The Program Just beyond the predictable world of middle level textbooks story problems sits the relatively unexplored fields of statistics and probability. Try teaching these in the fall.
Prerequisite skills are usually minimal.
Middle level students construct lists containing all possible solutions for a given situation, by playing a listing game. Divide the class into two groups facing each other. Each group chooses three representatives. Meanwhile, the opposing team lists the letters in order given to them. The teacher signals again prompting each team to mutate again, the judges to list and so on.