BRINGING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE TO LIFE WITH COME ON, RAIN!

BRINGING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE TO LIFE WITH COME ON, RAIN!

Learning Description

Splash and play with figurative language through book that is light on action but rich with carefully crafted language, Come On, Rain!, by Karen Hesse. Working their way through the story, students will identify and enact similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify examples of and define similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification.

  • I can change my voice and body to convey the meaning of examples of figurative language.

Essential Questions

  • What is figurative language?

  • What are similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification?

  • How can I enact figurative language?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

ELAGSE4L5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

 

Grade 5: 

ELAGSE5RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

Arts Standards

Grade 4:

TA4.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

 

Grade 5:

TA5.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

READING - Literary Text

Language, Craft, and Structure 

Standard 9: Interpret and analyze the author’s use of words, phrases, and conventions, and how their relationships shape meaning and tone in print and multimedia texts. 

9.1 Identify and explain how the author uses imagery, hyperbole, adages, or proverbs to shape meaning and tone. 

 

Grade 5: 

READING - Literary Text

Language, Craft, and Structure 

Standard 9: Interpret and analyze the author’s use of words, phrases, and conventions, and how their relationships shape meaning and tone in print and multimedia texts. 

9.1 Cite examples of the author’s use of figurative language, dialogue, imagery, idioms, adages, and proverbs to shape meaning and tone.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 3:

I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Simile – A comparison of two things using ‘like’ or ‘as’
  • Metaphor – An implied comparison of two things
  • Hyperbole – Extravagant exaggeration
  • Personification – The attribution of human qualities to something that is not human

Arts Vocabulary

  • Voice – An actor’s tool used to portray the way a character speaks or sounds
  • Body – An actor’s tool used to portray the way a character looks, walks, or moves

 

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