[IS.7 - For ELLs: Level 1]
Focus Question: How does identifying and interpreting personification enhance and aid in comprehension?
Give one example of personification (L-3-1-3_Personification Examples.doc) to each student. Ask students to discuss in small groups how the sentences are alike. Encourage students to share their answers with the class.
Explain that each sentence is an example of personification. Ask, “What do you think personification is?” (an object or idea that is made to act or seem like a human)
Have students identify the noun and verb and how the object in their sentence has been personified. Ask students to tell what the personification example means. You may wish to have students act out the personification.
Distribute “The Garden.” (L-3-1-3_ Garden Poem.doc) Project the worksheet on the whiteboard. Read aloud the poem and then say, “Find examples of personification in this poem.” Have students circle the examples on their copy. Ask, “Why do you think authors use personification?” (to make writing more interesting) Discuss why each is an example of personification and what the example means. Ask students to suggest another word that could replace the verb in the sentence and bring a new personification example.
Say, “Now you will have a chance to find examples of personification in other poems.” Assign each student a poem or poetry book. Ask students to find examples of personification and to mark them with a sticky note. Have partners discuss what they found and what makes each example personification. While students are working, walk around the room to be sure that students understand personification.
Say, “Let’s see if you can use what you have learned to make your own examples of personification. Remember that your example should make an object or an idea act or seem like a person. I will give you each a card that has a noun and a verb on it. Write a sentence using both words. You must create the sentence so that the verb personifies the noun.” Model an example, using the noun wind and the verb dance: The wind danced through the trees.
Distribute the noun and verb cards. Have students write their sentence. Ask students to share their sentences with a partner and see if the partner has any suggestions for improvement. Circulate around the room and make notes about students’ understanding of personification.
Extension:
- If students need additional practice with personification, show them two sentences that are almost the same except that one shows personification and one does not. For example: “The leaves on the tree danced in the wind” and “The leaves on the tree moved in the wind.” Explain what makes one sentence an example of personification.
- Give students different sentences and see if they can determine whether the sentences show personification.
- Ask students to find examples of personification in books they are reading. Create a class chart of examples of personification.
- Challenge students to find examples of personification in familiar nursery rhymes.
- Have students who are ready to move beyond the standard use their personification statement to write a poem. Ask students to think about the question words: who, what, where, when, why, and how. Explain that students are going to use these question words to help expand their sentences. For example, the original sentence “The wind danced through the trees” can be expanded to “The wind danced through the trees and made them bend over, bowing down to the ground.”
- Model for students how to write their sentence as a poem:
The wind danced
through the trees
and made them
bend over,
bowing down
to the ground.
