Using their keen eyes and ears, learners build story observation skills which they will use to create sensory detail in their art. They note all of the things they observed on a walk, categorize them by sense, and then use the same skill...

You can't read Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without craving the rich treats described in Dahl's vivid prose. Young writers try their hands at sensory language with a lesson plan that prompts them to write about...

Explore figurative language with your secondary class. Extending a language arts unit, the lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine how an author's word choice establishes a story's tone, possibly using metaphors, similes,...

Use art museum paintings as inspiration for your class's creative writing works. Observing the paintings closely, middle and high schoolers list details and write descriptions. Their completed stories are displayed on bulletin boards...

Film poems? To concluded a poetry unit, writers select one of their own poems and create a film that brings to life the sounds and images of their work. Included with the detailed unit plan are daily lessons, student examples, a list of...

Explore the folklore of Asia and the South Pacific with this language arts lesson series. Complementing a reading of Catching the Sun: Tales from Asia by Jan M. Mike, this resource supports learners with understanding cause and...

Sometimes a picture reflects a thousand descriptive words. To illustrate the importance of sensory words in descriptive writing, scholars listen to a song and craft a painting in response. After sharing their work with the class,...

Have your writers identify and use words that appeal to the senses. They create a chart of sensory words and record some of their favorites, then write a journal entry in which they describe eating at a restaurant using sensory details....

Experiment with light and dark in a series of interactive activities that lead up to reading and writing poetry. Class members have the opportunity to observe their feelings while sitting in the light and dark and to play with shadow...

When is a staple remover a fanged monster? In your ELA classroom when you're teaching this fun figurative language lesson plan, of course! Get your young writers using figurative language by making a game of it. Give groups a paper bag...

Students define and give examples of five senses, compiling a list of sensory words to be used in a written descriptive paragraph.

Elementary writers practice writing descriptive paragraphs by adding adjectives and sensory words to their writing. They use a picture of a monster for their descriptive paragraph. This 12-page lesson should increase your charges...

Young readers travel back to the time of the dinosaurs in this literature unit based on the story Dinosaurs Before Dark. Intended for use with upper-elementary special education learners, this resource provides reading...

Students generate vocabulary words synonymous or related to "noise." In this literacy lesson, students listen to the book Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do You Hear? by Bill Martin and Eric Carle and discuss the meaning of vocabulary words...

How do you think the parrot in "The Ghost" chapter of Matilda feels in the chimney? Put a class member in the hot seat and have the class ask questions relating to how they might have felt if they were the parrot in the chimney....

A guided imagery exercise is a great way to get readers thinking about writing. As part of their study of Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse’s 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel, class members listen to a reading of one of the poems...

What makes a place safe? What makes a setting effective? Explore the safe spaces and descriptive language with a prereading activity for Willa Cather's My Antonia. The teacher describes his or her own safe space and then prompts pupils...

Participate in a scavenger hunt to find objects beginning with a particular letter sound and take digital photos of them with your scholars. Using software, they find word pictures beginning with particular letters and locate picture...

Write short stories in which events are presented in logical order, point of view is clear, theme and characters are developed. Middle schoolers also work on sensory language, concrete language and/or dialogue. They establish their...

Some smells are better than others! Explore your sense of smell with a series of activities based on the Peruvian folktale, The Stolen Smell. With exercises about phonics, counting, cooking, art, and drama, the lesson is a...

The fourth instructional activity in this narrative writing unit focuses on how Leslie Marmon Silko uses telling details and sensory language in her "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit" to bring alive the people of Laguna Pueblo and...

Vivid quotes and strong sensory language compose Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, bringing the women to life as they navigate through issues surrounding identity and maternal relationships. Examine Waverly's relationship with her mother...

Work on narrative writing with this lesson, in which middle schoolers analyze the characters from a selected piece of literature and write narrative diary pieces as the character. They work to understand the point of view of the...

Second graders listen to a story that contains many sensory words to describe an object. They listen a second time using a signal to indicate when they hear a sensory word. They write a short story about a monster using appropriate...