Nicole Meyer

ELD 308

Lesson Plan #1: Writing Mini-Lesson

Grade: 4
Time: 15 minutes
Standards: WS 3b) Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing,
to develop experiences and events or show the responses oI characters to situations.

Objective: Students will be able to express their connections in a more sophisticated
manner using descriptive language, similes and metaphors that evoke imagery and a
particular mood.

Materials:
O 2by Michael Bedard
O hart Ior writing examples oI sentences.
O Marker
O %hesaurus

Lesson Sequence:
1. Lesson Introduction:
O riends, do you remember the book we read and discussed
called 2 by Michael Bedard? We were able to make some
connections between the text and ourselves, the world and to
other types oI text. In addition to those connections, did you
realize how descriptive Michael Bedard was with his writing?
2. Objective/Purpose:
O Well today we are going to be writing our own sentences
using descriptive language and similes and metaphors to
portray an image or particular mood just like Michael Bedard
does in his book, 2.
3. Teach and Model:
O %his story was actually written about a Iamous poet, some oI
you might know her, Emily Dickinson. She is Iamous Ior
writing all types oI poetry, a lot oI her poetry was depressing
and dark but she was a master at evoking emotion and imagery
through her writing. Michael Bedard does an excellent job at
mirroring Emily Dickinson`s writing style in his story about
her. Lets take a look at this sentence Irom the text.
O n the chart, there will be a descriptive sentence Irom the text
that portrays imagery an emotion Ior the reader.
O When I read this sentence, I recognize two describing words
and then the author makes a connection using the word like,
this is known as a simile. Similes compare two things using
like or as. or instance, iI we want to describe Emily, we could
say, Emily was as quiet as a mouse.` %here is also another
type oI comparison called a metaphor, this compares two
things not using like or as. or example, we could say, Emily
was a statue.` %his metaphor describes Emily as she sat in the
chair upstairs.
O Lets take a look at this sentence, Her voice was light and
brittle, like the bluebells on the windowsill.` Now students
I`m going to take the word, light, Irom this sentence and have
you all help me Iigure out some adjectives to replace this
word.
O Does anyone have another word that could describe her
voice? 'ery good, does anyone else have another
adjective? reat! Now lets take at the word brittle, what
does the author mean when he calls her voice brittle? %hat`s
interesting, does anyone else have another thought? %hose
are all some interesting ideas, but when someone is describing
someone`s voice as brittle, it usually means uneasy or slightly
nervous. So we can assume that Emily was a shy and timid
woman correct who probably doesn`t associate with many
people, correct?
O Now that we`ve come up with some synonyms Ior the words,
light and brittle, I`m going to create a simile Ior this sentence
that would work based oII the text.
O `Her voice was soIt and delicate like the breeze Ilowing
through the trees.` Do you all see how I changed this sentence
using diIIerent descriptive words that mean the same thing and
a similar simile?
4. Guided Practice:
O ive the students another descriptive word Irom the text and
have them use a thesaurus to look up at least two more
synonyms Ior the word.
O kay class, I want you to pair up with a Iriend and I will give
each oI you a sentence Irom the text in which you will have to
use a thesaurus to Iind two adjectives to replace the describing
word and then use a simile or metaphor to replace the one in
the sentence.
O %he sentences I will use are:
4 He knelt down by the bed and sang. Like Ilakes oI
Ilowers the words Iell to the sheets. I listened to them
Iall and Iell asleep.
4 Sunset turned the windows in the yellow house to
gold.
4 %he road was Iull oI mud and mirrors where the sky
peeked at itselI.
O kay Iriends what are some synonyms you Iound using the
thesaurus? %hose are some great synonyms, lets post these
synonyms on the wall so you can use them in your own
writing.
O Who would like to share their sentence? I would like you to
say the original sentence Iirst Iollowed by your altered version
oI the sentence using the adjectives you Iound and your simile
or metaphor.
5. Independent Practice:
O Now Iriends what I want you to do is in your writing journals,
write me three sentences using at least two descriptive words
and one simile or metaphor. You can write about anything you
would like, just make sure you are using Iigurative language
and comparing two things two depict imagery. eel Iree to use
the thesaurus iI you need to
6. losure:
O So who can tell me the diIIerence between a simile and
metaphor? orrect, a simile compares two things using like or
as and a metaphor compares two things not using like or as.
O Now, who can tell me what we are going to do when we begin
our writing workshop today? reat job today everyone! You
may now return to your seats quickly and quietly please.
O I will know the lesson is successIul when the students create
three sentences using describing words either Irom the
thesaurus or the chart we created. I will also know the students
were successIul iI they use similes and metaphors to enrich
their sentences to compare two things and create imagery Ior
the reader.