Especially for Teachers

Bright Ideas Lesson Plans

Literacy Terms

Summary of Activity: Using newspaper articles, especially the headlines, students hunt for, cut out, and label/explain examples of select literary terms.

I use the newspapers when we study poetry. The headlines are a great place to find examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, simile, and metaphor. Using the newspapers is a practical way to demonstrate to students that the devices we study in school are around us every day in the "real world."

Students enjoyed "hunting" for the examples, competing with other students to find the best ones, and realizing that they really did have an understanding of what was learned through instruction. The activity has a high success rate for all students because of its "hands on" nature.

I determined the activity to be successful because of the high percentage of participation and overhearing students talking about the activity outside of the classroom. These types of activities are especially useful for ESOL students, at-risk students, and poorly motivated students.

Sunshine State Standards: LA.A.1.3.4, LA.A.2.3.5, LA.A.2.3.7, LA.B.2.3.2, LA.D.2.3.2, LA.D.2.3.6, LA.E.1.3.3, FCAT-R, HSCT-C8-9, HSCT-C11

Gina Burch
6-8th Grade
Creekside Middle

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