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3 Fun and Free ELA Activities to Foster Creativity and Communication

3 Free ELA Activities to boost creativity and collaboration picturing a small group of middle school students working together with support from their teacher

Free ELA Activities for Your Secondary Classroom

Looking for free ELA activities to boost students’ creativity and collaboration in a fun and free way? Look no further!

Below, we share 3 engaging ELA activities that will improve your classroom community and the quality of student-to-student collaboration in your class.

3 Free ELA Activities to boost creativity and collaboration picturing an array of different colored and shaped squares & rectangles

From word games to creative writing exercises, these activities are designed to make learning enjoyable and effective. And the best part? They won’t cost you a thing! With these activities, you can expand your students’ creativity, enhance their reading comprehension, and sharpen their writing skills.

Foster Creativity & Community with these Free ELA Activities

I loooove…
Building routines
✨ Fostering a positive classroom community
Providing FUN opportunities for students to practice their collaborative skills

These trivia bell ringers do ALL OF THE ABOVE. One day I forgot to start class with our trivia bell ringer…my kids nearly lost it until I pulled one up. These were “reluctant” 9th graders….so, trust me when I say these work magic.

What teachers like you are saying about these collaborative bell ringers:

Marcie S.
Marcie S.
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“Great for quick brain breaks, bell ringers when waiting for all to join the class, and those last couple of minutes before the bell rings.”
Natasha B.
Natasha B.
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“I can’t say enough about these bell ringers! My kids love them and beg to do them on Fridays for a brain break, and it’s always so much fun to see them work together to solve each one. Thanks for an amazing product!”
Ashlee H.
Ashlee H.
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“Great way to build classroom community at the start of the year. It is also fun to use it as competition between class periods.”
Jacqueline K.
Jacqueline K.
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“What a great way to start a class! These bell ringers really keep students engaged and give me the time I need to get my start-of-class tasks done.”
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Want the full resource? We offer many volumes and variations of trivial bell ringers, but check out the bundle here!

Click on the image or title above to sign up for the week of free task cards.

These reading response cards can be used with any novel to ignite your students’ creative thinking and collaborative skills!

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “Will my students ACTUALLY talk about books in a way that is not painful and soul-crushing?” 

Then, this resource is your answer. It allows students to view their texts in a brand new light! I love having students work on these task cards in pairs, book clubs, or literature circles.

What teachers like you are saying about these task cards:

Courtney K.
Courtney K.
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“These have helped to vary my students' journal entries and helped me to stay flexible with their independent reading books!”
Dayanara B.
Dayanara B.
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“This is a great way to get students engaged in their novels. I use it for book clubs and so far students are having a great time discussing the novel using these cards.”
Eileen L.
Eileen L.
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“These [reading response cards] are a MUST HAVE! I usually hang these around the room and have students answer a certain amount of each question type. I love that they need to think outside the box and they love that they are completing "typical ELA" work.”
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Want the full resource? Here you go, friend!

Anytime my students have the opportunity to play ELA-centered games that involve movement and working with others, I am on board (and so are they). 

These 3 drama improv games are easy to implement into any drama unit or just as a Fun Friday or Brain Break activity.

The 3 Improv Games:
✨ “Story, Story, Die!”
✨ “Park Bench”
✨ “The Boss is Gonna Freak”

Learn more about each game here!

3 Free ELA Activities to boost creativity and collaboration picturing a small group of middle school students working together with support from their teacher

Closing Remarks

I hope you enjoy these 3 free ELA activities! Let me know in the comments if you try any of them out 🙂

PSST…looking for more free ELA activities? Check out this post over at The Secondary English Coffee Shop that has freebie samples for you.

As always, happy teaching!