Middle School Poetry Activities

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.

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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.