Saturday, October 26, 2013

Spark Student Motivation {Figurative Language}

I am all bundled up this Saturday afternoon and the furnace has been running.  We are sure feeling the change of seasons here in New York.  Thursday was a white knuckled drive to work with the roads completely covered with wet, slushy snow.  My van did not have snow tires yet and I had to "creep" all the way.  My three year old said, "It's bumpy, Mommy."  That is because the van was not stopping and I had to pump the brakes and everything was shaking!  The snow tires went on Friday. :)

On Wednesday, I wrote about the introduction to poetry in my classroom and today I added some pictures to that post from my students' journals.  They wrote down their "thoughts about poetry".
While I was taking pictures of that page in a few journals, I also snapped some pictures of an activity we did this week to begin figurative language.

I am linking up with the amazing, Joanne, at Head Over Heels for Teaching to share this strategy for motivating students when learning figurative language.
This year I purchased several interactive reading and language notebook resources on TpT, including this Interactive Reading Literature Notebook for the Common Core by I'm Lovin' Lit.
This resource is jam packed with 160 pages of tools for teaching literary elements!!  I absolutely LOVE the pages for the lessons on figurative language.  The lesson incorporates song lyrics for each type of figurative language.  Music is such a wonderful motivator!  Here are a couple pics of the  journal page for simile using song lyrics to "Mean" by Taylor Swift.

It was so neat to have my students zero right in on those lyrics and pick out the similes.  We highlighted the similes in the lyrics and then wrote what two things the simile is comparing in the margin.  These directions are stated clearly in this product download and there are pictures included for teachers too!

We listened to this verse of the song a couple times (the whole song once as well) and the students just loved it!  I can't wait for next week when we discuss other types of figurative language and use more pages from this interactive journal.  I know the students will be so excited each time they get new set of lyrics.  

I have some more ideas to share with you about activities I have tried for the first time this year using interactive journals.  Check back on Tuesday to see some more ideas I have tried with interactive journals! :)  It's a work in progress but I plan on sharing what I have learned about interactive journals in blog posts throughout the year.  
Have a great weekend everyone!  Stay warm!! :)

5 comments:

  1. I absolutely love using music with figurative language. There's just something comforting about using lyrics because the kids can really relate to what you are tying to teach them. Awesomeness!
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

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  2. Great job using something students can relate to (favorite music artist) in order to motivate them to learn!

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  3. After I pointed out how much figurative language is used in music, my students have gone crazy finding it in all the music they listen to! Super motivating and memorable! Your notebooks look great!
    Thanks for sharing and linking up friend!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

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  4. I love love love incorporating music into learning! We analyze lyrics and I use them for many of my poetry lessons! Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!!!!

    If you need a freebie on paragraph writing check this out!:
    Rockin Resource's Every Day is Like Sunday Linky

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  5. A great activity that is easy for kids to relate to! Love it!!

    Isn't it sad to say goodbye to summer? It was snowing here in Wisconsin on Tuesday when I left school. Not much, just enough to irritate me. Then on Thursday, we were at an outside field trip all day long. It was 36 degrees as we sat outside and ate lunch. I have never been so cold!!

    Stay warm,
    Jennifer
    Mrs. Laffin's Laughings

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