Hello! Today’s free middle school writing lesson focuses on two beautiful excerpts of descriptive writing set in Fall. Students can read the excerpts, answer some questions to help them notice the important points, then follow the instructions to complete a creative writing assignment focused on describing Autumn.

This lesson includes basic instructions for Language Arts teachers of Grades 6 to 8 – how you use these materials is up to you. Let’s get started!

Keep reading, or download the lesson in a Word file!

Grade 7 Creative Writing Lesson: Autumn Storms and Summer Gone

As autumnal weather sets in, it seems like just the right idea to curl up with a good book. Perhaps this is why so many stories are set in this atmospheric season! Here are two such story beginnings, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) and René Bazin (1853-1932), respectively.

As You Read

Although both stories are set in autumn, the mood is quite different for each. Notice the language each author has chosen.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is writing the opening of a Sherlock Holmes mystery, and some of his vocabulary is therefore quite frightening. It gives the reader the sense that ‘something is beginning’.

René Bazin describes autumn not as frightening, but as sad. Summer has gone. The sense from his opening is that ‘something has just ended’. Notice that each author describes what is happening in nature, and links it with human life in some way.

Text: Fall Story Beginnings

Autumn Storms

It was the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life, and to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in the storm grew higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in the chimney.

Summer Gone

It was Monday. On the previous day, from morn till eve, storm clouds, rising out of the sea, had discharged their contents on the arid earth, as pockets full of corn are scattered by the sower. Showers of leaves, mostly from the topmost branches, had fallen; others, heavy with moisture, hung pendant. An aroma of damp earth rose up to the calm, milky sky; there was not a breath stirring, the birds were silenced, the land seemed intent upon the last drops of rain formed during the night, that came crashing down at the foot of the trees with a ring as of falling glass. Something in Nature seemed to have died with the last breath of summer, and the whole earth to be conscious of its loss. And in truth, on the hills of Chalons, the far-off grinding of a plough, and the calls of the man to his oxen, proclaimed that autumn labour had begun.

Questions

1. Which of the beginnings do you prefer? Why?
2. What human activities or feelings are described in each piece, and what effect does this have on the reader?

Assignment

Write a story beginning that takes place in autumn. Before you write, consider carefully what mood you would like to convey to your readers. Will you describe autumn as joyful, interesting, beautiful, frightening, sad, or in some other way? You may wish to include one activity that, for you, truly marks the beginning of the autumnal season.

Middle School Writing Lessons and More!

Get creative and include this lesson in any English Language Arts class, either in a classroom or homeschool setting. You can also use any one of the Middle School and High School Writing Lessons from Canadian Winter Homeschool Materials as a quick addition to your teaching day, or as an easy lesson for a substitute teacher.

Lessons on our blog are divided into Level One (Grade 6), Level Two (Grade 7) and Level Three (Grade 8) according to difficulty, but you can use whatever resource suits your student(s).  This lesson can be found in our complete Reading and Writing collection: Sundry Snippets Level One.

If you enjoyed this lesson why not drop by our store at Teachers Pay Teachers or Tes? You will find plenty of other teacher resources, including French lessons, Reading Comprehension questions, Novel Studies, Music Appreciation lessons, Grammar workbooks, and more!

Happy learning!

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