Introduction
In this lesson, students will listen to and read literature where figurative language (specifically idioms) are used to convey meaning and enhance writing. Students will have opportunities to explore and discuss idioms, in addition to applying their understanding of idioms by incorporating idioms in their own writing. Students will work in groups, individually, and with direct instruction from the teacher to gain a better understanding of idioms and how they are used in literature.
Lesson Objectives:
- Identify and explore the use of figurative language (focusing on idioms) in literature.
- Identify the literal meaning of idioms by finding them in literature and understanding their figurative meaning within the text.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the figurative meanings of idioms by writing a paragraph and illustrating a picture where the idiom is used within the paragraph to enhance the writing.
Guiding Questions:
- Have you ever heard this saying before?
- Who have you heard using this idiom?
- Why do you think writers use idioms?
- Do idioms make the reading and/or writing more interesting?
- What do you think this idiom means? Look at the pictures that go along with the idioms in the book, how is the real meaning different than the literal translation?
- Explain what a literal (word for word, real meaning, etc) is.
- Do you ever use any of these idioms when you talk with your friends, family, etc.?
- The teacher will begin by telling the students that they will be learning about the use of figurative language, specifically idioms, in literature and writing. Teacher will introduce idioms by showing a video to describe what an idiom is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEQ-XmO_6pE. Using Direct Instruction, the teacher will display the website http://idiomsbykids.com/, on the whiteboard using the computer and projector, and stop at each page/slide. The teacher should explain the real meaning vs. the literal meaning as he/she goes through several idioms with the children. These examples provide illustrations that will be visually interesting to the children, assist in understanding for ELL students, and hook the students' interests. The idioms on this website are categorized by subjects and by their alphabetical order. For the purposes of this lesson, the teacher would select a subject that is relevant or current to what he/she is teaching at the time this lesson is delivered. For example, a teacher who is doing this in February may want to choose Idioms that start with H, for hearts. There are many idioms that deal with the heart, such as "you broke my heart", "a heavy heart", etc. The teacher would need to visit the website and decide which idioms she/he would want to focus on. This is just a resource that provides a hook for kids, since they can see cartoonish illustrations, as well as other students' writings with the idioms.
- After viewing the examples on the website, the teacher will introduce an Anchor Chart (Google Doc with definition of Idioms that has been shared with students), and some commonly used idioms (together with an illustration), i.e., it's raining cats and dogs, I laughed my head off, at the beginning of the lesson. The teacher will read aloud the idioms as students view the Google Doc on their Chromebooks, and ask the students if they have ever heard the idiom before. The teacher will ask students to share what they think the idiom means and the teacher will type it in the Google Doc.
- Teacher will show a video of a read loud More Parts by Tedd Arnold and read In a Pickle, by Marvin Terban. Discuss the video and the text with students, asking about the idioms presented using words, and the illustrations that demonstrate the literal meaning of the ideas. These are picture books whose comical and exaggerated illustrations of the idioms will provide concrete pictures and representations of the idioms' literal/figurative meaning. Discuss guiding questions. For example, on the page where the idiom "Stretch our Arms and Legs" is illustrated, the teacher would stop and address the meaning of the idiom, solicit responses/interpretations from students.
- Teacher will discuss what the idioms mean in comparison to what the characters and illustrations depict them to mean. Using the Anchor Chart, the Teacher will continually clarify and monitor understanding, while having the students copy what is on the Anchor Chart into their notebooks.
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Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
- Brainstorm other idioms that students have heard or are familiar with and have students think, pair, share to discuss their understanding and interpretation of the idioms with a classmate. They will then add the idiom and a one sentence explanation into the Anchor Chart created in Google Doc that was shared by the teacher.
- Students will use the interactive online tools http://idiomsbykids.com/ and http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/idioms/ to view literal representations of selected idioms with an explanation of their figurative meaning. These are interactive online tools where students will complete sentences by selecting the correct idiom from the list, determine the figurative meaning of the idiom, and then use the idiom in a sentence to show their understanding of its meaning.
- After re-reading the texts and video, reviewing the class Anchor Chart, and opportunities to visit the online idiom websites, students will brainstorm to write a short paragraph using Google Doc where they will write about a personal experience and select an idiom to enhance their writing. The students will incorporate an idiom that conveys the feeling in their writing and illustrate the idiom's literal meaning (using clip art) within their paragraph.
Task
Students should be able to understand and identify idioms and their meanings.
Process
Students think/pair/share other idioms and discuss their understanding and interpretation of the idioms.
Students write a short paragraph using idioms and use conventions properly.
Evaluation
Students will demonstrate their understanding of idioms by successfully writing a short paragraph in Google Docs which includes idioms as a Summative Assessment of the objectives addressed in this lesson. The teacher will measure the impact of this resource by using the rubric to determine if the use of the idioms is understood by understanding the "real" meanings of the idioms. Additionally, the teacher will measure whether the students' are correctly incorporating the idioms correctly in their own writing, while using correct conventions of writing.
Rubric
Incredible Idioms
Directions and Rubric
Your page will need to have the following:
1) Title (name of idiom) 10 points
Student correctly copied the idiom from one of the resources, i.e.
Anchor Chart, web sites, books provided in classroom library, etc.
2) Figurative meaning of idiom –
(What does the idiom really mean) 30 points
Student accurately translated the literal meaning of the
idiom to the real or figurative meaning of the idiom.
3) Students used correct conventions of writing
Capitalization 10 points
Punctuation 10 points
Spelling – grade level words and common
words were generally spelled correctly. 10 points
Fluency – the paragraph has a central idea/message which incorporates the idiom into this central idea/message. 10 points
4) An illustration of the idiom in your
paragraph that represents the literal
meaning of the idiom 20 points
Students have the option of using an idiom from Class Anchor Chart(from Google Doc), books in classroom library, and/or the following websites to research an idiom of your choice to use for the project.
Conclusion
Students will share their paragraph with their classmates.