5 - Weekly Grammar Mini Lessons: Prepositional Phrases $5.00

Unit 6 - Weekly Grammar Mini Lessons: Sentence Fragments & Run-ons $5.00

Unit 7 - Weekly Grammar Mini Lessons: Spelling $5.00 (Designed for grades 6-9)

Unit 8 - Weekly Grammar Mini Lessons: Subjects and Predicates $5.00

Punctuation Units (Designed for grades 4-8)

Unit 9 - Weekly Punctuation Mini Lessons: Commas $5.00

Unit 10 - Weekly Punctuation Mini Lessons: End Marks and Capitalization $5.00

The lessons are saved as PDF files ready to be emailed to you after payment is received (no s&h charges). The font is large enough for the lessons to be reproduced as overhead transparencies or printed out as worksheets.

Combined Literature and Grammar Units

Are you tired of literature units that contain only discussion questions, vocabulary words, and impractical extension activities?

The following units are designed to be used with students in grades 4 - 8. The pages can be reproduced to be used as handouts or as overhead transparencies (the preferred method for my classroom).

Unit 11 -The Westing Game (by Ellen Raskin) Literature and Grammar Unit

--The literary terms and activities for this unit include: point of view, setting, paraphrasing, inference, prediction, context clues, and narrative and dialogue.

--The grammar and punctuation lessons include: identifying nouns, adjectives, verbs, personal pronouns, commas, capital letters, end marks, paragraph writing, and subjects and predicates. $8.00

Unit 12 - Walk Two Moons (by Sharon Creech) Literature and Grammar Unit

--The literary terms and activities include: point of view, setting, paraphrasing, inference, prediction, context clues, narrative and dialogue, and foreshadowing.

--The grammar and punctuation lessons include: identifying nouns, adjectives, verbs, personal pronouns, commas, capital letters, end marks, paragraph writing, and subjects and predicates. $8.00

--------In addition, each of the above literature units include spelling, using the thesaurus, and questions designed to make your students think rather than just regurgitate information they have read

The following are samples of pages of some of the units:

Commas Unit

The following sentences are written with the commas removed. Rewrite the sentences replacing the missing commas.
1. The Rodrigues family went on vacation to their hometown of Rio de Janeiro Brazil.
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
2. Rebecca likes hiking through the mountains and she also likes climbing on the big rocks.
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
3. When they went to Rio de Janeiro Mom found a pretty rock and showed it to Rebecca.
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
4. Trevor tripped over a stick lost his balance and fell on the ground.
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
5. Marcy Marcel and Rebecca enjoyed swimming in the lake next to their cabin in North Carolina.
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

Write 3 sentences using commas to separate 3 or more items in a series.
Examples:
I like to eat apples, oranges, and bananas for an afternoon snack.
I need paper, pencils, and a notebook for Mrs. Perkins's class.
6.__________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
7.__________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
8.__________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Walk Two Moons Unit

Chapter 2

To paraphrase means to read a phrase or phrases and
then rewrite the phrase(s) using your own words instead of copying the phrase(s) word-for-word from the book.
According to Sal, there are three "real" reasons that Gram and Gramps are going on the trip to Lewiston, Idaho. Reread the reasons on page five and then paraphrase them on your paper. Remember to write them in yourown words!

Chapter 3

Paragraph Writing:
When asked to write an informative paragtaph for class, it should be in proper form. A good informative paragraph includes a topic sentence, three or more supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence.

In the middle of Chapter 3, Phoebe tells Sal, "Sal, you're so courageous. You're ever so brave." Sal disagrees and her reasons are explained in the next few parugraphs. What do you think? Is she brave or not?

Using the form from above, write a paragraph explaining 3 reasons that you agree or disagree with Phoebe's statement. Your topic sentence should state that you either agree or disagree with Phoebe's statement and your 3 reasons can be your 3 supporting sentences. Do not forget to add a concluding sentence.

End Marks and Capitals Week 1

The following sentences have been written with all end marks and capital letters removed. Rewrite the sentences, putting the end marks and capital letters back where they belong.

1. the apples are in the refrigerator next to the orange juice
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. there are apples, oranges, and bananas on the dining room table
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
3. i love to eat kellog's rice krispies cereal for breakfast because it is healthy
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. kristin does not eat strawberries
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
5. however, her sister, nicole, loves to eat all kinds of fruit
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

Identify the words that should be capitalized:
washington music store largo middle school
pizza restaurant high school grocery

The Westing Game Unit
Chapter 3
Inference
Sometimes a reader can come to a conclusion, or figure
something out, based on what they have read in the story.

This literary device is known as inference. What
conclusions can you draw about Mrs. Wexler's feelings
towards each of her daughters, Angela and Turtle, based on what you read in Chapter 3?
(Remember to write your answers in complete sentences)

Chapter 4
To paraphrase means to read a phrase or phrases and
then rewrite the phrase(s) using your own words instead of copying the phrase(s) word-for-word from the book.
Reread the first two paragraphs of the newspaper article describing Mr. Westing's death (Chapter 4 - pg. 18). Use paraphrasing to rewrite the details found in these two paragraphs.

Remember to write using your own words.

Subjects and Predicates Unit

The subject of a sentence is what the sentence is about. The predicate is what is happening to the subject. Rewrite the following sentences, underlining the subject once and the predicate twice.

1.The kids are playing a game in the family room.
2.The game is very noisy.
3.Our family loves to play games.
4.We play them nearly every day.
5.Do you know anyone who likes to play games?

Write 3 of your own sentences, underlining the subject once and
the predicate twice.

6.__________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
7.__________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
8.__________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

Week 1

Parts of Speech Unit Week 1

A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. Identify the nouns

in the following sentences.

1. The Rodrigues family went on vacation to their hometown
of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2. Rebecca likes hiking through the mountains, and she also
likes climbing on the big rocks.
3. When they went to Rio de Janeiro, Mom found a pretty
rock and showed it to Rebecca.
4. Trevor tripped over a stick, lost his balance, and fell on the
ground.
5. Marcy, Marcel, and Rebecca enjoyed swimming in the lake
next to their cabin in North Carolina.

Rewrite the following sentences putting nouns in place of the
blanks.

6. ___________ is one of my favorite __________.
7. _________ went to the _________.
8. Is ____________ going to the ___________?

Homonymns Unit

Homonyms are words that sound alike but have different meanings and are
spelled differently. Choose the correct homonym for each blank in the
following sentences.

aloud allowed

1. Theresa is not _________ to cross the street without her mother.
2. Follow along as Justin reads _________ the first two paragraphs of chapter
one.

Write a homonym for each of the following words. Then, write a sentence for
each word, using it correctly.

3. threw ________________
Sentence:___________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Sentence:___________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. tents _________________
Sentence:___________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Sentence:___________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

The following are some of the most commonly misused homonyms. Choose
the correct homonym for each blank of the following sentences.
their there they're

5. The students gave _________ new English teacher a hard time.
6. Kelly and Jessie are eating an early dinner because _________ going out
to see a movie later.
7. Please hand me the scissors that are on the table over _________.

Spelling Unit

Choose the correct spelling
of the following words:

gymnasium gymnazium gynmasium gymnasiam

habittual habituall habitual habitaul

hesetate hesitatte hessitate hesitate

hereditairy hereditary hereditarry hereditery

hilarious hilarius hilareous hilariuos

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