Dancing minds and shouting smiles: Teaching personification through poetry
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=860
A lesson plan for grades 3–5 English Language Arts
Students learn about personification in this lesson that uses “The Sky is Low” by Emily Dickinson, “Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room” by William Blake, and “April Rain Song” by Langston Hughes. After the teacher guides students in a discussion about the definition of personification, students apply their knowledge of the poetic device by identifying examples in the poems. Then students use the poems to brainstorm lists of nouns and verbs that they randomly arrange to create personification in original poems. In pairs, students evaluate each others’ poems using a peer editing checklist and then share their work with the class. Readwritethink provides several resources for extension activities and teacher assessment of student learning.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 3
- Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.04: Identify and interpret elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text to determine the:
- author's purpose.
- plot.
- conflict.
- sequence.
- resolution.
- lesson and/or message.
- main idea and supporting details.
- cause and effect.
- fact and opinion.
- point of view (author and character).
- author's use of figurative language (e.g., simile, metaphor, imagery).
- Objective 2.04: Identify and interpret elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text to determine the:
Grade 4
- Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.04: Identify and interpret elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text to determine the:
- plot.
- theme.
- main idea and supporting details.
- author's choice of words.
- mood.
- author's use of figurative language.
- Objective 2.04: Identify and interpret elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text to determine the:
Grade 5
- Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.04: Identify elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text to determine the:
- plot development.
- author's choice of words.
- effectiveness of figurative language (e.g., personification, flashback).
- tone.
- Objective 2.04: Identify elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text to determine the:
