Get Done-For-You lesson plans for the entire year...
Join Now!

No-Prep Middle School ELA Stations for September: Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry with a Fall Sports Theme

I cannot even imagine NOT running stations in my Middle School ELA Classroom, especially since I’ve been using themed-station sets so that the work never feels random or “extra”…. Like never out of place. 

And the way I do that is through station materials that are thematically linked, tied to the current month or season. Even as we ebb and flow between “station time” and “regular curriculum time” all throughout the month, the fact that ALL of September’s stations tie back to the Fall Sports theme is what unites the spiraled review & practice vibes of the activities themselves. 

Ok, so what do my Middle School ELA stations really look like in action during September? 🍂 

Take a peek into my classroom where we’re leaning into the Fall Sports theme—fiction, nonfiction, and even poetry—all tied to football, teamwork, and a little healthy competition. 

These stations are teacher-friendly, student-approved, and ready to roll.

Here’s how the Fall Sports stations shake out—simple, smart, and ready for your middle schoolers… 🏈 September “Fall Sports” ELA Stations:

1. 📖 Reading Station → Perspective + Theme

  • Students compare Jalen (“Smasher”) and Kyle (“The Tank”) during football tryouts.
  • Discussion cards push them to analyze:
    • How POV changes the story
    • What insecurities each boy reveals
    • Why the nickname “Smasher” matters
  • Built-in critical thinking + alignment with CCSS/TEKS (grades 6–8).

2. ✍️ Writing Station → Rigorous but Doable

  • Same high-quality questions as Reading Station (that’s on purpose!).
  • Students pick one prompt (or more, depending on time/level) and write a short response.
  • Great for: practicing theme, POV, and even revisiting later in the year to grow their writing (For example: Instead of teaching a grammar mini-lesson next week followed by a random/boring worksheet so kids can practice what I just taught them, I’ll teach the grammar mini-lesson and THEN students go back to something they’ve already written—like something from this writing station—and THAT’S where they apply whatever concept or skill I just taught in the mini-lesson). That’s what we end up using all these “station writing activities” for, and it immediately boosts engagement & buy-in from students since they’re practicing skills with their OWN writing instead of boring worksheet.

3. 🔤 Grammar Station → Sentence Variety Fun

  • Focus: compound & complex sentences.
  • Students write their own football-tryout themed examples using coordinating/subordinating conjunctions.
  • Scaffold easily:
    • Keep it simple → just compound sentences.
    • Challenge advanced kids → add complex ones (or revise story sentences).

4. 🗣 Vocabulary Station → Game-Day Words

  • Target words: confidence, nervous, impact, scrambled, focus.
  • Practice includes:
    • Fill-in-the-blank sentences
    • Matching definitions
    • Using words in personal connections (i.e. “When have you scrambled to get something done?”).

Result: A full station rotation that hits reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary, all connected to a fun football passage that feels fresh + seasonal without any of the typical “my stations always feel random” worries.

…………………………………….

⚽ September “Fall Sports” Nonfiction Stations

Here’s how your nonfiction side of the Fall Sports theme works—same eas dependable flow, just with informational text at the core:

1. 📖 Reading Station → Analyzing Argument + Evidence

  • Nonfiction passage: “Soccer Headaches: Concussions, Soccer, and Kids—Oh My!”
  • Students dig into the debate: Should young players learn to head the ball early, or avoid it for safety?
  • Discussion cards cover:
    • Comparing Coach Cealio vs. Coach Brecker’s perspectives
    • Identifying risks like concussions, memory loss, neck strain
    • Weighing evidence + considering fairness/balance in the article

2. ✍️ Writing Station → Take a Side

  • Same rigorous questions as the Reading Station (on purpose!).
  • Students write responses—one paragraph, three sentences, or multiple prompts, depending on your class.
  • Builds skills in argument writing, text evidence, and clear reasoning.

3. 🔤 Grammar Station → Editing in Action

  • Students practice editing real-world sentences pulled straight from the nonfiction passage.
  • Common errors: punctuation, verb tense, misplaced modifiers, run-ons.
  • Activities:
    • Identify + correct mistakes
    • Rewrite clean, polished sentences
  • Flexible: scaffold for struggling students or ramp up rigor for advanced ones.

4. 🗣 Vocabulary Station → Interactive Word Play

  • Target words: controversial, dominate, impairment, endures, concedes, cumulative.
  • Choice board of charades, pictionary, telestrations keeps practice fun + memorable.
  • Students act it out, draw it out, or guess it out—zero boring vocab drills here.

Result: Students practice reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary through a real-world sports debate issue they’ll actually care about.

…………………………………….

🏈 September “Fall Sports” Poetry Stations

This time, the game-day action shows up in verse. Here’s how the poetry station rotation works with the football poem “Touchdown”:

1. 📖 Reading Station → Close Reading + Imagery

  • Students read “Touchdown”—short, punchy stanzas that mimic the energy of a football game.
  • Activities:
    • Analyze rhyme scheme + “near rhymes” (sweat/regret, ground/touchdown)
    • Explore imagery (rush, grip, fumble) and how it mirrors the action of football
    • Discuss the phrase shift from “It’s about” to “It’s all about”—what’s the effect?
    • Creative twist: Write an extra stanza and decide where it belongs in the poem

2. ✍️ Writing Station → Personal + Creative Response

  • Students choose from prompts like:
    • “Game Day Feels” → write about a personal adrenaline-rush moment
    • “Metaphor for Life” → explore how a pass/fumble could symbolize life challenges
    • “Narrative from the Field” → write as the football itself
    • “Regret and No Regret” → connect poem themes to real-life choices
  • Builds narrative, reflective, and metaphorical writing skills.

3. 🔤 Grammar Station → Poetry Mechanics in Action

  • Students mark up the poem:
    • Number lines + stanzas
    • Circle periods, box capitals, oval commas
    • Spot rhymes + near rhymes
  • Goal: see how punctuation + structure guide meaning and message in poetry.

4. 🗣 Vocabulary Station → Poetic Word Play

  • Students create original poems with vocab-based formats:
    • Haiku, Acrostic, Cinquain, Concrete poems
  • Builds vocabulary mastery while encouraging creativity + ownership.

Result: A poetry station set that makes literary analysis approachable and fun, while tying everything back to the energy of fall sports.

That’s the full September lineup—fiction, nonfiction, and poetry stations that hit all the ELA bases (reading, writing, grammar, vocab)… and save you from reinventing the wheel. If you’d rather skip the prep and get these exact ready-to-use stations, you can grab them inside Ready, Set, Stations™. Your students stay engaged, your standards get covered, and you get your evenings back. 🙌

You Might Also Like...