Design for Learning

Instructor: Miss Bisese Grade Level/CT: 5th grade Mrs. Fields

Lesson Title: Idioms and Personification Date: 04/13/2015
Curriculum Area: ELA Estimated Time: 1 hours

Standards Connection: ELA AL 5th (42) Recognize and explain the meaning of
common idioms.[L.5.5b]

Learning Objective(s): When given an exit slip, students will write a definition for
an idiom and three examples of idioms.

Learning Objective(s) stated in kid friendly language: Today class we are
going to be learn about idioms and by the end of the lesson you will be able to define
what an idiom is and give three examples of idioms.

Evaluation of Learning Objective(s): When given an exit slip, students will be able
to give an accurate definition of idiom and give three examples. This will
constitute a total of 4pts.to be earned. To be considered proficient in their definition,
the student must reference that an idiom is 1. A group of words or a phrase 2. That
means something different 3. From what is read or from the individual words. The
definition must have each of those three parts to be considered acceptable. Then the
student should give three accurate examples of idioms (that we discussed in class or
that they pulled from their own prior knowledge). Each of these items will receive 1
pt.: the definition, each of the three examples. To be considered proficient in
mastery of the content, students should receive a 4/4 score on the assessment.
Students who receive a will be placed in the yellow category and students who
receive a 2/4 or lower on the assessment will be retaught.

Engagement:
Write for 5: Given a picture, write a short story about what is going on
in their picture. Good morning class! As your pencils are being sharpened,
today in Reading we are going to be learning about idioms, because we want to
master these before our big test on Friday! Now as I come around I am going to
place a packet on your desk, go ahead and place your name at the top of the
packet and begin the first activity. What you will do is each of you will have a
picture on the front of your packet that may look funny to you. I want you to
look at the picture and write a short story about what you think is going on in
that picture! Note that your picture may be different from your neighbors!

Think about what is happening in your picture, why and write! You will have
about 5 minutes to complete this task. Once you have your pencil you may
begin. TTW give students each the chance to write their stories.
While students are working on their stories, the teacher will circulate to
assess students progress.

Learning Design:
I. Teaching:
Once completed the teacher will say, 3-2-1 Alright So my first picture I have
here looks like this (teacher will place book under the Elmo and project onto
promethean board). It has some kind of cat in it, maybe a bag? Now those of
you that were given this picture, who can tell me what they think is happening
in this picture? Raise your hand and tell us what you wrote your story about.
TTW call on 2-3 attentive students repeating their responses. Alright so these
are all valid guesses about what is going on! Now each of these pictures I have
given you represents an idiom. Who can tell me what they think an idiom is?
TTW call on 2-3 attentive students repeating their responses. Boys and girls,
an idiom is an expression or phrase that cannot be fully understood based on
the meanings of the individual words that are contained within it. So lets flip
the page to the page that says Types of Figurative Language- Idioms at the
top and look in the box that says An idiom is Fill in the blanks on your sheet
as we go. If you are on the correct page and understand the directions point to
the box that says An idioms is. Good Ketrya is ready. Nicholas is ready. Perfect.
An idioms is a phrase whose actual meaning it different from the literal
meaning of the individual words. They are word combinations that whose
actual meaning is different from the literal meaning of the individual words in
that word combination. The actual meaning of idioms often has nothing, to do
with the meanings of the words taken one by one. We use idioms to make our
writing and speech more expressive and colorful and a lot of idioms include
animals in them. Most idioms were created a long time ago and made perfect
sense and long time ago, but to us they seem a little strange. Now that weve
reviewed what an idiom is, that is is a phrase who actual meaning is different
from the literal meaning of the individual words, lets flip back to our stories we
wrote. This picture is illustrating a common idiom that people say and you may
see on your test! So who has an idea what idiom they think this picture might
be referring to? TTW call on 1 attentive student repeating their responses.
Yes the idiom it is referring to is let the cat out of the bag! point to let the cat
out of the bag on your organizer? Good, so what does it mean when we say we
let the cat out of the bag? Are we literally talking about letting a cat out of
some bag? No! Youre right it means to let out yes but to let out a secret! So in

II.

III.

the box that says Actual Meaning you all need to write down that it means:
to let out a secret. TTW write this on the board for students. Then the
teacher will go through each picture and talk about what the students
thought was happening- the idiom on the page and what it actually means.
The teacher and students will record these meanings on the graphic
organizer. So from each of these idioms, do the words in the idiom have
anything to do with the actual meaning of the whole phrase? No! They are
phrases that mean something different from what we would think by the
individual words.
Opportunity for Practice:
Give them list of frequently used idioms write a story using as
many idioms as you can. Now to practice idioms, flip to the next page,
Elijah is going to read the directions aloud you all should be reading
aloud to the class. After Elijah reads the directions, TTW say So, what
you will be doing is writing a story using as many idioms CORRECTLY in
your story as possible. Use the attached idioms chart to help you think of
idioms to incorporate in your story! Now your story has to make sense
to the reader so they must make sense in your story! You may go ahead
and begin writing your story. TTW allow the students to write for a
little while then she will choose an example paper to put under the
Elmo and say, Alright boys and girls I want for you to take a break and
look up at Ashantis paper. Ashanti is going to read us her paper and
you all are going to read along and search for the idioms used in her
story! After she finishes reading and youve found an idiom I will call on
those with their hands raised to point out an idiom she used and what it
means! TTW then have the student read their paper and ask the
students What idioms did Ashanti use in her paper? Notice how they all
flowed in her story and make sense to the reader. TTW call on students
to point out all of the idioms and e explain their meaning. The teacher
will highlight as they go. Then the teacher will circulate and help
struggling students with their stories. She will show another example
if necessary to repeat the procedure. Now that weve completed our
stories, you and a partner will swap stories and are going to use a
highlighter to highlight the IDIOMS they used in their story! What are
we going to highlight class? Yes the idioms! So take a few moments to
read thorugh your partners story and highlight those idioms! Lets see
who used the most idioms correctly in their story!
Assessment:
Exit Slip: (In mind map format) 3 examples of idioms weve discussed
and what they mean, 1 definition of idioms- Now to end our day, I want to

see what all youve learned! You are going to flip to the last page and you will
define what an idiom is in your own words. Then give me three examples of
idioms that weve talked about today or that you knew before the lesson.
IV. Closure:
The teacher will re-gather the students with a 3-2-1 and quickly ask the
following questions:
o Who can tell me what an idiom is?
o Now what are some examples of idioms that you know or that weve
talked about today?

Materials and Resources:
Monkey Business by Wallace Edwards
Photo copies of pages for note-taking guide
o Cat out of the bag
o Opened a can of worms
o Put his best foot forward
o Fish out of water
o Rise to the occasion
Student Note-taking guides (includes Idioms note-taking organizer, Idioms
story writing page, and assessment)
Promethean Board
Idioms Flip Chart (mimics student Note-taking guide)
Frequently used Idioms list
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/547609635917626260/
Highlighters
Pencils
Differentiation Strategies
Extension- Have students create their own idioms and write their own short stories
using these idioms.

Re-Teaching- Show more examples of idioms in context- Perform read louds with
students in small groups and have them pick out the idioms within the story.

Data Analysis:
Reflection:

What went well:
Using Flipchart on the Promethean board worked well for mimicking student
note-taking guides. Was able to quickly write up the note-taking guide on the

board first before the lesson. It was time-efficient and effective for the
students to see!
When I noticed that some students were struggling to come up with a story, I
grabbed an example paper and put it under the Elmo, the student read their
story to the class and as a class, students went up to the board, pointed to an
idiom in her story and explained what the idiom meant. I would then
highlight the idiom. Once I gave this example, I let the students work a little
longer before they began getting restless again and showed them another
example. I then let them finish their own stories.

What could use improvement:
In the future I should make an example (teacher copy of note-taking guide)
with the definitions of idioms written clearly for easier reference. Although
using the reference list in the back of the book, it would be helpful to have
them pre-written so I didnt have to flip
I also would write an example story containing a lot of idioms, put it under
the Elmo, have students read the story, then as a class have students find
idioms in my story and mark the idioms they find with a highlighter. This
would be a practical way to ensure all the kids knew what I was looking for.
We did not have time for the students to highlight their partners story for
idioms and count them. I would like to do this in the future.
I would have collected the note-taking packets and not stapled the
assessment to the packets. I caught a few kids looking back at their packets
for answers even when I told them not to.
Dont forget to add a sheet of paper for writing the story during the
engagement! I forgot this and had them write on the back of the picture.

Additional Ideas for Future Teaching:

Using the Story Theres a Frog in my Throat! By Loreen Leedy and
Pat Street:
Choose _______ idioms on your page and write the meanings of those
idioms.
Teach your classmates these idioms by stating the idiom I found was
__________________ it means _________________.
Give them a list of idioms and have them write a short story using
them. (use as many as possible)
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-vocabulary
Choose an idiom with your group and create a short skit to show
meaning and share with class
As students share skits, Class records in note-taking guide.
Comprehensive list of Idioms: http://www.smart-words.org/quotes-
sayings/english-idioms-commonly-used.pdf

Types of Figurative Language- Idioms

An idiom is: a _______ whose ________ meaning is ___________from
the _________ meaning of the _______________ words.

Idiom:
Let the cat out of the bag

Open a can of worms

Rise to the occasion

Put his best foot forward

Fish out of water

Actual Meaning:

Writing and Finding Idioms:

Using the list of frequently used idioms, write a story including as many
idioms as you can! The challenge will be to see who can use the most idioms
correctly in their story. Once you are finished you will give your story to a
partner who will highlight and count the idioms used in your story.
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Number of Idioms used correctly: ____________________

What Ive learned about Idioms:

Directions: Write a definition for what an idiom is. Then write three
examples of idioms we have discussed today.

An idiom is:
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________

Idioms

Three examples of
idioms are:
1. _________________________________________

2. _________________________________________

3. _________________________________________

Work Samples: