Name: Nicole Howard

Subject: ELA
Grade Level: 5
1. STANDARDS (CA Common Core Standards; NGSS/Content Standards)
Reading 1.5: Understand and explain the figurative and metaphorical use of
words in context.
Reading 2.3: Discern main ideas and concepts presented in texts, identifying and
assessing evidence that supports those ideas.
Reading 2.4: Draw inferences, conclusions, or generalizations about text and
support them with textual evidence and prior knowledge.
Literary Response 3.1: Identify and analyze the characteristics of poetry, drama,
fiction, and nonfiction and explain the appropriateness of the literary forms
chosen by an author for a specific purpose.
Writing 1.4: 1.4 Use correct capitalization.
Writing 1.5: Spell roots, suffixes, prefixes, contractions, and syllable
constructions correctly.
Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics) 2.3: Deliver oral
responses to literature:
a. Summarize significant events and details.
b. Articulate an understanding of several ideas or images communicated
by the literary work.
c. Use examples or textual evidence from the work to support conclusions.
2. OBJECTIVES
Content: The students will learn to use figurative language through poetry
about nature.
Key Vocabulary
a. Onomatopoeia
b. Simile
c. Metaphor
d. Idioms
e. Personification
f. (Hyperbole) - was not covered in lesson on figurative language and may be
skipped
g. (Alliteration) - was not covered in lesson on figurative language and may
be skipped
3. ASSESSMENT
Informal or Formative: I will walk around throughout the discussion to
monitor student discourse. Students will share an example of their figurative
language with a partner, then with me.

 Formal or Summative: Students will write a brief figurative language poem in

the style of Lord Alfred Tennyson.
4. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES AND LEARNING TASKS
I. ANTICIPATORY SET
Motivation: First, I will make sure that all of the students are prepared with their
journals for Esperanza Rising. I will discuss how I helped some of them write
figurative language poems last week, and how some of them struggled to come
up with ideas of what to write about. We will work on writing what we know,
which is what all authors do. But first, I will tell the students that they have a
mystery to solve, and that good detectives start by establishing the facts.
Activate Prior Knowledge: We will review the different types of figurative
language with examples from Esperanza Rising by Pam Muoz Ryan.
II. INSTRUCTION AND MODELING (Best Practice Strategies)
A. We will read The Eagle (a Fragment) by Lord Alfred Tennyson together. For
the first part of the lesson, I will have the title of the poem covered up. After
reading it, students will discuss what they think the poem is about at their table
groups for about two minutes.
B. Table groups will share with the class what they think the poem is about.
C. We will read the poem again as a class. We will break down the poem line by
line, act out portions of it, and identify what we see in the poem. I will ask if
anyone has a different idea now about what they think the subject of the poem is.
D. I will reveal the title of the poem to the students. We will read it one more time,
and then identify the different types of figurative language used. Since students
may not know what an eagle looks like, I can show photos of one flying.
E. I will explain to students what a nature walk is, and how a poet might use one
for inspiration by using all five senses to observe. I will model how to rewrite an
observation from a nature walk in figurative language using the poem that
Francisco wrote last week.
III. GUIDED PRACTICE
A. Now that students have closely examined the figurative language in a nature
poem, they will work in table groups to brainstorm what they would see on a
nature walk in their minds. I will use photos to prompt their thoughts if they
are stuck. They will work on rewriting these observations in figurative language.
We will share as a class.
B. Next, students will have a few minutes to work on writing their own mental
images in figurative language. I will walk around to assist students that are
having trouble.
IV. CLOSURE (Student summary of learning)

A. Students will share in table groups for one minute about what they have learned
about using figurative language, then each table will share one idea with the class.
V. INDEPENDENT PRACTICE (Summative assessment)
A. Students will write a six-line nature poem using figurative language on their own.
5. DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGIES
Anxiety: Students will receive verbal encouragement and be allowed to work in groups
for most of the activity.
Auditory Processing: Students will be supported by the display of the poem on the
document camera as it is being read and throughout the discussion. The students will
also use a worksheet with written instructions for the group and individual brainstorming.
Autism: Allow extra time to complete activities or have complete fewer observations and
poetry lines.
English Learners: This activity is targeted at ELLs in order to deepen their understanding
of figurative language, which many in this class struggle with. We will review the types
of figurative language at the beginning of the lesson as a refresher. By reading,
discussing, and rereading the poem several times, we are exposing them to the ways in
which understanding figurative language can help them read between the lines. The
use of visual and video support will assist in this process. The guided group discussions
will give them an opportunity to be critiqued and supported by their peers as well as the
teacher. The students will also use a worksheet with written instructions for the group
and individual brainstorming.
6. INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES AND MATERIALS
Copy of The Eagle (a Fragment) by Lord Alfred Tennyson for the document camera
Esperanza Rising journals for reference
Paper
Pencils
Worksheets - one per student (28 copies)
1 poem copy per student
Photos/nature books

The Eagle (a Fragment)

Lord Alfred Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

crag: a steep or rugged cliff or rock

face
azure: bright blue in color, like a
cloudless sky

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Title:_____________________________
Author: Lord Alfred Tennyson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Vocabulary:
crag: a steep or rugged cliff or rock face
azure: bright blue in color, like a cloudless sky

Title:_____________________________
Author: Lord Alfred Tennyson

Vocabulary:
crag: a steep or rugged cliff or rock face
azure: bright blue in color, like a cloudless sky

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Title:_____________________________
Author: Lord Alfred Tennyson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Vocabulary:
crag: a steep or rugged cliff or rock face
azure: bright blue in color, like a cloudless sky

Title:_____________________________
Author: Lord Alfred Tennyson

Vocabulary:
crag: a steep or rugged cliff or rock face
azure: bright blue in color, like a cloudless sky