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

 

Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• A preselected book, story, poem, or literary excerpt (preferably with a variety of characters)
• Paper & pencils
• Box (any shape, size or color.)

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

THIS IS NOT A BOX 

• Hold up a small box and offer an imagination challenge for the group. 
• The object of the game is to transform the box into something it is not. 
• For example, “This is not a box. This is a butterfly.” (making the box open and close to fly like a butterfly.) 
• Ask students to describe what you did.
• Reference the performance skills that actors use to transform an object including the voice, body, face, mind, descriptive language, etc. 
• Explain that each person in the circle will take a turn. 
• They will say: “This is not a box. It is a …”
• They will use their gestures, bodies, facial expressions, and voices to transform the object into something new. 
• Pass the box around the circle so that each participant can transform it. If students repeat the same actions as their peers, encourage them to act out new ideas.  Provide ideas as needed (be prepared with suggestions, in case students can’t think of new ideas.  For example, depending on the size of the box: a drum, a birthday present, a box of cereal, a frisbee, a box of popcorn at a movie, an old video camera, a hat, a hamster box, a shoe, etc.).
• The pace of the game is dependent on the needs of the group, but the teacher should keep the goals of spontaneity and creativity in mind.

 

Work Session

READ ALOUD 

• Discuss how the activity activated the entire class’s imagination: the actor conveyed an idea through their acting, and the rest of the class had to visualize or imagine that idea as they observed.  Explain that this lesson will use a similar process to explore characters in literature.
• Read the selected text aloud.  Model expressive reading by using different voices for the characters, conveying emotion through facial expressions, and employing simple gestures.  Ask students to identify and visualize the characters as they listen.  As appropriate, bring students into the reading as much as possible, providing sound effects, repeating phrases or dialogue, and doing simple movements indicated in the text. 

 

CHARACTER GROUNDING

• Ask students to imagine that they are a character from the story. 
• Model creating one of the characters.  Select a character, then use voice, body, facial expressions, and gesture to become the character, introducing him- or herself to the class.
• Group Character Creation: Choose a character for the entire class to enact.  It can be the same one that the teacher enacted or a different one.  Guide the students through a step-by-step process to depict the character from the story.
• Teacher says, “How do we stand, move, or walk as ______ (the character)?”. Use observational language to promote student choices (“I see Olivia is standing tall; Manuel has his shoulders pulled back,” etc.)  
• Encourage a variety of possibilities – individual actors can interpret the character differently. 
• Have students stay in their spots or allow them to move, as appropriate for the class and the space.

• Teacher says, “Let’s add our faces.  How would _______’s face look?  How would he/she use his/her face to express his/her feelings?  Use your eyes, eyebrows, mouth, cheeks; use the angle of your head.”  Listen to students’ ideas, and validate various choices.
• Teacher says, “How would _______’s voice sound?  Would it be high or low?  Loud or soft? Would he/she talk fast or slow?”  Listen to students’ ideas, and validate various choices.
• Teacher says, “Characters feel emotions, and actors use their bodies, facial expressions, and voices to convey characters’ emotions.”  
• Discuss different emotions (happy, sad, angry, frightened, nervous, excited, frustrated, brave, etc.).  
• Discuss the feelings that the selected character experienced at different points of the story.  
• Guide students to convey those emotions, modeling as needed.  
• Solicit a line of dialogue for each, whether drawn directly or inferred from the story.  
• Using body, facial expressions and voice, convey the emotion while speaking the line, either standing in place or taking a few steps, as appropriate.

 

HOT SEAT

• Explain that the class will use an activity called Hot Seat, in which an individual actor will play the character, and the class will have the opportunity to ask the character questions.

• Generate questions: Give a sample question or two for the character, such as: 

• How did they feel at different points in the story
• Why did they do what they did in the story 
• What did they learn from what happened
• How they feel about other characters
• What did they plan to do in the future based on the events of the story

• Remind students that ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions, and other questions that require some sort of description or explanation, are preferable to ‘who’, ‘when’, and ‘where’ questions, and other questions that only require a brief answer, or a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. 
• For example, “Why were you so angry?” or “How did you feel when . . .?” or “What do you like about . . .?” are stronger than “Were you excited when . . .?” or “How old are you?” or “Who is your best friend?”).
• Model Hot Seat:  
• Sit in a chair in front of the class and assume the character from the story in character (with body, facial expressions, and voice).  Speak in first person as the character (“Hello, everyone, I’m __________.  Who has a question for me?”).
• Select students to ask questions from the group brainstorm, reminding or prompting as needed.  Model strong character choices, making sure to add details and emotional context while answering questions from the Hot Seat.
• Student Hot Seat Warm Up:
• Assign students to work in pairs.
• Have them decide who will go first.  Instruct that student to go into the role as the character (with body, facial expressions, and voice) and introduce themselves to their partners in character. 
• Instruct the partners to ask questions of the character.
• Have partners switch and repeat the process.
• Students in Hot Seat:
• Draft one student to walk like their character to the front of the room and sit in a chair facing the audience.
• Start the Hot Seat questioning by asking the student/character to introduce himself/herself (if needed, remind the actor to maintain their character choices). 
• Ask a question of the character.
• Give other students the chance to ask questions.

Teacher note: Be prepared, if necessary, to interject or prompt students with probing questions that get to the heart of the character and the story.

 

• Optional variations:

• The above process can be conducted using the same character throughout, or students can be given the option to become other characters in the story.  If necessary, take time to develop questions for each different character.

• After establishing the practice of Hot Seat, expand it into a panel, having several students sit in a row of chairs, assuming different characters from the story.

WRITING-IN-ROLE

• After participating in Hot Seat, ask all students to return to their seats and tell them that they will draw the character and, if appropriate, write something the character might think or say in a thought or speech bubble.  Invite students to have the character say something that a) they said in the story, b) they said in the Hot Seat activity, or c) the student could imagine the character might say or think.

 

Closing Reflection

Ask students to respond to one or more of the following reflection questions:

• How did it feel to become the character?
• What did you learn about the character from our activity?
• How did we use our bodies, voices, and facial expressions to play the character(s) and convey their feelings?

Assessments

Formative

Teacher will assess student understanding by:

• Noting student observations and inferences about the characters.
• Listening as pairs of students ask and answer questions.
• Observing as students portray the character in pairs and in the Hot Seat.

 

 

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Were students able to step into their role and talk, move, walk, and write from their character’s point of view? 
• Were the students able to recall and retell a key point of the story from the character’s point of view?

 

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated:  Students in the audience take on another character from the book and speak from that character’s point of view while asking questions to the character in the Hot Seat.  Students can also pick different characters and talk to each other from their seats. They can then improvise and write a scene with the two characters.    Remedial: Teacher in the Role - The teacher becomes the character and then asks a student to copy what they are doing, so that the teacher and student are playing the same character at the same time. The teacher then invites other students to ask questions, with prompting as needed.  Teacher and student answer questions together. Then, allow students, who are willing, to take turns in the Hot Seat as the same character.

 

*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:  April 2023 @ ArtsNOW