Happy Monday!
Today's Must Read Mentor Text is all about IDIOMS! This is always one of my favorite lessons to do with my students because idioms are so much fun!
The book I use to introduce idioms is called Monkey Business by Wallace Edwards. It's fabulous! The illustrations are absolutely amazing in this hilarious text!
I start my lesson by discussing what idioms are with my students- I try to find out what they already know about idioms, idioms they have heard before, etc. We make an anchor chart defining idioms and examples we know. We also talk about WHY authors use idioms in their writing and how they can use idioms in their own writing.
Because the illustrations are so detailed, this is a book that takes a little longer to read aloud. I stop on each page to discuss the idiom and analyze the illustrations. We talk about what the idiom is saying and what it actually means. I like to place the book under my document camera so it can be projected up on my whiteboard for all the students to see. If you don't have access to a document camera, you can have your students sit up at the floor with you so they can see the illustrations clearly or have the book available for the students to look at later after you finish the lesson (this is one my kids always ask to borrow and read again!)
In our notebooks, we make a list of the idioms discussed in the book and what they actually mean. We don't list all of them- there are so many! But, I like for the kids to have a reference so that they can look back at these idioms when they are doing their own writing.
After we finish the book, we make idiom posters! The students love this! They get to choose an idiom (could be from the text or not) and they create a poster with an illustration of an idiom and what the idiom actually means. The illustrations are usually quite funny!
If you are looking for a fun way to teach idioms, this book is a must! I found it a few years ago, and it has remained a go to text for my figurative language unit. I hope you and your students enjoy it!
Have a great week and thanks so much for stopping by to hear about this week's Must Read Mentor Text!
Love this lesson!! Went out and bought the book and it is amazing!!
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