This interactive PowerPoint simulates a "Jeopardy" game that addresses figurative language, cause and effect, and other literary terms. Players can chose which category and amount they would like to play on the Game Board. 

Need a quick review of some of the elements of poetry? Eleven key terms are defined and illustrated.

This is probably my students' favorite writing assignment. They obviously tell their friends about it, because every year my ne

Pupils imagine themselves someplace -- the beach, a mountain top, a city street -- anywhere.

Scholars explore a variety of texts to locate wordplay. Partners read their selections and discuss meanings.

Call Us By What We Carry, a poetry collection by Nation Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, is the focus of a 10-page teacher's guide. 

Eighth graders gather ideas generated from other poems and their own inspiration, to create original poetry. A celebration is included as students bind and submit poems for publication.

Students explore similes and metaphors. They discuss and define similes and metaphors, identify the similes and metaphors in two poems, and create three original examples of each.

Learners write similes with a partner. For this spring similes lesson, students discuss the season an write a story using a minimum number of similes.  

Find out how much your class knows about literary elements with a quick pre-assessment. Pupils work first individually to identify the instances of personification, metaphor, simile, and more, and then with group members to...

Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is controversial. Like many other Angelou books, it is frequently challenged or banned from schools. In fact, Angelou is one of the most frequently banned authors in the United States. An...

What is 14 lines long, written in iambic pentameter, and follows a predetermined rhyme scheme? Introduce scholars to the sonnet, one of the most famous of the fixed-form types of poetry, with a 10-slide presentation that includes the...

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...

Students investigate writing techniques by analyzing a chart. In this figurative language lesson, students define similes, metaphors and identify the difference between them and personification. Students demonstrate their understanding...

Flowering learners explore the concept of figurative language as it relates to poems, songs, or creative written expression. In this creative writing lesson, they complete several phrases using similes, metaphors, and...

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.

Middle schoolers create a food product and an advertisement promoting it.  In this description and advertising lesson, students read children's book for inspiration and discover advertising techniques.  Middle schoolers...

Second and third graders explore similes and metaphors. They complete six sentences by choosing the correct word to complete the sentence.

Are your middle schoolers able to identify the literary devices featured on this worksheet? They must demonstrate their understanding of figurative language by matching the terms with their definitions and label the devices...

Fourth graders explore language arts by analyzing poetry styles. In this writing analysis lesson, 4th graders read several sample poems in class and identify similes, metaphors and other figurative language within them. Students analyze...

Learners 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.

Eighth graders study poetic devices and use them in their own writing and apply them when reading poetry. In groups, they describe an item using poetic devices.

Students examine a primary source document from 1684 that includes many of the same lines found in Romeo's speech to Juliet from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Students compare the texts and discuss authorship during the sixteenth and...

Students read the poem Bluebottle and discuss the use of the simile in the poem.  In this Bluebottle poetry lesson, students analyze the use of verbs and the energy created by that use.  Students text mark all the similes in...