Mermaids will sing to your class members as they engage in an activity related to T.S. Eliot's famous dramatic interior monologue. After engaging in a socratic seminar about literary devices in the poem, individuals choose one...

Students read the tall tale of Pecos Bill and identify an exaggeration in the story which they state as being part of a tall tale. In this exaggeration lesson plan, students identify the exaggeration by drawing a picture.

Combine the study of poetry and non-fiction texts with this complete and ready-to-use six-week unit. After reading numerous poems from local writers and compiling a personal anthology, high schoolers find and read a memoir or biography...

Do figures of speech enhance a play or story? In small groups, learners locate and describe figures of speech they find while reading a reader's theater play. After making predictions, they describe how the figures of speech make the...

Third and fourth graders study literary devices and figurative language. They view a PowerPoint presentation (which you must create) to review hyperbole, idiom, simile, and metaphor. They read and discuss the book There's A Frog in...

Beyond Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, tall tales can be a great way to teach young writers about word choice and voice in their writing. Using Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee  and the Six-Trait Writing process, they begin to write...

What is figurative language, and why do we use it? Introduce your high schoolers to some examples and discuss the importance of including this element in your writing. After studying a text and searching for examples, writers will...

Eighth graders select ordinary objects, determine their uses, and write poems about them. Once they select an object, they create a web about its uses to serve as an outline. Once they have written their own odes, 8th graders meet in...

Students recognize the use of exaggeration and understand how it may enhance the story, painting, conversation or event. Students transfer their understanding of exaggeration as it is used in many places, ie., daily life, paintings,...

What do a pair of stinky socks and a toy hamster have in common? The third lesson in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl uses silly objects to teach about figurative language. Zany pranks and role play make...

Elementary schoolers read many tall tales. They create their own tall tale about a specific event of their choosing. They must act the part of the author. This well-designed lesson plan takes three class sessions to complete, and is...

In order to understand figurative language, learners read 5 poems, each exemplifying a different literary device. They discuss and write responses to each poem. They then choose one literary device which they will use as the basis...

Twelfth graders analyze Ray Bradbury's use of techniques and elements of fiction as well as nonfiction in the novel Dandelion Wine. For this novel analysis lesson, 12th graders analyze the sensory techniques in Dandelion Wine. Students...

Poems by O. Henry, Marion Dane Bauer, Monty Roberts, and Langston Hughes provide the text for a study of symbolism, hyperbole, and imagery. Employing the “think-pair-share” strategy learners generate definitions of these terms and locate...

Students create a poem on about spring. They read final version of their poem chorally. They write reflections of their experience in creating the poem.

Want to see the best instructional activity is the entire universe? Who doesn't love to exaggerate now and then? Get your class cozy with hyperbole as you read the story My Dad by Anthony Browne. During the reading you'll chart...

Students discuss folktales and read Tiger and The Big Wind, listening for animal characters for later discussion. In this language arts lesson, students complete a T chart on characters and make a doll for one either chosen or assigned....

There's nothing like a provocative image to inspire a creative writing session. In the language arts lesson presented here, middle schoolers bring in digital photos of scary objects, such as a big spider, or a hornet's nest. The pictures...

Such an ambitious lesson plan! Third graders with special needs listen to an audio recording of the novel, Moby Dick. They stop often to discuss each of the main characters and analyze their actions in the story. They then make puppets...

Fourth graders view song lyrics and identify similes in the song text.  In this similes lesson plan, 4th graders define and identify similes on a worksheet.  Students write their own similes using various adjectives.

Learners study personification and alliteration in various fiction texts. In this literary devices lesson, students use various texts to identify the literary devices of personification and alliteration. Learners use examples of both...

Students generate a word bank drawing on vocabulary from fifteen school related topics. They use the word bank to write poetry in the styles of Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky.

Students are shown clips of Letterman's Top Ten Lists. They develop their own Top Ten List based on how not to be a friend. They share their lists with the class and brainstorm qualities that they would want to find in a friend.