Fun Friday ELA Activities for Middle School Students
๐ค Use pop-culture rap songs as fun Friday ELA activities for middle school! Your students’ Fridays will never be the same again!
Hip Hop and you don’t stop! ๐ถ
Rap is the most popular form of music among kids. As one of the five elements of Hip Hop, rap music was created as a voice for the youth, reflecting the kid-created origins of Hip Hop. Teach your students about these origins, the founders of Hip Hop, and how it became one of the most popular art forms in the world. ๐โจ
๐ Click here for Hip Hop and rap music ELA activities! ๐๐
๐ฅ With great comicbook characters, comes high student engagement! ๐ฆธโโ๏ธ๐ฆธโโ๏ธ
Almost all of the students in your class once imagined themselves flying through the air ๐ช or saving the day with awesome powers !โก๐ก๏ธ At the very least, they’ve heard names like Spider-Man, Batman, and Wonder Woman before. Comicbook heroes have compelling stories that have rich content application. Have your students compare the Spider-Men Peter Parker and Miles Morales here, or study the real-world history behind the Black Panther superhero here while practicing ELA skills. ๐พ๐
I’m a superhero nerd, so I can’t stop here. ๐ค๐ฅ
Explore themes and tropes of superhero characters and their stories with these The Clue vs. The Inference, parody song ELA activities.
๐ฃ๏ธ “What about the ladies, Ken? What about them?” ๐ธ๐พ
Check out these super-heroine ELA activities with rap songs that explore the real-world counterparts to the Dora Milaje warriors from the Black Panther here or Detective Pic as she uses her main idea and details skills to solve crime here.
๐ ๐ฝโโ๏ธ “But my students don’t like Hip Hop or superheroes, Ken!”
Movies come to your rescue. ๐ฝ๏ธ
Kids’ movies are a great, clean way to explore a variety of themes while covering ELA skills. ๐ฅ๐ Have your students compare and contrast the Moana movie with the original Islander folktales that inspired it here, or the Mulan movie with the original Chinese ballad. They can even explore the production history behind the Frozen movie here while practicing sequencing, main idea, context clues, synonyms and antonyms, and many more skills. ๐โจ
And we’re just scratching the surface. ๐ Since too much of a good thing can be bad, Iโll stop here and let you check out some of the activities above. ๐๐๏ธ
Did you know that Hip Hop is tied to one of the BIGGEST myths in music history? Want to find out what it is? Just click here!
Until next time,
Ken with Rap Opera for Kids