I am a middle school teacher who is about to start up the school's first ever "Photography Club". I am not sure if my question should go here but I value my fellow FM'ers opinions and ideas so I am giving it a shot. I would like some suggestions from anyone as to what my topics could be. It is a 28 week club. I am thinking of running bimonthly photo contests. I am pretty sure most students will have point and shoot cameras but the school did purchase 2 Nikon D40's so the kids can start to learn about taking pictures with an SLR camera.
Thank you in advance for any advice.

I would suggest that for middle school students is to keep it very simple. It is likely that the students just want to take pics and MAYBE learn something a little something about photography. Serious students will quickly standout from the others and you might be able to give them extra work or studies. I would suggest that you make your projects fun that can be accomplished without a lot of thought, study or effort.

Since your class is 28 weeks, what may be fun is to weekly, feature their shots that have a corresponding images showing the alphabet letter of that week...first week "A", second week "B", etc. Try to have them take images not of the actual letter but of designs that look like the letter. Give them examples so they know how to visualize your concept.

Another thought would be to have a shot of an image of a particular color. It doesn't matter what the image is as long as it has the color as the main focal point (think full frame of the color).

The easy subjects for kids to photography are endless and readily available. Mix a little of technique and instructional use with your reviews in each class. Have a lot of visual material in class. I feel there is plenty of time for beginners to learn about the technical stuff after they find their "eye". You need to teach to the middle of the class and those that want more will seek it out which I am sure you will be able to provide.

Hope that gives you a starting point.

Justdevine what kind of advice are you seeking?
Is it ideas about the photographic contests?
Is it ideas about what to cover on those 28 weeks?
Is it possible reference to information needed?

I guess I was looking for ideas and sequence of how to handle the 28 weeks. The first reply was helpful. I like the ideas of what kind of photography themes/contests that I could hold. And I appreciate the fact that I shouldn't get too much into the technical side of things right from the start. I was also thinking of teaching them a little photoshop. Maybe start out with a photo that wasn't that great at first. Whether it was due to the composition or lighting etc. And see if the kids could make of it and then compare all of the different outcomes. I have also been trolling FM to get some ideas that middle school kids could tackle.

You could ask the students for some input on what they want the club to be. I wouldn't let them decide everything, but you could take some of their ideas and build on them.

I would try to make it as fun as possible to keep their interest. For topics I would try things like a photo of their pet, a portrait of someone that is not allowed to be centered in the frame, pictures taken without the flash on, picture with selective focus, picture converted to B&W, picture with camera placed on the ground etc.

One traditional illuminating challenge is to have them make ten very different images of just one white hens egg. Makes tyros actually think about the nature and character of light. Ideally, it ought to be in black and white or a B & W conversion. If the eggs are hard-boiled, think of it as the hard and soft boiled light challenge.