Similes and metaphors are two forms of figurative language that writers use to describe and compare people or things. Students who can recognize and distinguish between these two forms of figurative language will begin to use to enhance their own writing.
Tell students that they will be learning about tools that writers use to make their meaning clear. Two of the ways that writers use to compare two things that are alike are similes and metaphors.
Comparing Things with Similes
Introduce similes by telling students that similes are words that tell how one thing is like another thing. Usually one of the words like or as will be found in a sentence that compares two things. Write these examples on a dry board:
- The bird was like a plane flying up into the sky.
- He ran as fast as a gazelle.
Ask students to give other examples. Write their responses on the board and discuss them.
Tell students that metaphors are another way that writers use to paint word pictures for their readers. Metaphors are different than similes because instead of saying that one thing is like another, a metaphor says that one thing is or was another. Write these examples on the board.
In her book The Everglades: River of Grass [Rinehart & Company,1947], Marjorie Stonewall Douglass wrote this about the Everglades, “It is a river of grass.”
Say: Notice that the author didn’t say that the Everglades is like a river of grass. She wrote that the Everglades is a river of grass. That is how a metaphor is different than a simile.
Write another example of a metaphor:
Sam threw another strike. He was a human pitching machine.
Ask for student examples. Write them on the board. Discuss whether each response is an example of simile or metaphor.
Ask students to count off by twos Give each child two index cards. Ask all of the ones to write the word “simile” on one side of each card and an example of a simile on the other side. Have all of the twos write “metaphor” on one side of each card and an example of a metaphor on the other side.
Have students write their names on each card. Collect the cards and mix them up. Give each student two cards and ask them to decide if each card has a correctly identified simile or metaphor. Have the students who checked write their names under the original student’s name.
Check the cards to see that their examples are correct. Have the students form a circle. Choose a starter to begin a game of similes and metaphors. The starter stands beside one person in the circle. Explain that the starter and the person he stands by should try to be first to correctly identify the example as a simile or metaphor. Hold up one of the cards showing an example of a simile or metaphor.
Read the example aloud. If the starter is first to identify the example correctly as a simile or metaphor, he moves to the next person in the circle. He can continue around the circle until someone that he stands beside answers correctly first. If the person in the circle answers correctly first, the starter sits down and the person who answered correctly is the new starter. The game continues until everyone is seated except the winner.
Assessment Similes, Metaphors
Observe whether the students who wrote and checked the cards did so correctly. Observe whether students playing the similes and metaphors game were able to give correct answers. Give each student a worksheet on similes and metaphors. Review and reteach those who need extra help individually or in small groups.
Readers must be able to determine whether a sentence or phrase is to be taken literally. The sentence, "They were so hungry they ate like pigs," obviously doesn't make sense if a reader is focused on how pigs eat. When students read they should recognize when something doesn't make sense and try to think what the author wants to tell them. The ability to recognize similes and metaphors as well as other figurative language is a skill that competent readers possess.
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