Start the year out with a fun literary icebreaker activity that teaches figurative language and literary devices.
The first day of school is nerve wracking for students and teachers alike. Start this year with a fun team building activity that helps students to get back to academics.
Content Areas: Literary terms, public speaking, group communications, creative writing
Materials:
A short list of defined literary terms that you would like your students to know (one for each small group to share). Classroom management tip: To conserve paper resources, set your computer's word processing program to 1" margins and copy the list four times on the same page. Be sure to leave spaces between lists so that you have plenty of room for cutting.
One brief list of interview questions per group.
Terms List Example:
onomatopoeia - words that sounds like the word to which it refers (ex: buzz, smack, zip)
simile- a comparison using "like" or "as" (as pretty as a picture)
metaphor-a comparison without using like or as (The angry man was a tornado of action.)
couplet - two lines of poetry that rhyme ("Twinkle, twinkle, little star,/How I wonder what you are.")
alliteration- the repetition of same or similar consonant sounds ("Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater...")
elegy- a poem written in remembrance of someone who has died.
oxymoron- a literary device which combines two contradictory terms ("almost exactly twelve o'clock", "act naturally", "minor crisis", "jumbo shrimp")
Interview Question List:
What is one thing you would like others to know about you.
What is your favorite movie?
What is your dream job? Why?
If you could be anywhere but here, where would you be? Why?
What is your feeling about school and the new school year?
What car would you love to drive?
Describe your appearance or sense of style in one sentence.
Do you play or watch any sports?
What is the best/worst book you have ever had to read?
What are your favorite music groups?
Activities:
Break students into small groups of three or four students.
Provide each group with the list of definitions. Review the definitions aloud.
Assign each group one of the literary terms. Ask them to work together to create a silly elegiac poem to introduce each person in the group. The elegy should use (and therefore teach) the assigned literary term. If students are intimidated by poetry, they may use nursery rhymes or popular (easy-to-sing) song lyrics as a model.
Set the tone for the class by introducing yourself with a silly elegy (explain to the class that the idea of a silly elegy is another literary device, oxymoron) that will also provide the class with many examples of their assigned literary device.
Teacher Example Using Couplet (to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star")
The copyright of the article Figurative Language Ice Breaker in Curricula/Lesson Plans is owned by Susan Hyde. Permission to republish Figurative Language Ice Breaker in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
