Sure to engage your class in poetry, this resource requires them to identify, label, and explain poetic devices and figurative language used in Katy Perry's hit song "Firework". A well-organized page that chunks the lyrics so learners...

What a lovely way to incorporate artwork into your language arts lesson plan. View artwork in illustrated manuscript pages, depicting insects, animals, plants, flowers, and ornate writing in the Getty Museum. Practice using figurative...

As the instructor reads aloud several quotes from five chapters of the story Matilda, class members mime their interpretation of the scenes. Then, after reading "Miss Honey" and "The Trenchbull" (chapters seven and eight), the...

Students explore websites that contain poems about autumn, winter, and the seasonal holidays and explore how similes and figurative language can be used in poetry.

To better understand the work of Black Panther logo artist Emory Douglas, learners define literary devices. They define a series of words such as metaphor, simile, and assonance, then place an example of that device found in Emory...

While music lyrics are often used to teach literary elements, the richness of this resource comes from the wealth of exercises, activities, and support materials provided in the packet.  Although designed for gifted learners, the...

The Olmec were an ancient people native to Mexico who lived from 1000-500 BC. Young artists examine the Olmec piece Seated Figure to analyze the use of body language to communicate a tone or feeling. They then use clay or play-dough...

Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and...

Use a Courbet painting of a cave or tunnel opening to reinforce the importance of descriptive writing. Writers of all ages use sensory details to describe what the scene depicts as they pretend to be in the painting. Then they imagine...

Bring writing to life with this lesson in which elementary and middle schoolers create a display of the imagery they identify in a series of Gary Paulsen books. They read the suggested materials, identify imagery and descriptive...

The painting Three Young Girls circa 1620, was believed to be painted after the death of the subjects' mother. Art enthusiasts analyze the image details to determine if they come to the same conclusion. They then use the sensory details...

Use this writing and photography lesson plan in your descriptive writing unit. Elementary and middle schoolers write and create a story line incorporating photos from Inspiration or their own personal photos. They experiment with...

A Dorothea Lange photograph launches this study of metaphors. Using the questions provided, the class examines the image and the title to consider how Lange uses her photo as a metaphor. Class members then select an object they can use...

Students create an iPhoto book exhibiting a variety of idioms that describe feelings. They take photos using a digital camera that show students exhibiting the feelings explained by the idioms.

Animals oftentimes elicit various characteristics which make them symbolic or representative of human feeling, action, or emotion. The class creates horse characters out of clay to show character action and symbolism. This is a great...

Imagine a project that informs and entertains. Replace book reports with a bulletin board that highlights all the important elements of a novel. Readers research the author, create a timeline of events in the story, write a...

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...

Readers decode and deconstruct political cartoons to heighten critical thinking, extra-textual literacy, and making meaning from symbolism and metaphor. A compatible activity to use in English class when your 8th or 11th graders are...

Students explore the basis of Iago's persuasive power by analyzing his astonishing command of rhetoric and figurative language. The diverse set of activities below include short group performances, writing exercises and the guided use of...

Students take pictures in different settings to demonstrate the importance and influence of body language. In this body language lesson plan, students use a camera and work in groups over a 5 week period.

Students investigate the uses of images, shapes and colors in classic art sculptures.  In this art analysis lesson, students observe Malagan Figures, a type of sculpture from New Guinea, and describe the different ideas and images...

Young scholars investigate soliloquies. In this performing arts lesson, students discuss figurative language within soliloquies and then perform a soliloquy to the rest of the class.

Song lyrics, like poems, are meant to be heard. After examining the literary devices in several poems, scholars examine the lyrics of popular songs and identify the sound devices and the figurative language writers use to create the...

Students explore language arts by utilizing word choice to compose a paragraph. In this phonetics lesson, students discuss the importance of a "voice" in their writing as they read the book Rattletrap Car. Students write paragraphs about...