Similes

How I love the sound of similes in books, student writing, and the hallways at school. That's right...similes are all over the place at Lewis and Clark.

Our students have been learning about similes and now they are writing their own. There are several great ones and I love them all, but I have to tell you about the one Cass wrote. He wrote, "Mrs. Alto, Mrs. Jagla, ^Mrs. Osborn, and Mrs. Woodly are like (three) four queens." The ^ is a symbol we use in editing to insert something new. Cass edited his simile to include Mrs. Osborn. Of course, this was after Mrs. Osborn brought it back to class to telling Cass it need revising. =) Many of you may not know that she was crown Miss Ballard (Seattle) a few years ago and has the tiara to prove it.

I have to say though, I have never seen a student write the next one. Luz wrote, "Mrs. Jagla rocks like Elves Presley." Nope, I've never seen that one before and I laughed a lot when I read it. My students definitely keep me happy.

Aren't our students great!

"Follow the simile road..."

Monday morning students are going to arrive to school with instructions to "follow the simile road," of course you have to say it to the tune of "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."

From the time they hit the cafeteria doors, in the morning, until they reach our classroom they will find "bricks" with similes on them. A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two very diffent things using 'as' or 'like.' Here are several example of similes: "Love is like a rose." "The sweater was as warm as a roaring fire." "The cat meowed as loud as a siren."

Figurative language is one way writers elaborate details and make their writing more interesting. If you notice any similes in your own reading point it out to your child. We will be looking through the books we have previously read to find the similes. The more we notice them the more we can add to our own writing.