January 9th Day 1 Agenda
Bell Ringer: Now that your personal
narrative is finished, name one way you
feel your writing has improved over the
past several weeks.
 Foresight Score Data with Mrs. Hall
 New Seats
 Figurative Language- What is it?
 Personification: Definition and Examples
 Start HW
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Discuss with your partner…
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Which of the following figurative language
terms do you remember?
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Personification
Simile
Metaphor
Hyperbole
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Figurative Vs. Literal Language:
Which sentence is the most boring???
 The Steelers defense was like a bulldozer to the Ravens
offense.
 The Steelers were cheetahs and the Ravens were mice.
 The football licked the goal line, securing a Steelers
victory.
 The Steelers won the NFL playoff game against the
Ravens.
 The cheers of Steelers fans were so loud, they shook
Heinz field.
 The Steelers felt the sweet smell of success on Sunday.
 The crowd could hear the crush and crack of Ben’s
helmet when he was hit.
Literal Versus Figurative Language
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Literal: language is true to fact. It uses
words according to their actual meaning.
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Figurative language: makes comparisons
between unrelated things or ideas, in
order to show something about a subject.
Personification
Definition: Giving human qualities or ideas to
nonhuman things such as hearing, feeling, talking,
or making decisions
 Comes from the Greek prosopa, meaning “face”
or “mask”
 Examples:

◦ Her stomach growled.
◦ My phone died.
◦ The oven timer told me it was time to take the
cookies out.
◦ My locker hates me.
◦ The car engine coughed when it started.
◦ These shoes are killing me.
◦ Other examples you can think of?
Summer Grass by Carl Sandburg
Summer grass aches and whispers.
It wants something;
It calls out and sings;
It pours out wishes to the overhead stars.
The rain hears;
The rain answers;
The rain is slow coming;
The rain wets the face of the
Grass.
*underline the nonhuman thing and circle the
human quality
Complete the following examples with a partner:

The winter wrapped its icy claws around
Northeast Pennsylvania.
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The alarm clock screeched that it was time to get
up.
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Fear grabbed me as I heard footsteps behind me.
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The washer sputtered and groaned as it removed
the mud from the knees of my old jeans.
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The printer spit out more copies than I needed.
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The branches of the tree pointed to the old
dirt road.
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The flood waters swallowed the trees in one
big gulp.
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The stars winked at us from the night sky.
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Listening to the piano sing its happy tune
made me want to dance.

That carrot cake with the cream cheese
icing is calling my name.
Agenda: January 10th Day 2

Bell Ringer:
1. Define personification.
2. Write down one example of personification.
SSR
 Go over HW
 Similes: Definitions and Examples
 Metaphors: Definitions and Examples
 Start HW
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Simile
Definition: a comparison between two
different objects that uses “like” or “as” to
make the comparison.
 A is like B
 Comes from the Latin word similes, meaning
“similar”
 Examples:

◦ He ran as fast as a cheetah.
◦ My hair looks like flowing ocean waves at
midnight.
◦ My hands are as rough as the skin of a crocodile.
◦ Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know
what you’re gonna get.
Important!

Using “like” or “as” doesn’t make a simile.
Not a Simile: I like pizza.
 Simile: The moon is like a pizza.

A comparison must be made.
Willow and Ginkgo
by Eve Merriam
The willow is like an etching,
Fine-lined against the sky.
The ginkgo is like a crude sketch,
Hardly worthy to be signed.
The willow’s music is like a soprano,
Delicate and thin.
The ginkgo’s tune is like a chorus
With everyone joining in.
The willow is sleek as a velvet-nosed calf;
The ginkgo is leathery as an old bull.
The willow’s branches are like silken thread;
The ginkgo’s like stubby rough wool.
The willow is like a nymph with streaming hair;
Wherever it grows, there is green and gold and
fair.
The willow dips to the water,
Protected and precious, like the king’s favorite
daughter.
The ginkgo forces its way through gray
concrete;
Like a city child, it grows up in the street.
Thrust against the metal sky,
Somehow it survives and even thrives.
My eyes feast upon the willow,
But my heart goes to the ginkgo.
Metaphor
Means “transference” in Greek
 The writer transfers the qualities from
one thing to another thing.
 Compares two things, but does NOT use
“like” or “as” to make the comparison
 A is B.

Identify the 2 things being compared
in these metaphors an explain in
what way they are alike.
The lake was a huge mirror in the
moonlight.
 The playground became a lake after the
thunderous rain.
 Men are dogs.
 My heart’s a stereo.

Which are similes and which are
metaphors?
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Jenny sings like a bird.
Mary is a pack rat.
We always go to the beach for vacation.
The dancer moved around the stage like a
spinning top.
As my sister ran to the room, my brother said,
“Let’s hide from her!”
We could not persuade her to go with us.
My friend is a stubborn mule.
Our lawn is a green carpet from the fence to the
street.
He hit that ball a mile away.
Dreams by Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
January 11th Day 3

Bell Ringer:
1. What is the difference between a simile and a
metaphor?
2. Is the following statement a simile or a
metaphor? Blood seeped out of the wound like
teardrops.
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SSR
Go over HW
Alliteration: Definition and Examples
Hyperbole: Definition and Examples
Start HW
Alliteration
Definition: repeated consonant sounds at the
beginning of words
 Makes certain words stand out
 Makes the reader feel a certain mood when read
out loud

Then up and spake an old sailor,
Had sailed to the Spanish Main,
“I pray thee, put into yonder port,
For I fear a hurricane.”
- Henry W. Longfellow, “The Wreck of Hesperus”
Hear the loud alarum bells—
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency
tells!
- Edgar Allen Poe, “The Bells”
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin’ for to carry me home.
- Traditional Spiritual
Hyperbole
Definition: an exaggeration that is so
dramatic that no one would believe the
statement is true
Examples:
 I could sleep for a year.
 This box weighs a ton.
 My mom’s gonna kill me.
 His eyes were as round as saucers.
 I nearly died laughing.
 I’ve told you a million times not to exaggerate.
Come up with 2 more on your own!
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The blue bells were broken by Billy Brown.
The mountain of paperwork weighed heavily on the
teacher’s desk.
Randy's house was so big that it took a week to walk
from one end to the other.
The leaves danced in the summer breeze.
After Mindy ate her mother's garlic bread, she could
singe any one's eyebrows off with her breath.
Sarah’s hair was a curtain of yellow silk against her
back.
The engagement ring Steven gave Miranda was so
small that a magnifying glass was needed to see it.
He was so skinny that when he turned sideways he
was as thin as a nickel.
The oak tree’s limbs stretched in the sunlight.
My mother’s lecture on good manners lasted two
weeks one afternoon.
Agenda: January 12th Day 4
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Bell Ringer:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Define alliteration.
Write an example of an alliteration.
Define hyperbole.
Write an example of a hyperbole.
SSR
 Go over HW
 Onomatopoeia: Definition and examples
 Figurative Language in Song Lyrics
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Onomatopoeia: a word whose
sound suggests it’s meaning
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It's sort of whack, whir, wheeze, whine
Sputter, splat, squirt, scrape
Clink, clank, clunk, clatter
Crash, bang, beep, buzz
Ring, rip, roar, retch
Twang, toot, tinkle, thud
Pop, plop, plunk, POW
Snort, snuck, sniff, smack
Screech, splash, squish, squeak
Jingle, rattle, squeal, boing
Honk, hoot, hack, belch."
(Todd Rundgren, "Onomatopoeia")
January 13th Day 5
Bell Ringer: Figurative Language
Matching
 SSR
 Finish Figurative Language in Song Lyrics
 Start HW (Beatles Examples)
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Bell Ringer
Figurative Language
Definition
Alliteration
Giving human qualities to
ideas and things
Repeated consonant sounds at
the beginning of words
A comparison using “like” or
“as”
Onomatopoeia
Metaphor
Simile
Personification
Hyperbole
Words whose sounds suggests
their meaning
A comparison that does not
use “like” or “as”
An extreme exaggeration
Agenda: January 17th Day 6
Bell Ringer
 Book Chats
 Go over HW
 Figurative Language Review: Trashketball
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Agenda: January 18th Day 1
Bell Ringer
 SSR
 Figurative Language Quiz
 Introduction to Poetry
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