Juneteenth Book List for Middle School

Commemorate Juneteenth with these books that are selected specially for middle school students! These are great for any time of the year, or on June 19th! 

 
 

I’m organizing these by fiction/nonfiction but also by skinny books/chapter books. When I was Media Specialist, that’s how we differentiated between chapter books and smaller, thin books! I’m also including the Accelerated Reader level, so you can get an idea of the reading level. If you’re not familiar with AR levels, it’s typically the grade level as the first number and the month of that grade level as the number behind the decimal. For instance, 5.1 would be grade 5, month 1. However, you know your middle school students’ actual reading levels, so I’ve included a variety! Also, keep in mind that students typically have a harder time with nonfiction, so they may need a lower level than what they are successful in fiction. 

Click on the book cover to read more info!

Fiction “Skinny” Books

Freedom’s a-callin me: AR 5.5

In a universal story about the human need to be free, this collection of poems brings to life the treacherous journey of the travelers on the Underground Railroad.








All Different Now: AR 3.1

In 1865, members of a family start their day as slaves, working in a Texas cotton field, and end it celebrating their freedom on what came to be known as Juneteenth.








Nonfiction “Skinny” Books

Harlem Hellfighters: AR 5.9

The Harlem Hellfighters were members of the 369th, an all-black regiment during World War I. Their nickname was given by their German foes who admired their bravery. The 369th played key roles in critical battles that helped secure an Allied victory.











Shaking Things Up: AR 6.1

Fresh, accessible, and inspiring, this book introduces 14 revolutionary young women, with portraits by noteworthy female artists, to the next generation of activists, trailblazers, and rabble-rousers.





















Juneteenth: AR 5.1

This book describes Juneteenth, including its history, traditions, and how it is celebrated around the country. 











Fiction Chapter Books

One Crazy Summer: AR 4.6

n 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland to spend a month with the mother they barely know, 11-year-old Delphine and her sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover their mother wants them to attend a Black Panther summer camp. Book #1
















A Good Kind of Trouble: AR 4.5

Shayla is in junior high, and all the rules have changed. She's suddenly questioning who her best friends are, and some people at school are saying she's not black enough.













Come Juneteenth: AR 4.3

Fourteen-year-old Luli and her family face tragedy after failing to tell their slaves that President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation set them free.
















Short Chapter Book

What is Juneteenth? AR 6.4

This addition to the "What Was?" series provides a thorough introduction to the past and the present of Juneteenth. Text contains racism and disturbing imagery.

Grab a free reading comprehension packet for this book below!

FREE for What is Juneteenth?

25 Multiple Choice Prompts for reading comprehension and their answer keys. All for free.

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More great reads…

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World War 1 Escape Room for Upper Elementary
World War 1 Escape Room for Upper Elementary
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Juneteenth Book List for Middle School
Juneteenth Book List for Middle School
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Activities for your Australia Unit
Activities for your Australia Unit
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3 Literacy Strategies for your Social Studies Classroom
3 Literacy Strategies for your Social Studies Classroom
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Activities for your Australia Unit

Here are some activity ideas for your Australia Unit! These are all great for your middle school social studies classroom!

Digital Geography Activity 

Go digital! Spiral geography skills in a digital activity like this one! This digital geography activity asks students to identify locations on a map, but it also has fill in the blank prompts, too. 

The kids’ favorite part of this activity are the research slides! Students will find their own images of key places in Australia. They will also research Australia’s climate, history, and other fun facts. 

Your most likely favorite part of this activity will be the pre-set Google Forms quiz. It’s 10 multiple choice and it’s self-grading. It’s editable, but you shouldn’t need to do a thing! 

PRO TIP: I like to spot check the digital activity, then take a grade on the quiz. This will save you a ton of time grading! 

Digital Activity

Geography in a variety of ways.

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Nonfiction Reading Packets

You simply cannot go wrong with adding nonfiction text to your unit. Literacy skills are almost always in need of improvement, so this is a great way to move that needle!

 
 

I have created a nonfiction reading worksheet packet for each standard and element for Georgia 6th Grade Social Studies, so you have plenty to choose from for your Australia Unit! 

One-Pager Notes

This is SUCH a helpful resource! Having all the key information on one page is a great snapshot of your unit, and it can be used so many different ways! 

  • Students can fill this in as they learn about Australia. 

  • You can give students the answer key copy in the beginning of the unit to reference as you go through the unit. 

  • Students can fill this in at the end of the unit to review or self-assess. 

  • You can give students the answer key copy to use as a study guide. 

 

One-Pager Notes

All information. One page.

BUY NOW

 Color by Number Activity

Color by Number activities are always a fun activity that are versatile. They are great for fast-finisher work or even sub plans! 

This free coloring activity has 20 questions that review Australia’s history, government, geography, and economics. It’s print and go, plus easy to grade! 

FREE Australia Color by Number

Review your Australia Unit with a fun color by number!

DOWNLOAD
 
 

More Great Reads…

Featured
World War 1 Escape Room for Upper Elementary
World War 1 Escape Room for Upper Elementary
Read More →
Juneteenth Book List for Middle School
Juneteenth Book List for Middle School
Read More →
Activities for your Australia Unit
Activities for your Australia Unit
Read More →
3 Literacy Strategies for your Social Studies Classroom
3 Literacy Strategies for your Social Studies Classroom
Read More →













Project Ideas for Middle School Social Studies

I hear it all the time from teachers just like you, “I want something different,” or “I need something to make this less boring”. Most of the time, teachers turn to projects! Projects are a great way for students to synthesize knowledge from multiple standards into one product. 

From my experience as an instructional coach, I’ve seen teachers make some mistakes when implementing projects. Sometimes the connection to the standards was far-fetched. Sometimes the classroom management was so bad that it was basically like giving students a week's worth of free time. Other times, the project only hit one small piece of a standard but took multiple weeks to complete. 

I am excited to share my top tips for implementing projects in middle school! 

Free Project Planning Packet

Project Planning Worksheet Packet. Plan your classroom projects without forgetting a single thing.

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Planning

This is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of implementing projects in your classroom. The more thorough you are in planning, the more effective your project will be. Plus, you’ll be the star teacher of the hallway!

You need to consider these things during your project planning. 

What are your Learning Targets? Try to incorporate as many Learning Targets as you can into one project. This will make the project worth your instructional class time. However, you may want to categorize these learning targets as “Must-Haves” and “On the Wishlist”. Your project timing may not go as planned. You might need to cut down midway through the project in order to stay in your pacing guide. Knowing which activities/learning targets were on your “Wishlist” will help you decide what to cut out last minute. You could also choose to keep the “Wishlist” items as separate fast-finisher or extra credit activities. 

Digital, Non-Digital, or Hybrid? Most teachers choose a hybrid model because there is usually a research component in the project. Either way, it’s important to make note of this during your planning. If you’re planning to go digital or hybrid, you’ll need to make sure you schedule access to the internet. Similarly, if you go non-digital, you’ll need to make sure you have all the supplies students will need. 

Will you offer students any choices? Most often, students are more engaged if they have a choice. You can offer a choice in the presentation of information and/or a choice in the expression of information. You could give students the option to choose their topic from your list. You could give students the option to choose where to find their research from your curated list of sites. You could give students the option to record a video of their findings or present their findings in front of the class. You don’t have to let students choose all of these, but it’s important to allow student choice when you can - even in small amounts.

How much time can you spend on this project? Reference your planner, school schedule, and pacing guide. If your school is having a school-wide assembly or a planned fire drill, add in some extra time! Also, consider whether or not students are actually able to work on this project at home. I always planned around this and never expected them to work at home. If they did, it was a plus! I recommend adding at least an additional half class period to whatever you think you’ll need. 

What if students don’t finish or are absent? I know, this is the dreaded question. You really need to have a plan for this before you implement it. Will you deduct 5 points per day late (for non-absent students)? Will you take it as-is? 

Planning for your absent students are where your “must haves” and your “wishlist” will also play a role in your planning. You can assign a smaller project based on your “must-haves” learning targets for students who are absent. If a student is absent throughout most of the project time, you could give them an alternate assignment. This could be a worksheet that hits the same learning targets as the project. 

Project Planning Packet

Plan out your projects, while keeping it simple.

DOWNLOAD

Best-Case Scenario

The best projects are those that hit multiple domains and have a writing component. I encourage you to try to incorporate other domains, even if it’s just in a small way. Same with a writing component. Try to have at least one paragraph as part of your project. 

While planning this, be aware of your “must haves” list, your “wishlist”, and the amount of time you have. Know what you can cut if you start to run short on time. You can always repurpose small pieces of your project later! 

List of Project Ideas 

Here is a generic list of project ideas for your middle school social studies classroom. 

Create maps using map skills (cardinal directions, grid maps, resource maps, map keys, map scales)

photo scrapbook (place or time travel)

recipe book

blueprints of houses

interviews

write a blog 

comic strips

brochure

collage

illustrated glossary

flags

flashcards

hieroglyphics

ID badges for historical figures

Map journey or war

postcards

pen-pal writing both sides

stamps honoring people of importance

soundtrack with reasoning for choices





Teaching the Articles of Confederation: A Primary Source Activity

Teaching the Articles of Confederation can be tricky. First, the Articles are very difficult to read and understand - even for us, teachers! Additionally, we want our middle schoolers to be somewhat engaged and challenged. I’ve got a primary source activity that I think your middle school students will like, and I’m giving it to you for FREE. Plus, I’ll walk you through it - just keep reading! 

Background Knowledge

For these activities to be most effective, it’s important to provide students with some background knowledge. They’ll need to know that The Constitution wasn’t the “first” and “only” Constitution of the United States. The Articles of Confederation were written before the Constitution and had a lot of flaws. The writers of the Articles of Confederation were adamant that their new government would not become too powerful. Their recent experience with Britain heavily influenced the writers of the Articles. A common theme of “fear of a strong central government” and “abuse of power” is seen throughout the Articles. Connecting this to their recent experience with Britain is important in understanding the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. 



Primary Source Activity: Black Out

Teaching the Articles of Confederation is a great opportunity to use a primary source strategy. However, having students read the Articles in its entirety is not recommended. I think they’ll be more confused if they read the whole thing because of how it’s written. I recommend the primary source strategy called, “black out”. 



In this strategy, teachers cover or “black out” portions of the text or image and ask students to draw conclusions based on the uncovered or visible pieces. The teacher can uncover and ask students to respond. Sometimes, teachers won’t uncover the piece - they’ll just have students work with the visible portion. 

 
 

I have an activity that uses both strategies. “Black Out #1” covers one portion and does not reveal any additional text. “Black Out #2” covers one portion, then uncovers to ask students to respond to the new text. 

The best approach to any primary source activity is to provide specific questions/prompts. Have students make predictions, observations, and draw conclusions from the primary source. The prompts to do this will vary depending on the primary source. 

In my example, I used the first page of the Articles of Confederation, including Article 1. The goal is to have students predict what the Articles of Confederation is about, when was it written, and what was its intended purpose. 

In my second Black Out activity, students see a portion of Article VIII (about taxes). Students are asked to make predictions about the Article and answer other questions. Then, more of Article VIII is revealed. This additional information answers a question asked previously. The way the first portion is written leads the reader to think that general welfare expenses will be paid by a national treasury. However, the second portion clarifies that these taxes are actually levied and submitted by the states with no federal regulation. Once this is made clear, we can examine a weakness of Article VIII. 

Matching Activity

Another activity I recommend for teaching the Articles of Confederation is to match the actual words of the Articles to a rephrased version (common language). This will help students to understand and comprehend the Articles. 

 
 

Analyze the Weakness and the Purpose

Identifying the purpose for certain Articles will help to drive the point that the writers’ experience with Britain influenced a fear of an abuse of power by the government. Have students think about why the writers chose to include these Articles. 

Then, have students analyze the potential weaknesses of these Articles. This should lead students to the theme that the government was not strong enough to effectively run a nation. 

 
 

Illustration Activity

A fun extension activity for teaching the Articles of Confederation is to illustrate the different Articles. This can be a summarizer, a fast-finisher activity, or for extra credit. 

This should help you see that the student understands the Article. You can also have students add a description of a potential weakness to the illustration, so you can assess that aspect, too. 

 
 

In Closing…

Teaching the Articles of Confederation doesn’t have to be complicated. The Articles themselves are already complicated enough! Try using a primary source strategy, like the Black Out strategy, to engage your students. Let them connect with the text with these strategies. 

For more primary source strategies, check out this blog post. 

FREE Resource

Grab this ENTIRE activity for free! This includes both Black Outs, matching, and illustration activities.

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Using Primary Sources in your Social Studies Classroom

Teaching with primary sources is one of those tricky things. I feel like we’re always told to include them, and it seems like a simple request. But are we making the best of them? Can we push past observation and push towards historical thinking and analysis? That’s where the tricky part comes in: getting past simply displaying these sources for students to “look at”. 

 
 

I’m excited to share some primary resource strategies that I think work really well with your middle school students. I’ll walk you through them and give you links to other resources that you can use in your social studies classroom! 

Why Primary Sources?

First, primary sources are first-hand accounts or evidence of a particular person, place, event, or time in history. This includes photographs, documents, artifacts, etc. Most often, classrooms use photographs and documents as primary sources. 

Using primary sources in the classroom allows students to use their reasoning skills and allows them to practice drawing conclusions from information. In certain situations, students are even able to draw conclusions from multiple sources of information. It also pushes students to answer non-Googleable questions. To me, the best part of using primary sources is its ability to allow students to build a connection to historical events. Building this connection helps to solidify the learning and to build engagement and interest. 

Think like a detective by analyzing evidence. 

Strategies for Using Primary Sources

Gallery Walk

Post a series of images and/or documents around your classroom or hallway, creating a “gallery”. Allow students to walk around the “gallery” to analyze the images. You can allow students to carry their guiding questions on a clipboard as they walk the “gallery”. 

One option is to have the image printed on a page that’s folded in half. The image is displayed, but students can lift up to see information about the image. This allows students to analyze the image first, make predictions or draw conclusions, before learning the details. This option is my preference. 

Another option is to simply have the images/documents posted with details displayed with it. While this does not allow for predictions about the source, it does provide immediate context, which might be necessary depending on the lesson. 



Zoomed In 

Choose an image, and zoom in on a portion of the image. Prompt students to make predictions and ask guiding questions. Then, reveal another portion of the image (or the whole image). Prompt students again to make predictions about what is happening. Once the whole image is revealed, students may complete a full analysis. 





Black Out 

Similar to the “zoomed in” strategy, the teacher would hide or cover certain parts of the document. Students use context clues or their own background knowledge to predict what’s happening. You could reveal the hidden text to further explain, or it could stay covered to act as a spotlight on the important information. 

Timeline

Choose a series of primary or secondary sources and organize them in chronological order to create a timeline. Students can draw conclusions about how events in history relate to other events. 

Another option is to give students the sources and allow them to organize them in chronological order. 


Matching (image to description)

This activity is great to do in groups, but it can also be effective as an independent activity. In this source activity, give students images and/or documents. Then have them match those to a description or detailed information. You can make this activity feel more tactile by have the images/documents as laminated cards, plus the descriptions as laminated cards. Students can physically match the images to the descriptions. For a simpler approach, you can have the images and the descriptions on a worksheet for students to match - just like a matching activity for vocabulary that you’ve seen before. 


Compare/Contrast

This is great for analyzing change over time. You can also use this type of activity for analyzing different perspectives or stances on issues. 

For analyzing change over time, maps and images are great resources. For example, maps or images of forests in Brazil from different time periods is a great way to showcase deforestation. 

For analyzing different stances on issues, speeches or propaganda are great resources. For instance, you could display images of the Vietnam-ear anti-war protest while also displaying (or listening to) a speech from President Kennedy regarding the need to send troops to Vietnam. 

In both examples, students can draw conclusions in a compare/contrast format. 


Sample Guiding Questions for Images

  1. What do you notice first about the photograph?

  2. Describe the time and place you predict the photo was taken. 

  3. Why did you predict this time and place?

  4. List the people, objects, and events that are happening here. 

  5. Write one to two sentences as a caption for this photo. 

  6. Give this photo a title. 

Where Do I Find Primary Sources?

Library of Congress

National Archives

Wikimedia Commons

DocsTeach

Life Magazine Photo Archive