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Beyond-the-Basic

Productivity Tools (BBPT)


Lesson Idea Name: Simple Similes and Metaphors
Content Area: English Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 4th Grade

Content Standard Addressed: Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., Isabel is
pretty as a picture, We had a ball at the party)

Technology Standard Addressed:
3 – Knowledge Constructor
Selected Technology Tool:

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable):

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☐ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☐ Creating



Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☒ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration


☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement



Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Students with Disabilities: For students with exceptionalities like a student who has limited vision, they can
have the bubbl.us read aloud to them with the automated voice that comes with the tool. This will allow
them to participate in the learning experience and learn about similes and metaphors as well.

Struggling Students: For students who struggle with the concept of Similes and Metaphors, they can review
the topic as many times as they wish on bubbl.us. More metaphors and similes could be added to the
bubbl.us cards so that they can continue to gain understanding of the concept of comparing using like or as
and comparing two things. Students can also work in small groups and dissect what a simile or metaphor
might mean.

EL Students: EL students might also have difficulty understanding common similes and metaphors that we
have in the English language and may not understand the correlation between two unrelated topics. These
students can have the option to have the bubbl.us cards read to them in their own language to remove the
language barrier so that they can first understand the concept of a metaphor. From this point, they can
compare and determine the similarities between two things and why one is being compared to the other.
Then refer to the simile or metaphor in English.

Gifted Students: Gifted students can have to option during small group time to pick at random, two unrelated
objects written on flash cards and shuffled in a bin. From here they have the challenge of creating 3
metaphors and two similes comparing the two different objects as a challenge. They will then create their
own bubbl.us cards and quiz each other using their original cards.


Lesson idea implementation:

Spring 2018_SJB
Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)
I will begin the lesson by gathering the students on the common area rug with their writers notebooks and
acting out a small skit saying phrases like “The snow outside is a white blanket” but “I’m as cold as ____” or “
allowing the students to fill in the blanks. I will continue the skit with the phrases “I’ll sit next to the fireplace
and melt like a _____” and “I’m wrapped up like pig in a blanket.” After this opening activity, I will ask the
students if they know what similes and metaphors are and if they remember which phrases that I said were
similes and metaphors. If none of the students know what it is, I will tell them that a simile uses “like” or “as”
to compare two things while metaphors compare two things without using “like” or “as”. They will write this
information down. I will ask the students to give me a few examples of phrases they have heard that use
“like” or “as” and phrases they have heard that are metaphors that don’t use “like” or “as”. Once I have called
on 3 students. We will read a story “Roller Coaster” by Marla Frazee.

After reading the story we will talk about a few of the metaphors and what they mean as they write some
examples of similes and metaphors in their notebooks. Once we have completed this, the students will break
into stations. One station the students will make 3 drawings with a simile or metaphor that they thought of,
one station will allow students to use the bubbl.us, and another station will be a reading station where they
pick from books that use figurative language and discuss what some of the metaphors and similes mean that
they read (they will write 3 metaphors and 3 similes in their notebook from this station in their writers
notebooks). Students who need extra help will work with me for the duration of the station activities. Gifted
students will complete their activity when arriving at the “bubbl.us” station.


Reflective Practice: After designing this lesson, I believe that the students have a variety of mediums to
interpret and review the content presented in the lesson. They have the option of visual learning through
reading books, auditory learning through discussing the content with their group and kinesthetic learning by
drawing what a metaphor or simile means. One way to extend the lesson and to further enhance the
technology would be to have the students begin creating a story using a Beyond-the-Basic Productivity tool
like Storify or even a Basic Productivity tool like PowerPoint to create their own Figurative Language story as a
presentation.

After designing this lesson idea, how do you feel the activities you created could impact student learning? You
may have designed this idea as an introductory activity to a unit of study. With that in mind, what could be done
to further extend the lesson? Are there other technology tools that could further enhance this project?

Spring 2018_SJB

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