Providing students with a wide variety of electives will give them an opportunity to explore school activities they may not otherwise be involved in. Students in grades 5-8 are constantly changing and developing. It's the school's job to provide them with challenging, but fun electives.
Whether it be a middle school musical, a middle school orchestra or field trips make the 2022-23 school year top of the list for your students and their electives! Here's a list of 20 middle school electives that will be unique and offer plenty of additional performance opportunities.
1. Knitting Elective
Some students struggle to find the perfect elective. Students are searching for something that will help them to escape the stress of middle school courses, while also engaging in something creative. Knitting is an ancient skill that students will love learning!
Learn more: Berkeley Hall School
2. Visionary Art History
Giving students a wide variety and creative electives is super important. With a visionary art history elective, you can not only study ancient times but also give students creative individual projects.
Learn more: St. Andrew UT
3. Exploration Elective
Enhance students' middle school courses with electives that directly correlate with the curriculum. Like this exploration elective. Teachers can base explorations on students' interests, social studies, ancient civilizations, and any other class period!
Learn more: Green Park LS
4. Women's History
Celebrate with your middle school students and help them to understand women's history. This can be brought into middle schools for students in grades 5-8 to understand the importance and changes in our history.
Learn more: Education with Davison
5. Foreign Languages
Elective classes should provide an opportunity for students to become culturally aware. A language elective exposes students to different intercultural communications.
Learn more: Fearless Foreign Language
6. Chess
Chess is an all-time favorite elective for middle schools. Make sure you keep your students engaged and learning to love the board game. Chess offers way more than just a game, but will also help students gain strong study skills.
Learn more: Premier Chess
7. Middle School Musical
A middle school musical will bring all different students throughout your school. An elective like this will provide students with a variety of techniques in acting and the rest of the school will love to come to the middle school musical.
Learn more: Zion Lutheran Church and School
8. Yoga
Yoga can provide an opportunity for students with a very wide range of benefits. Whether they want to do it for relaxation at the end of a tough day or to gain some flexibility for their out-of-school sports, you can't go wrong in adding this elective to your middle schools' list.
Learn more: Ascension Catholic School
9. Class Table Ping Pong
It's always nice to be able to use classroom furniture to have fun. Setting up a ping pong tournament is a great way to end a trimester elective like this. Focusing on learning techniques from week to week, students will love to show off their skills!
Learn more: Chico Country Day School
10. Cooking
A lost art throughout the past few years. Bring cooking back to your school year! Your students will be happy to show off their creative skills through baking and cooking. Learning a variety of techniques and maybe even finding a way to wrap a community service project into it!
Learn more: Colombia Christian Schools
11. Gardening Elective
Gardening is both calming and enjoyable for middle schools! Boys and girls will enjoy filling a class period by building a beautiful garden. Another benefit to gardening is even great to bring community service projects to your students and school.
Learn more: Sacred Heart School Turlock
12. Tae Kwon-Do
A unique elective for your middle schools that students will be interested in and engaged in is Tae Kwon-do. Even just a small time frame will help students grow from week to week.
13. Business Explorations
Business explorations benefit all of your middle grades, but eighth grades are the best time to allow students to really take control of their little school store. They'll be super excited and constantly looking forward to middle school courses like this.
Learn more: The Grosse Pointe Academy
14. Microscopy
Learning a variety of techniques at a young age is so important to our future scientists and doctors. Providing the opportunity for students to explore science outside of their normal classroom setting will help them to discover new passions.
Learn more: Loving Savior of the Hills Luthern School
15. In the Long Run
An opportunity for students to get out their extra energy throughout the day. Using a class period outside of PE for those extra energetic kiddos is a great elective with teacher supervision to offer. Some students will need this time frame to help focus the rest of the day.
Learn more: Ashbrook Independent School
16. Flight & Space
This elective with teacher supervision will help students to explore and release their creative sides while solving real-world problems. Give students a wide range of hands-on engineering activities that they will love.
Learn more: Latimer School
17. Strategic Games
Playing board games has become more and more distant to our little ones. The creation of these games uses students' artistic skills, organizational skills, and maybe even some study skills. Go the extra step and have students create video tutorials for their games.
Learn more: Trinity Lutheran School - Wahiawa, Hawaii
18. Space Creations
Giving students space to create and collaborate can be a great trimester elective. In this space creation, elective students created a miniature golf course throughout their entire gymnasium. They then used their artistic skills to create hands-on engineering activities.
Learn more: CICS West Belden
19. Storytelling Through Art
Students are well equipped with artistic skills and they absolutely love to show them off. Give your students the time and space to show off these serious artistic skills by using them for storytelling. Combine this with a video production elective and see what students come up with.
Learn more: Our Lady of Malibu School
20. Photography
Middle school courses often lack the creativity that they desperately need. This is why is it so important to provide students with the space to create art projects on their own. Through photography, students will be given the space to create beautiful art projects, and group, and individual projects.
15 Teacher-Recommended Musicals for Middle Schoolers