Emotion Similes

Grade Levels: 5 - 8

Objectives
Students will define and recognize similes.
Students will write a poem using similes.

Procedures
1 Prewriting:
2 Define simile: a figure of speech that compares two objects using like, as, or than.
(She is as red as a rose. I slept like a log.) The objects being compared are not similar
except in one respect. The girl and the rose are unlike except they share a blushing
quality. The tired boy and the log are different except for their inertia.
3 Explain to students that they will write a poem based primarily on similes.
4 Brainstorm on the blackboard for a list of words naming emotions.
5 Provide the following structure for their poems.
The poem is a definition using all the senses and similes that the students make personal
by using original detail, which reflects their lives and experiences.
Emotion is color. (This line is a metaphor.)
It sounds like...
It tastes like...
It smells like...
Emotion feels like...

A sample:
Indifference is water-stained gray.
It sounds like hissing static on the radio.
It tastes like overcooked noodles.
It smells like a musty, closed attic room.
Indifference feels like a lukewarm bath in rusty water.
Drafting:
1 Ask the students to pick a word of their own from those brainstormed on
the blackboard and begin their own poem. (Encourage students to include
onomatopoeia in the description of sound.)
Revising:
1 Have the students edit and shape their poems (adding specific original
detail where appropriate, and writing their final copy on plain paper).
2 Work individually with students.
Presenting:
3 When the final copies are completed on unlined paper, ask students to read
their poems aloud before collecting them.

Emotion Similes
Grade Levels: 5 - 8

Objectives
Students will define and recognize similes.
Students will write a poem using similes.

Procedures
6 Prewriting:
7 Define simile: a figure of speech that compares two objects using like, as, or than.
(She is as red as a rose. I slept like a log.) The objects being compared are not similar
except in one respect. The girl and the rose are unlike except they share a blushing
quality. The tired boy and the log are different except for their inertia.
8 Explain to students that they will write a poem based primarily on similes.
9 Brainstorm on the blackboard for a list of words naming emotions.
10 Provide the following structure for their poems.
The poem is a definition using all the senses and similes that the students make personal
by using original detail, which reflects their lives and experiences.
Emotion is color. (This line is a metaphor.)
It sounds like...
It tastes like...
It smells like...
Emotion feels like...

A sample:
Indifference is water-stained gray.
It sounds like hissing static on the radio.
It tastes like overcooked noodles.
It smells like a musty, closed attic room.
Indifference feels like a lukewarm bath in rusty water.
Drafting:
1 Ask the students to pick a word of their own from those brainstormed on
the blackboard and begin their own poem. (Encourage students to include
onomatopoeia in the description of sound.)
Revising:
4 Have the students edit and shape their poems (adding specific original
detail where appropriate, and writing their final copy on plain paper).
5 Work individually with students.
Presenting:
6 When the final copies are completed on unlined paper, ask students to read
their poems aloud before collecting them.

An Autobiographical Poem
Grade Levels: 4 - 6
Objectives
Students will learn to write an Autobiography Poem, which is a formula poem.
Students will create a bulletin board display, especially fitting for an Open House.

Materials
Sample of an Autobiography Poem read to students
Sheets with the form of the poem on it for each student, or the formula written on
the blackboard
Photograph of each student or a self portrait

Procedures
11 Read a sample Autobiography Poem to students:

Jaime
Happy, nice, friendly, kind
Daughter of Sarah and Mike
Lover of my parents, dog, and reading
Who feels summer is too short, school's great and bedtime comes too early
Who fears being bitten by a dog, being thrown off a horse, and getting an F on a test
Who would like to see Hawaii, the pyramids, and Disneyland
Resident of Burnside Way, Stockton, California, USA
Smith

12 Give students a copy of the form below or put it on the board. Walk students
through each line, having them fill in one section at a time. You might create a poem
about yourself on the board while explaining the format.
_______________________
(First Name of Student)
________, __________, __________, __________
(Four adjectives to describe yourself)
Son or daughter of ____________________
Lover of _____________, ___________, ______________
Who feels ___________, ___________, ______________
Who fears ___________, _____________, _______________
Who would like to see ______________, _______________, _____________
Resident of ____________________________________
(Street, town, state, country)
________________
(Last Name)
13 Proofread students' poems and let them write a final draft, a good penmanship
lesson.
14 Mount students' poems with either a photograph that you take of the student or
with a self-portrait drawn by the student.