Discusses the critical role vocabulary knowledge plays in metaphorical processing and gives teaching suggestions on dealing with metaphors and similes. (FL)

Literature Circles are a great way to supplement a reading program in a literature-based classroom. In this lesson plan, students create and answer comprehension questions, discover new vocabulary, and examine elements of literature. The students feel ownership in Literature Circles, because they are responsible for the meeting. Any genre of…

Discusses classroom literary practices related to teacher questioning, retelling, literalism, and figurative language for children in the concrete operational stage; concludes that recent research on response to literature may say as much about what children are taught to do as what they do developmentally. Offers suggestions about teaching…

This poetry activity encourages K-3 students to recognize figurative language and symbolism in their reading and helps make them aware of different cultural heritages. The activity involves reading and discussing the poem, "Tradition," by Eloise Greenfield, (which is provided on a reproducible tear-our sheet), as well as assorted other…

This collection of 180 poems was assembled with classroom needs in mind. Intended to delight students every day, the collection's poems span the school year from September to summertime. Its introduction gives teachers before-, during-, and after-reading ideas. Sections in the collection include: Me and My World, Primary Concepts, Seasons and…