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English lesson plan · 5th grade (Year 6 in England) · 30 minutes

Figurative language: personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia

Vocabulary

CCSS L.5.5.ACCSS RL.5.4England: Y5/6 Reading (figurative language)England: KS2 SATs ReadingEngland: 11+ English

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Figurative language: personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Similes and metaphors

Leads to: Allusion, irony, oxymoron and pun; Descriptive and narrative techniques; Sound devices: alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia

Materials: Word cards, A thesaurus or dictionary, A short text with the target words, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Similes and metaphors). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Which kind of figurative language is this? The lake was like a mirror. (simile / metaphor / personification) → similePrompt: Does it use 'like' or 'as' to compare?
  2. What does this metaphor mean? The classroom was a zoo after lunch. (There were animals in it. / It was empty. / It was noisy and wild. / It was very clean.) → It was noisy and wild.Prompt: A metaphor is not literally true.
  3. Which kind of figurative language is this? The classroom was a zoo after lunch. (simile / metaphor / personification) → metaphorPrompt: Does it use 'like' or 'as' to compare?

Hook · 3 min

  • Show an interesting word in a sentence and ask what it might mean from the clues around it.
  • Share the objective: Figurative language: personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Which technique is used here? The stars winked at us from the sky.
  • Step 1: Writers use these techniques to make writing vivid and memorable.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: personification
  • Answer: personification
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Which technique is used here? This bag weighs more than an elephant! (personification / onomatopoeia / hyperbole / simile) → hyperbolePrompt: Is it an exaggeration, repeated starting sounds, a sound word, or a thing acting like a person?
  2. Which technique is used here? The fire crackled and hissed. (onomatopoeia / metaphor / simile / hyperbole) → onomatopoeiaPrompt: Is it an exaggeration, repeated starting sounds, a sound word, or a thing acting like a person?

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Which technique is used here? Big brown bears bounced on the bed. (onomatopoeia / hyperbole / metaphor / alliteration) → alliterationPrompt: Is it an exaggeration, repeated starting sounds, a sound word, or a thing acting like a person?
  2. Which technique is used here? I've told you a million times! (hyperbole / simile / personification / alliteration) → hyperbolePrompt: Is it an exaggeration, repeated starting sounds, a sound word, or a thing acting like a person?

Watch out for

  • Picking a "bigger" synonym that doesn't fit the meaning.
  • Ignoring the clues in the rest of the sentence.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Similes and metaphors.
  • Use concrete materials: word cards.
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: Allusion, irony, oxymoron and pun; Descriptive and narrative techniques; Sound devices: alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia.
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-5.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Figurative language: personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia

Name

Date

Score/ 6

The Last Lap

Ruby had trained for the school relay every morning since September, running laps of the park while her breath made clouds in the cold air. She was the fastest in her class, and everyone expected her team to win. On the day of the race, the team's second runner, Theo, tripped on the bend and dropped the baton. By the time he scrambled up, two teams were far ahead. Ruby, waiting for the last leg, felt her heart sink. When the baton finally reached her, she ran harder than she ever had. She passed one runner. The finish line rushed towards her. The crowd was roaring. Then, a metre from the tape, the leader dipped her shoulder and won by a hand's width. Theo couldn't look at anyone. Ruby walked over, still panting, and held out the silver ribbon. "Second place," she said, "and that comeback was the best part of the whole race." Later, the team hung the ribbon on the classroom wall, right next to the first-place trophy from the year before. Somehow it seemed brighter.

  1. Question 1

    Read "The Last Lap". What is the effect of the short sentences in paragraph 3?

    • A. they describe the setting in detail
    • B. they introduce a new character
    • C. they speed up the pace and build excitement
    • D. they slow the story down

My Grandmother's Hands

My grandmother's hands are brown and wrinkled, like a map of rivers that have been flowing for eighty years. When I was small, I used to trace the lines with my finger and ask her where each one went. "This one," she would say, pointing to a deep crease across her palm, "goes back to the farm where I grew up, where I picked cotton until my fingers bled." Then she would point to a thin white scar on her thumb. "And this one leads to the night I learned to cook for eight brothers and sisters." Her hands have kneaded thousands of loaves of bread. They have stitched every quilt in our house and plaited my hair before every first day of school. They once caught my baby brother when he slipped from the top of the slide, faster than anyone thought an old woman could move. These days her hands shake a little when she holds her teacup. Sometimes she drops a stitch and has to start a row again. But when she takes my hands in hers, they are still the strongest hands I know.

  1. Question 2

    Read "My Grandmother's Hands". The narrator compares Grandmother's hands to "a map of rivers". What does this suggest?

    • A. Her hands are covered in ink.
    • B. The lines on her hands tell the story of her long life.
    • C. She likes to travel.
    • D. Her hands are always wet.

  1. Question 3

    Which technique is used here? I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.

    • A. hyperbole
    • B. alliteration
    • C. simile
    • D. onomatopoeia

Message in a Bottle (a poem)

I am a bottle, empty and light, tossed from a boat on a bright summer night. No note inside me, no secret to tell, just plastic and air and a sea-salty smell. The ocean is patient, the ocean is wide; it rocks me and rolls me from tide to tide. A turtle swims near me and stares at my shine. I am not a jellyfish. Please, don't you dine! I'll drift for a lifetime, I'll drift for a few, I'll crumble to pieces too tiny for you. But somebody somewhere could carry me back, a hand on the beach and a bin in a sack. So here is my message, though no one wrote it: the sea keeps whatever we throw. Don't forget it.

  1. Question 4

    Read "Message in a Bottle (a poem)". In verse 3, the bottle will "crumble to pieces too tiny for you". What idea does this show?

    • A. The bottle will become a jellyfish.
    • B. The bottle will turn into sand and disappear safely.
    • C. Plastic breaks into tiny bits that are hard to see or remove.
    • D. The bottle will grow bigger.

The Moon's Night Walk (a poem)

The moon puts on her silver coat and tiptoes up the sky. She hums a tune to sleepy owls and winks at clouds nearby. She paints the rooftops pearly white, she lights the cat's way home, she peeps into the children's rooms to check they're not alone. She counts the stars like sleeping sheep, she sings the sea to rest, she hangs a lantern on the hill for travellers in the west. And when the sun yawns in the east and stretches out his rays, the moon slips off her silver coat and hides away for days. But look up on a quiet night when all the town's asleep: she's tiptoeing across the sky with promises to keep.

  1. Question 5

    Read "The Moon's Night Walk (a poem)". The poet writes that the moon "tiptoes up the sky". Which technique is this?

    • A. onomatopoeia
    • B. personification
    • C. simile
    • D. alliteration

Message in a Bottle (a poem)

I am a bottle, empty and light, tossed from a boat on a bright summer night. No note inside me, no secret to tell, just plastic and air and a sea-salty smell. The ocean is patient, the ocean is wide; it rocks me and rolls me from tide to tide. A turtle swims near me and stares at my shine. I am not a jellyfish. Please, don't you dine! I'll drift for a lifetime, I'll drift for a few, I'll crumble to pieces too tiny for you. But somebody somewhere could carry me back, a hand on the beach and a bin in a sack. So here is my message, though no one wrote it: the sea keeps whatever we throw. Don't forget it.

  1. Question 6

    Read "Message in a Bottle (a poem)". "The ocean is patient" is an example of…

    • A. onomatopoeia
    • B. personification
    • C. a simile
    • D. alliteration

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Answer key: Figurative language: personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia

  1. 1. C. they speed up the pace and build excitement

  2. 2. B. The lines on her hands tell the story of her long life.

  3. 3. A. hyperbole

  4. 4. C. Plastic breaks into tiny bits that are hard to see or remove.

  5. 5. B. personification

  6. 6. B. personification