Teaching Figurative Language to 5th graders can be so much fun. I always like to teach Figurative Language at the beginning of the year. I am able to have the kids act out portions of the different books – and they aren’t at that “I’m too cool” stage.
Tap Tap Boom Boom
Onomatopoeia
Remember Batman (original Batman) where he would punch but you never saw it? Kind of like when he punched it would go POW. The video shows how onomatopoeia was used in a tv show. How can you bring a picture book to life though? This is easy (and kind of loud). Ask the students that when they think of rain what sound do they hear? Most will just say a tapping and thunder is like a BOOM. Have the students act out the words. For example, when it says Tap- have them tap on their knees or the floor or their desk. When it says Boom have them clap their hand, stomp their feet, or hit their legs. It is a fantastic way for students to understand that onomatopoeia represents a sound.
The WorryWarts
Alliteration
Figurative Language for 5th Grade can get somewhat repetitive – especially when they have done it every single year. I like to read the WorryWards to the kids because they constantly get annoyed how often the WorryWarts get -well-worried. The students are constantly laughing and there are certain pages where we count exactly how many W’s are on each page. Hello, alliteration! Another figurative language in the books!
Little Red Pen
Personification
Have you ever seen Toy Story (1,2,3 or 4?)? When I start my personification lesson, I always start off by asking who has seen Toy Story? This is a fantastic example of personification. Personification is a way to bring inanimate objects to life. The book The Little Red Pen allows students to interact with more figurative language at their level. When you read Little Red Pen, be sure to mention that these items come to life when no one else is around. This book allows you to see things from the objects point of view.
Figurative Language Lesson Plans
Creating lesson plans for reading lessons is not hard, however, it is time-consuming. I finally created lesson plans that I can use yearly so I don’t have to keep writing my lesson plans over-and-over again. You can see all about how I write my reading lesson plans on my blog. If you are tired of writing your lesson plans, be sure to check out the Dive Into Reading units I created just for figurative language. Guess what, the chapter book also supports figurative language lessons in the read aloud.
