Middle School Historic Fiction Teacher Resources

Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing instructional activity. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers. 

What is historical fiction? After explaining the difference to your learners, it's time to give each learner a try! With your support, encourage them to research, plan, and write their own historical fiction story. Don't forget to have a...

Historical fiction can be a valuable asset when learning about the past. Integrate several novels written about the Civil War into your social studies unit, with groups of four working collaboratively to comprehend the novel from...

Was he or wasn’t he? We may never know for sure about the origins of King Arthur. But a video that leads middle school and high school viewers through the facts and fictions that have kept King Arthur alive in peoples’ imaginations for...

Middle schoolers differentiate between fiction and non-fiction, discuss historical fiction, which combines both genres, choose historical novel from list and read independently, and write original short stories that combine elements of...

One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...

Looking for a great lesson plan on how to write a biography? Here, middle schoolers draw from magazine articles, novels, historical figures, and current events to choose a person, or character to write about in a biography. They follow a...

Students focus upon the Civil War era using research methods of drawing information from primary sources. Literature and photographic images reflect, communicate, and influence human perspectives of historical events. The lesson helps...

Eighth graders read Across Five Aprils and correlate it to a unit on the Civil War. They culminate the unit by writing a a piece of historical fiction in the first person entitled "Brother Against Brother."

Middle schoolers take a closer look at historical maps. In this American Revolution lesson, students examine the provided historical maps and documents to determine the assignments that George Washington assigned to subordinates during...

Students investigate city management and government by creating a fictional city in groups.  In this civics lesson, students create rules and a mascot for their fictitious city which they create from poster board cubes.  Students create...

Students research and describe the stories of Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. They analyze historical sources from different points of view and present an analysis of two historical contexts.

If you are considering adding or expanding a unit on utopian and dystopian literature you simply must check out this fabulous resource. Packed with plans, activities, project-based and 21st century learning opportunities, the unit uses a...

Students study the life and times of Shakespeare. They read and analyze one of his plays and use the Internet and videos to gain an understanding of how Shakespeare engaged his audiences, then and still today.

After reading and analyzing The 'In' Group by Eve Shalen, sixth graders consider how the categorization of people results in exclusion, discrimination, and injustice. 

Investigate Pennsylvania Barns. Have your class consider the elements common to Pennsylvanian barns and why they are significant to the food production process. They write summaries of Frederick Watts and his impact on agriculture.

Students investigate the years during World War II in which Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were held in internment camps.

Sixth graders read from the book, "Nothing to Fear," and discuss living in New York during the Great Depression. They write entries and summaries in their learning logs to share with the class. They work in groups to create a database...

Eighth graders locate and interpret information about the culture of another country using multi-media tools. Students read and interpret literature about characters and cultures from a foreign country. Students create a travel guide...

Students examine Edgar Allan Poe's "the Purloined Letter" from the perspective of a profiler. To sharpen search procedures, they examine the text and make lists of items and places in the house that were searched. Then students discuss...