Responding to Quotes Bulletin Boards - A Great Way to Teach Figurative Language!

"Life is about using the whole box of crayons!"

I have found that the best way to teach figurative language is to incorporate examples all year long. At least twice a week, I have my students address a quotation as a prompt. They need to identify the type of figurative language, explain the meaning of the quote, and connect the quote to their lives. By doing this activity weekly, followed by a class discussion, my students show marked growth in understanding this abstract concept. Another benefit is the wonderful classroom discussions that come out of this activity! It really warms my heart!

A few years ago, I decided that I wanted some of this outstanding thinking to be reflected in my bulletin boards, but I wasn't sure how to go about it. I didn't want to just put their writing on the board, that doesn't work unless someone goes and reads the bulletin boards (which rarely happens.) So, what to do? I started choosing specific quotes for a bulletin board, and then had my students create parts of the board to show their connections and responses to the quote. Here's my latest bulletin board:

My students created their own individual crayon in the computer lab using a crayon template that I had attached to my class webpage. They inserted their picture in the tip of f the crayon, and used word art to add their name, an adjective that described their strength, and a color word for their chosen color. This was a thesaurus lesson, a technology lesson, and a response to a figurative language quotation. Here is a closer look at some of their crayons:

If you would like a copy of my template, click here:

Another one of my bulletin boards this year uses the quote, "Those that reach the stars walk in stardust!" Here's a picture:

On this board, the students created two arms. On their left arm they put their name and their strengths, on their right arm they put their goals (both long term and short term goals).

Other quotes that I have used for bulletin boards are: "Those at the top of the mountain didn't fall there" and "Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?"

What Did You Do This Summer? Research Project

Many years I like to start off with a research project for my students that gives lots of student choice. I learn so much about my class, and my students are getting back into the swing of things by learning more about something they experienced over the summer. The topic can be anything that has something to do with their summer, and the research activities are selected from a Tic Tac Toe menu. Not only do I learn so much about my students, I also can set the groundwork for my research expectations. We discuss choosing reliable sources of information, paraphrasing vs. plagiarizing, and keeping a bibliography. I am not hard nosed about these yet, but I do start to discuss my expectations. I have had such great luck with this project that I have it put together as a unit in my TPT store - if you are interested. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Beyond-The-Garden-Gate-Shari-Bithell ">

I'm not sure what I did differently, or if it is just the students that I have in my class this year, but the creativity and work that I got this year was incredible! Every year, I give my students a Tic Tac Toe board with choices of activities based on Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory, yet many of my students tend to choose the same three or four activities. Technology, Fact Gathering, Compare & Contrast, and Survey. (It's interesting, even when we try to give student choice - they aren't always ready to take a risk at the beginning of the school year) Not this year though! This year I had students demonstrating how to do something they learned, singing songs to the class, building or creating items to share with the class, and creating their own videos for us! Listening to the presentations was so much easier, because of the variety of styles!

Topics vary greatly. This year we learned about places such as National Parks (Yellowstone, Zion, Grand Canyon), travel destinations (Hawaii, Washington D.C, Las Vegas, San Diego, New Mexico, Disney World), summer activities (snorkeling, whale watching, horseback riding, canoe rowing, surfing, and other water sports), and even more about video games from one of my couch potatoes!

How to's included: How to draw Tigger:

How to row a boat or canoe:

How to snorkel:

Summer Activities included: Horseback Riding:

Surfing:

Whale Watching:

Students love the choices they can make, and they were truly interested in each other's presentations! What could be better than that?