1.

Head’s Up →
2. Wanted Poster →
3. Jenga Comprehension Game →
4. Wordless Picture Books for Inferencing →
5. Anticipation Guide →
6. Using Text Context to Help with Comprehension →
7. Socratic Soccer Ball →
8. K12 Reader Middle School Reading Comprehension Worksheets →
9. Graphic Organizer →
10. ReadWorks →
11. Reading Comprehension – Middle School Super Bundle →
12. Guided Reading Beach Ball →
13. Make a Timeline →
You’ll Need
 Cards with important names/objects/places from a text
Description
This reading comprehension game is based off of a popular game that your students are likely
already familiar with. To prepare, you’ll need to write the names of important characters, places,
or objects from the book you’re studying. Pair students up and give each student one deck of
cards. They should hold the deck up on their forehead while their partner gives clues to see if
they can guess who/what they are.
2. Wanted Poster
You’ll Need
 Paper
 Books you’re studying
Description
For this activity, students will create a wanted poster for one of the characters in their story. To
create their poster, they’ll have to include the character traits of the individual and other
important information from the book for what they are wanted for. You can keep this activity
simpler by only have students write a few words on their poster, or add a longer written prompt
to accompany it.
3. Jenga Comprehension Game
You’ll Need
 Jenga game pieces with generic comprehension questions written on them
Description
Students will have fun playing this game while also working on their comprehension skills. To
create the game, you’ll need to write generic comprehension questions on each Jenga piece (or
more specific questions taped to each piece). Then, as students play Jenga with their group,
they’ll have to answer each question they pull up. You can set up the game so that all the
questions are facing down to prevent students from being able to read them before pulling a
block out.
4. Wordless Picture Books for Inferencing
You’ll Need
 Wordless picture books
 Graphic organizer
  Pencils
Description
Use wordless picture books to have your students practice inferencing. Students can study one
illustration at a time and write what they can infer about the image (for example, what happened
before, what will happen next, which character was responsible for X, and so on). Some
examples of wordless picture books you can use include “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” by
Chris Van Allsburg and “Unspoken” by Henry Cole.
5. Anticipation Guide
You’ll Need
 Written anticipation guide relating to the book your students will be reading
 Pencils
Description
You can use an anticipation guide as part of your pre-reading activities before beginning a new
book. The anticipation guide should list statements (some true, some false) about the book, and
students will need to mark whether they agree with each statement. Using an anticipation guide
is a good way to have students practice the reading comprehension strategy of predicting.
6. Using Text Context to Help with Comprehension
You’ll Need
 Book you’re studying
 Information about the author’s life/important historical events of the time
Description
When students have a greater context of the events surrounding a book or the author’s life, it can
sometimes help them better comprehend what they read. If you’re reading a historical fiction text
or a text that is based on the life of the author, consider building students’ background
knowledge of these subjects. You can then have students identify similarities between the events
of their text and those from the life of the author/history.
7. Socratic Soccer Ball
You’ll Need
 Soccer ball with comprehension questions written on it
Description
Before playing this game with your students, you’ll need to write comprehension questions on a
soccer ball (or on tape placed on the soccer ball). Then, students can gently toss the ball back and
forth and must answer the question that is facing up when they catch it.
8. K12 Reader Middle School Reading Comprehension Worksheets
You’ll Need
 Reading comprehension worksheet downloads
Description
To provide your students with some additional reading comprehension practice, try using these
worksheets. There are sets of worksheets available for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders that include on-
grade passages and comprehension questions. If you have students who are struggling with
reading or reading comprehension, you could consider starting with the worksheets and passages
from the prior year.
9. Graphic Organizer
You’ll Need
 Various graphic organizers based on lesson objectives
Description
Graphic organizers can be an excellent way to help students improve their reading
comprehension. They allow students to organize their understanding of a text and can really
break down important concepts into more meaningful and easier to understand chunks. Some
examples of graphic organizers you can incorporate with your middle school students include
cause and effect diagrams, Venn diagrams, story elements/plot organizer, and main idea charts.
10. ReadWorks
You’ll Need
 Computer
 Printer
Description
ReadWorks can help you improve your students’ reading comprehension. This website offers a
variety of digital classes for students, as well as printable materials and lesson ideas that you can
use. There are also materials designed for use with your projector or interactive whiteboard that
could be good for whole class instruction. (You can learn more about the best interactive
whiteboards in this article .
11. Reading Comprehension – Middle School Super Bundle
You’ll Need
 Paid download of reading comprehension bundle from Teachers Pay Teachers
Description
We all know that teaching is about sharing ideas and see what has worked for others. You can
download this super bundle of reading comprehension activities for middle school students from
Teachers Pay Teachers. The bundle includes 11 different units of studies to help you improve
your student’s comprehension.
12. Guided Reading Beach Ball
You’ll Need
 Beach ball
 Marker
 Generic or text-specific questions
Description
This activity is sure to get your students up, moving, and excited about learning. Simply write
some questions about the text on each section of the beach ball and have students roll or toss the
ball to one another and answer the question that is facing up when they catch it. Your room could
get loud with all the excitement, so you may want to pull out your voice amplifier or consider
investing in one.
13. Make a Timeline
You’ll Nee
 Timeline graphic organizer
 Pencils
Description
If your students are reading a biographical or autobiographical text, they can improve their
reading comprehension by creating a timeline. Students will need to work on distinguishing
important vs interesting events from the individual’s life as they decide what to include on their
timeline.
How to Prepare Middle School Students for Reading
As a middle school teacher, you want to set your students up for success with reading
comprehension in high school . As they progress through the grades, the texts they are expected
to read will only become richer and more challenging.
It is important to prepare middle school students to be successful in reading, even if they are
currently having some troubles with reading or comprehension (Learn more about
student’s troubles with reading). You also want to work to help students see the joy in reading
and keep them from deciding it is too difficult and just not for the
Here are a few different ways you can prepare your middle school students to be successful:
 Work with students at their instructional reading levels through small-group
instruction.
 Explicitly teach reading, comprehension, and vocabulary strategies to your
students.
 Provide time when students can read books of their choice.
 Model using strategies during read alouds so your students can hear your thinking
process.
  Read books aloud in class. There are many benefits.
4 Reading Comprehension Strategies
Before I start sharing my favorite reading comprehension activities for middle school, let’s take a
few minutes to review the main reading comprehension strategies that you should be teaching
your students.
Explicitly teaching and modeling the use of these strategies (multiple times) will help students
begin to apply them independently as they read. This can clearly have a positive impact on their
comprehension.