Curated OER
Quick as a Cricket
Young scholars explore similes through Quick as a Cricket. In this similes activity, students investigate what a simile is and recognize them when they see them. Young scholars write similes about themselves and illustrate them.
Curated OER
Color Poems
Students describe colors. In this descriptive writing instructional activity, students brainstorm color descriptions using all of the senses except sight. Students write poems including similes, sensory images, and interesting word...
Curated OER
Can You Figure Language?
Eighth graders study similes and metaphors and how to explain and create them. After a lecture/demo, 8th graders access websites and worksheets imbedded in this plan to create their own writing.
Curated OER
Poetry in Music
Sixth graders look at poetry in music. In this language arts instructional activity, 6th graders listen to and read the lyrics of songs to find the poetic aspects of them. They focus on similes and metaphors and write their own songs...
Curated OER
Poetry: Simile And Figurative Language
Students explore websites that contain poems about autumn, winter, and the seasonal holidays and explore how similes and figurative language can be used in poetry.
Curated OER
When Turtle Grew Feathers
Students explore the Choctaw Native American tribe. In this cross curriculum literacy and U.S. history lesson, students locate where the Choctaw Indians lived on a United States map. Students listen to When Turtle Grew Feathers and...
Curated OER
Simile and Metaphor
Middle schoolers use context clues to find the figurative meaning of similes and metaphors in writing. They practice using figurative language to help their writing come alive. Use this activity in a lesson about poetry, figurative...
Achieve3000
Figurative Language
Similes and metaphors make writing more beautiful and detailed, but can be a little harder to decipher during a first reading. Use a passage from The Man Who Loved Words to show young readers how to think through passages that contain...
August House
Anansi and the Pot of Beans
Anansi is a tricky character, but can he realize he's wrong and write an apology letter? Learners use Anansi and the Pot of Beans to practice writing, art, and figurative language. A series of activities are engaging for both advanced...
Curated OER
Poetic Elements Are Fun!
Engage your class in the elements of poetry with a series of lessons and activities. The plans cover simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, and imagery. Learners come up their their own metaphors, identify poetic...
Curated OER
Figurative Language iMovie
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 for a...
Curated OER
Figurative Language
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...
EngageNY
Inferring About Characters Based on How They Respond to Challenges (Chapter 4: "Los Higos/Figs")
How do you know what a character's personality is like if an author doesn't tell you? With a focus on character development in Esperanza Rising, pupils complete a jigsaw activity to analyze the actions of Mama, Abuelita, and Miguel. Once...
Curated OER
Similes, Metaphors, and Symbols
Here is an outline of a lesson in which learners examine the use of similes, metaphors, and symbols in poetry. They define similes, metaphors, and symbols, complete a handout, and create a poem using types of figurative language.
Curated OER
Writing a poem
Students imagine themselves someplace -- the beach, a mountain top, a city street -- anywhere.
K20 LEARN
A Multimodal Approach To Edgar Allan Poe Using Drawing To Understand An Author's Style
True! Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" makes readers nervous. But how? Young scholars create a drawing while listening to a reading of Poe's eerie tale to understand how writers create the mood of their stories and what their writing style...
Poetry Society
The Jumblies
Who would ever think to go to sea in a sieve? Only Edward Lear's Jumblies! The poem "The Jumblies" is the inspiration for these poetry reading and writing activities that ask learners to think about how strangers are different, consider...
Curated OER
Ballad
Young balladeers analyze examples of ballads and generate a list of common traits (story, quatrains, rhyme schemes, refrains, etc.), then identify these traits in Robert W. Service's "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and a ballad written by...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "The Shapes of Leaves" by Arthur Sze
Arthur Sze's poem, "The Shapes of Leaves," encourages young scholars to notice and speak for others who "do not speak." The activity begins with pupils writing about a tree that they really like. The class then examines an image of...
Curated OER
Simile About Me
Students are introduced to similes and read various examples. Then students write their own similes to describe themselves and share them with the rest of the class.
Curated OER
Microsoft Word - Similies
Fourth graders complete an attached simile worksheet. The teacher models the lesson on a LCD screen. They then open a simile template in the correct folder on Microsoft word. They insert similes, spell check their work, and then save...
Curated OER
I Am a Person on Character
Sixth graders explore the portrayal of males and females in mass media. In this language arts lesson, 6th graders create a digital collage and write a description about themselves using similes and metaphors.
Curated OER
Self-portrait Poem
Students practice naming various features or parts of their bodies using similes and vivid adjectives. The format is extended to poetic expressions as they develop a self-portrait and extend the creative experience through art.
Curated OER
My Candle
This is probably my students' favorite writing assignment. They obviously tell their friends about it, because every year my ne