BRINGING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE TO LIFE WITH COME ON, RAIN!

 

Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• Come On, Rain! By Karen Hesse
• Drum or percussion instrument (optional)
• Board or chart paper and marker (optional)
• Rain-like instrumental music (optional)
• Spray bottle with water (optional)
• Pencils and paper

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

• Lead students in a walking warm-up with figurative language; use a drum or clapping protocol for stopping and starting.  
• Signal students to start walking. 
• Give them a prompt, then have them walk to that prompt. 
• Prompts should include examples of figurative language such as “Walk as slowly as a snail”, “Walk like an angry bull”, “Walk as if you are carrying three tons of bricks”, “Walk on ground as slimy as a slug”, “Walk with a heavy heart”, “Walk on twinkly toes”, “Walk as smoothly as a gently flowing river”, etc.

 

Work Session

Introduce or review figurative language devices including simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification.  

• • • Connect the types with the warm-up.  
    • Discuss how students made choices with their bodies to bring the figurative language to life.
  • Introduce the book, Come On, Rain!, to students. Explain that students will use their voices and bodies to enact the figurative language in the book.
  • Do a slow read aloud of the book. Ask students to listen for examples of figurative language. Help direct their attention to examples as needed.  
    • When an example is located, have students determine what kind of figurative language it is, and articulate why (what is being compared to what, what is being exaggerated, or what is being given human qualities or abilities). 
    • For each page or several pages, select a phrase or two for students to enact.  Suggestions include:
      • “endless heat” (hyperbole)
      • “listless vine” (personification)
      • “sagging over her parched plants” (metaphor)
      • “I am sizzling like a hot potato” (simile)
      • “not a peep from my pal Jackie-Joyce” (metaphor)
      • “grey clouds, bunched and bulging” (metaphor)
      • “a creeper of hope circles ‘round my bones” (metaphor)
      • “the dim stuffy cave of her room” (metaphor)
      • “the smell of hot tar and garbage bullies the air” (personification)
      • “her long legs, like two string beans, sprout” (simile)
      • “sweeps off her hat” (metaphor)     
      • “peeling out of my clothes” (metaphor)
      • “swollen sky” (metaphor)
      • “making dust dance all around us” (personification)
    • When an example is located, have students determine what kind of figurative language it is.

• Optional: Create a chart on a board or chart paper, with columns for the four types of figurative language. Write the first example of figurative language in the appropriate column.

• Model for students using voice and body to convey the meaning of the phrase.  
• For example, bend at the knees and allow the head, shoulders, arms, and back to droop or sag, and let out a long sigh for, “sagging over her parched plants”.
• Have students replicate the movements.  
• Then, read the phrase again and allow students to interpret the phrase in their own ways. 
• Use observational language to uplift the different choices that the students make, such as, “I see Carlos’s fingers dangling close to the floor.  Kierra’s eyes look really tired and droopy”.
• After ample modeling, group students with a partner or in groups of three. 
• Assign each group a phrase; have the students determine the vocal and physical expression for the figurative language.  
• Allow for variety in students’ interpretations and expressions.  
• After practicing, allow each group or pair to perform their phase.
• Engage the class in a discussion after each performance of how the students used their voices and bodies to enact the phrase. 
• Identify which type of figurative language was portrayed. If using the optional chart, have a student come and write the word or phrase in the appropriate column after each performance.

• Optional:  

• At the climax of the story, play instrumental music that is suggestive of rain (see Additional Resources for recommendations), and allow students to move/dance like falling rain.  

• Use a spray bottle full of water to reinforce the sensation of rainfall by spraying a gentle mist or spray over any students who would like the experience.

Closing Reflection

• Facilitate a class discussion asking:
• What types of figurative language did we explore?  
• What were some examples of each, either from Come On, Rain! or in general?
• How did you use your bodies and voices to enact the figurative language?
• Have students create a chart with five rows and three columns.  
• Across the top row, have them write “Figurative Language”, “Definition” and “Example”. 
• Solicit from the class the types of figurative language explored in the lesson, and have the students write them in the four cells of the left column.
• Instruct students to write definitions and provide examples.  Examples can be general, or specifically from Come On, Rain! Students can work independently or with a partner.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess student learning by observing students’ use of voice and body to enact figurative language; by assessing students’ responses to questions about figurative language; and by their ability to locate examples and identify figurative language by type.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can identify, classify, and define similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification in a story.
• Students can change their voices and bodies to convey the meaning of examples of figurative language.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: 

• After several examples enacted all together, assign pages to groups/partners to locate for examples of figurative language. Students will enact the example they located in the text.
• Add in additional figurative language, such as idioms and onomatopoeia, to seek and enact.

 

Remediation:

• Focus on the contrast between the literal and figurative meanings of each example found in the text (e.g., “endless heat” suggests that it is hot in all directions, everywhere, and until the end of time, but in reality it is not hot everywhere and for all time, it just feels that way).
• Reduce the number of examples of figurative language explored.
• Instead of having students write in the chart in the closing, provide printed examples from the text that students will glue in the appropriate column.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Suggested music for the optional rain movement:  “Stars”, by Bobby McFerrin and Yo Yo Ma “Paul’s Dance” or “From the Colonies”, by the Penguin Café Orchestra “Clouds Below Your Knees” or “Celestial Soda Pop”, by Ray Lynch Search “playful children's instrumental music” for options in online videos

 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW