Similes, metaphors, personification, and idioms are just a few of the types of figurative language we teach our students. They need to be able to differentiate between literal and nonliteral language and determine the meaning of the figurative language. Let’s look at some ways to help your students master this standard.
Tips for Teaching About Figurative Language
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The first thing we need to do is to break down the standard at the different grade levels. It is really helpful to know what your students are expected to do in the grade level before yours and the grade level after yours. This allows you to differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students.
First Grade
Important Skills to Teach:
- How words and phrases can make us feel a certain way
- How words and phrases make us see, hear, smell, and taste things
I Can Statements:
- I can identify words and phrases in books and poems that make us feel a certain way.
- I can identify words and phrases in books and poems that appeal to the senses.
Download a week of 1st grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Second Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4 – Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
Important Skills to Teach:
- What alliteration is
- How to read a poem with rhythm by using regular beats and rhymes
- How repeated lines in a story, poem, or song give us important information
I Can Statements:
- I can identify rhymes, and repeated lines in stories, poems, and songs and explain how they add meaning to the text.
- I can identify regular beats and alliteration in stores, poems, and songs and explain how they supply rhythm to the text.
Download a week of 2nd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Third Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
Important Skills to Teach:
- The difference between literal and nonliteral language
- How to identify types of nonliteral language, like idioms, similes, and personification
- How to use context clues to determine the meaning of nonliteral language
I Can Statements:
- I can tell the difference between literal and nonliteral language.
- I can identify examples of nonliteral language and explain what they mean.
Download a week of 3rd grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Fourth Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).
Important Skills to Teach:
- How to use context clues to determine the meanings of unknown words
- How to identify words that come from important characters in mythology
I Can Statements:
- I can use context clues to determine the meanings of unknown words and phrases.
- I can explain the meanings of words that allude to significant characters in mythology.
Download a week of 4th grade lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Fifth Grade
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
Important Skills to Teach
- How to use context clues to determine the meanings of unknown words
- How to identify figurative language, like metaphors, similes, and idioms
I Can Statements:
- I can use context clues to determine the meanings of unknown words and phrases.
- I can identify examples of figurative language and explain what they mean.
Download a week of lesson plans to teach this standard.
Download a digital slideshow to assign for distance learning or as a center activity.
Suggested Books
For this standard, you want to find books with lots of figurative language. I like to introduce one type of figurative language at a time and give my students a lot of examples of it. Then, we move on to another type. We create an anchor chart with all the different kinds of figurative language. That way, they can refer back to it as they find examples during their independent reading time. Try to use a mixture of stories and poems to practice this standard.
When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry
My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil
Tips for Teaching Figurative Language
- Use Highlighters. Students love using highlighters. Give them a passage that has a lot of examples of figurative language. Assign each type of figurative language a color. As the students read the passage, have them identify examples of figurative language and highlight them in the matching color. Then, discuss the meaning of the nonliteral language.
- Make a “Garden of Figurative Language”. This is a great way to get your students involved in creating a hallway or bulletin board display. Make stems and round flower centers. On the center of each flower, write the name of a type of figurative language, like simile, metaphor, idiom, etc. Attach the stems and flower centers to the wall in the hallway or to a bulletin board. Cut out flower petals in different colors, but don’t attach them to the flowers yet. As your students read independently, have them look for examples of figurative language. When they find one, have them write it on a flower petal and attach it to the correct flower.
- Play a Game with Figurative Language. Write several examples of types of figurative language on index cards. Divide the students into two teams. Have a team choose an index card and try to identify the type of figurative language and what it means. If they get it correct, they get a point. If they don’t get it correct, the other team gets to try. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Other Helpful Resources
If you have students who are struggling with this standard, strategy groups and one-on-one conferences are a great way to differentiate and help all your students master it. These assessments will show you which students have mastered the standards and which students need extra practice.
1st Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
1st Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
2nd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
2nd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
3rd Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
3rd Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
4th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
4th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
5th Grade Common Core Literature Standard Assessments
5th Grade Common Core Informational Texts Standard Assessments
Get all the lesson plans you need to teach every Common Core Reading Standard for your grade level.
1st Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
2nd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
3rd Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
4th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
5th Grade Common Core Standards Bundle
For more tips on teaching the reading standards, join the Rock the Reading Workshop Facebook Group.
What Do You Think?
What are your best tips for teaching your students about figurative language?
Let us know in the comments.
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