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?"