Less than $5 Middle School Poetry Activities (by price, low to high)

This comprehensive set offers 20 individual assignments, each providing an engaging introduction to the life, style, achievements, and legacy of a renowned poet. Written at a 7th-grade level for ESOL students, the content is clear, approachable, and adaptable, making it suitable for a wide range of learners across different grade levels or with varying reading abilities.

Each assignment includes four thoughtful questions designed to encourage students to think critically about the poet’s work and lasting impact. Whether used in an ESOL classroom or for general education, these assignments support the development of reading and comprehension skills while fostering a deeper appreciation for poetry. Perfect for building a love of literature in your students!

Looking for a thought-provoking, creative activity to pair with your Wonder novel study? This acrostic poem and "Design Your Own Choose Kindness Shirt" art activity are just what you need to inspire your students while reinforcing themes of kindness, empathy, and self-expression!

Recommended for grades 5-8.

WHAT'S INCLUDED:

✨ Acrostic Poem Template: Students use their names to craft thoughtful poems inspired by the story and its powerful message. It’s perfect for encouraging critical thinking and creativity.

✨ Kindness T-Shirt Design Activity: Have your students imagine they’re creating their own “kindness campaign” by designing a T-shirt with a positive message or a powerful quote from the book. This hands-on activity promotes individuality, self-expression, and classroom collaboration.

WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT FOR YOUR CLASSROOM OR HOMESCHOOL:

✔️ No Prep, Easy to Use – Just print and go!

✔️ Aligned with SEL Themes – Focus on empathy, respect, and inclusivity.

✔️ Fun and Flexible – Use as a quick activity, a station in your classroom, or as part of a larger unit on Wonder.

✨ BONUS: These activities also make a great bulletin board display to celebrate your students’ creativity and showcase the lessons learned from Wonder.

Love this freebie? Take your Wonder novel study to the next level!

Check out my comprehensive Wonder Novel Study with over 100 pages of engaging activities that dive deeper into character analysis, themes, literary devices, and much more. It’s packed with tools to inspire rich discussions and critical thinking—all aligned to standards and designed for grades 5-8.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

This is a digital download. You will not receive anything in the mail.

Please use a computer to download and not your phone.

Explore United States history through the art of haiku with the History in A Haiku Activity! This comprehensive kit is designed to enrich and engage students in their understanding of U.S. History while honing their creative writing skills. With carefully curated historical prompts, research resources, and a structured writing process, this activity offers a dynamic way to learn about various U.S. historical topics and craft expressive haikus.

Key Features:

• 30 Fascinating Historical Prompts: Choose from a diverse range of 30 U.S. historical topics that span different cultures, regions, and time periods.
• Grading Rubric: A comprehensive grading rubric guides students in meeting the criteria for historical accuracy, creative expression, language use, and more.
• Step-by-Step Guide: A detailed lesson plan and instructions make it easy to implement the activity effectively in your classroom.
• Extensions and Variations: Discover ways to extend the activity with group collaboration, multimedia integration, and exciting variations to cater to diverse learning preferences.
• Bonus Challenge: Encourage creativity with a bonus challenge that offers students the opportunity to earn extra credit by incorporating unique historical references.
• Grading Scale: A clear grading scale ensures students understand the evaluation process and helps you provide constructive feedback.
• Teacher Instructions: Detailed teacher instructions and suggestions for variations provide you with a flexible framework to adapt the activity to your classroom's needs.

Benefits:

• Enhance Historical Understanding: Foster a deeper understanding of world history by researching and connecting with different cultures and periods.
• Develop Creative Writing Skills: Cultivate creativity and descriptive language skills as students craft haikus that convey historical messages and imagery.
• Engaging and Interactive: The activity actively involves students in research, critical thinking, and artistic expression, making history come alive.
• Tailored Learning: Choose prompts that align with your curriculum or pique students' interests, creating a personalized learning experience.
• Meaningful Assessment: Assess historical understanding, language skills, and creativity through a well-defined grading rubric.

Immerse your students in the past, inspire their creativity, cultivate a deeper appreciation for history and language, and bring history to life in your classroom!

Ring in the new year with this NO PREP acrostic poem goal writing activity! Students can choose their favorite words and write their own acrostic poem on the printable template while spelling out the words HAPPY NEW YEAR. Enjoy as morning work, center activity, brain break, or for your New Year's Party!

Find this and more:

New Year's Bundle

Directions:

• Print the template in color or black and white
• students write a word or phrase to describe what they hope the new year will bring for them or what goals they have for the new year
• In an acrostic poem, each line starts with a capital letter that spells out the poem's theme vertically
• Acrostic poems don't need to rhyme, but all the other poetic devices like alliteration, similes, and rhythm are often used to create an effect on the reader

What's included?

• 1 "Happy New Year" acrostic poem template in Color
• 1 "Happy New Year" acrostic poem template in Black and White

New Year's Resources

Writing Resources

Enjoy this “Thankful” acrostic poem template for Thanksgiving this year! It is a fun and creative way to explore poetry and what students are thankful for during this season.

Freebies & Discounts:

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Comments:

Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this product and found it useful. I really love reading how you are using my products in your classroom :) thank you in advance for taking the time to leave a review!

International Peace Day on September 21st is an important day. By celebrating, we can bring student awareness of the diversity of our world. Teachers can use International Peace Day as a meaningful lesson in their classrooms. It is an opportunity for students to learn about the importance of peace and how they can contribute to a better world.

* This free product includes an acrostic poem template.

Generate some ideas with your class on how we can promote peace!

A Powerpoint which provides a brief overview of rhythm and rhyme scheme using poetry. I've used this as an introduction to poetry and pair this up with a poem in which students must find the rhyme scheme. It can be used with any poem.

10 colorful, themed Valentine's Day stationary sheets with lines and addressings. Also, 10 black and white images to write and color. Students can write to family members and friends to express their emotions and gratitudes. Easy to use--just xerox and let students choose their favorites. Fun to give and get!

This resources features the first task of our popular Poetry ESCAPE ROOM. Check out this freebie to get a feel for how our escape rooms operate!

There is no wonder why escape rooms are so popular; they are highly engaging and encourage people to work together and think creatively in order to solve different puzzles... all while trying to beat the clock! This meticulously-crafted resource features all of the materials you need to conduct the first task of our Poetry ESCAPE ROOM in order to get a feel for what our escape rooms are like. The activity involves creative thinking, logic, and collaboration. Your students will be having so much fun that they won’t even realize the higher order thinking skills they are applying (and the number of poems they have analyzed) in the playing of this game!

How does it work?

The ghosts of Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Langston Hughes, William Shakespeare, and Maya Angelou have risen from the grave to lock your students inside your classroom. They are upset because they believe that students spend too much time talking about (fill in the blank with whatever is hip with students these days) and not enough time reading and writing poetry. Students cannot escape until they complete 5 poetry-based tasks to show these ghosts of poets past that they do in fact know their poetry. This resource features task 1 of the escape room:

• Match 'Em Up: In this task, students must match up poetic terms and devices with their definitions. Letters intersected by the lines between the terms and definitions will reveal their code.

Product Includes:

• Task Sign
• Task Instructions
• Match 'Em Up Worksheet
• Answer Key

This task is suitable for middle and high school students and is ideal any time during your poetry unit.

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Get the full escape room here: Poetry ESCAPE ROOM

More poetry escape rooms by Language Arts Excellence

⭐ Digital Poetry Escape Room

⭐ Back to School Poetry Escape Room

⭐ Halloween Poetry ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Thanksgiving Poetry ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Christmas Poetry ESCAPE ROOM

⭐ Poetry Escape Room Bundle

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Click to Follow Language Arts Excellence

This is a perfect poetry assignment for students to practice their creative writing skills. This Cinquain theme is February. This means students can write a cinquain about anything that reminds them of the month of February: Ground Hog Day, Valentine's Day, Winter, etc. There are instructions on how to write the Cinquain, with an example Cinquain. Then students are responsible for writing their own.

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A perfect Valentine's Day or Ground Hog Day poetry activity. You can use this anytime in February! Students will be given direction on how to write a Haiku with the proper syllables. Then they will read two examples and write their own Haiku. They can write about anything that reminds them of February: Ground Hog Day, Valentine's Day, winter, etc. This is great for a writing center or just for a fun creative writing activity as a whole class.

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This is an easy printable activity for Thanksgiving or fall that students can write their own Haiku. There are instructions on how many syllables go on each line. Then I have two different examples of Haikus. Students will be able to create their own Haikus about Autumn, Thanksgiving, or November.

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Have your students practice writing Haikus about some of their favorite jobs. They can choose a job or pick from a list of jobs. They then get to brainstorm and create their own Haikus about the job. A fun way to incorporate poetry and Haikus.

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This is a fun and easy activity for your classroom. Students will write two holiday Haikus. They can write about Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, Las Posadas, Winter, December, etc. The instructions tell them how to correctly write their own Haiku and then there are two examples. Students then will write 2 of their own Haikus.

If you enjoyed this product, please leave a review and follow my store. If you would like to see more products by me follow the link Finding the Fish. Thank you for your purchase and I hope you enjoy!

This is a fun, creative writing assignment you could give to your students during the month of October. Students will get to choose their own Halloween topic and then follow the instructions to write their own Cinquain.

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This is a holiday word Cinquain. Have students choose a holiday subject or focus on words around the month of December. Then they use the instructions to write their own word Cinquain. This is a fun poetry printable that you can add to a writing center or have each student do individually.

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This Thanksgiving Cinquain has students create their own Cinquain using the month of November, Thanksgiving, or Autumn as their topic. The worksheet has examples of Cinquains and how to write a Cinquain. This is a fun poetry activity for your students.

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A Halloween Acrostic poem! Students will use the word October to create their own acrostic poem. The second page students can choose a 5 letter Halloween word given on the worksheet and create their own acrostic poem.

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Nothing like catching two curriculum areas in one. This assignment will help you meet expectations in both music and language. Students are asked to analyze poetry and lyrics, both those used in class and those of their own choosing. The assignment has students looking at: * vocabulary used * structure * techniques * important words * feelings Students are also asked to consider how the poem/music is meant to be performed. They are also asked to consider the background of the poet/musician.

These two acrostic poems are perfect for the month of February and Valentine's Day. Students will create their own acrostic poems using the words Valentine & Love Bug. They can be as creative as they like. This is a perfect idea for a writing center or for a cute poem to hang up on a bulletin board.

If you enjoyed this product, please leave a review and follow my store. If you would like to see more products by me follow the link Finding the Fish. Thank you for your purchase and I hope you enjoy!