The third graders (and third grade teachers) were super excited to try something new in writing this past week. We conducted writing clinics where students from our class joined students from other classes and visited all the third grade rooms to review some of the different types of figurative language. It was a huge success! The students loved working with some new students and showing off their writing to a new audience. They also enjoyed getting a chance to work with new teachers.
 |
| Students used this flip book to record definitions and examples of the different types of figurative language. |
- One day this week each student met with Mrs. Hayes to review similes. See if your child can tell you what a simile is and give you an example. I bet they'll be able to do it as quick as a wink.
- One day your child visited Mrs. Nilo's class to review examples of onomatopoeia. Ask your child to share with you the onomatopoeia example they wrote this week. We had a lot of rings, plops, and booms appearing in our writing.
- One day during writing, each student reviewed hyperbole with Mrs. Hreno. They learned about including exaggerations in their writing and then came up with millions of examples.
- One day each third grader visited my classroom to review personification. I was so impressed as I watched the pencils dance across the papers as students wrote example after example of personification.
On Friday we applied all we had learned by writing a story where the students tried to include the different types of figurative language. What a successful week in writing! If you want to see what your child learned, have them point out the examples of figurative language in each bullet above. Have them use the example to explain each type of figurative language--what it is, how we use it, and why we include it in our writing. Then see if they can start pointing out figurative language they see in their reading, on TV, and in songs. I bet they will even catch their friends and family members using it in conversations. The better we get at identifying it, the easier it will be to start including it naturally in our writing. Figurative language is one way that we can take our writing to the next level.
 |
| One student's figurative language reference tool |
 |
| We know our writing clinics were a success because the students did such a stellar job applying it to their writing on Friday. |
