Basic 6th grade introductory lesson on recognizing and using similes when reading and writing poetry.

1. Using Simile in Poetry
Ms. Bisaga

2. Do Now
• Brainstorm: What do these phrases REALLY
mean?
1.It’s raining cats and dogs!
2.This game will be a piece of cake.
3.He’s over the hill.
4.You’re spreading yourself too thin.
5.She had to pay an arm and a leg for her
new purse.

3. Worksheet Instructions
• The 1st page is for your notes.
– Definitions, examples, ect.
• The 2nd and 3rd pages are poems that we’ll
read later in our group activity
• The 4th page is going to be your independent
work/homework.

4. Quote of the Day
There is no abstract art. You must always start with
something. Afterward you can remove all traces
of reality.
- Pablo Picasso

5. Figurative Language
• is when you describe something by comparing it to
something totally different.
• A writer might use figurative language to enhance
their writing; to make it more interesting, and to
paint clearer pictures with their words.
– There are many kinds of figurative language:
Similes, metaphors, hyperbole, alliteration,
personification, ect.

6. Simile
• A Simile is when you compare two things using “like”
or “as.”
– Note: Usually, this comparison is made between
something kind of hard to understand, like an
emotion or an image, and something easier to
understand, like an object everyone is familiar
with.

7. Examples of Simile
• Cool as a cucumber
• Pretty as a picture
• He had a nose like a tomato
• Her face was scrunched up as if she’d just
smelled something bad.

8. Spot the Simile…
“Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.”

9. Spot the Similes…
Excerpt: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
By J.K. Rowling
“It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its
skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy
body like a boulder with its small bald head
perched on top like a cocoanut. It had short
legs as thick as tree trunks with flat, horny
feet. The smell coming from it was incredible.”

10. Spot the Simile…Your Turn!
• Everyone will be assigned to read ONE of 4 different
poems.
• As you read, circle the simile’s on your paper!
– Remember: A simile is a comparison using like or as.
Examples: pretty as a picture, run like the wind
• Poems:
– I Wander Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth
– Firework by Katy Perry
– A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
– A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns

11. I Wander Lonely as a Cloud
By William Wordsworth
I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

12. Firework
By Katy Perry
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,
Drifting through the wind
Wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards,
One blow from caving in

13. A Dream Deferred
By Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

14. A Red, Red Rose
By Robert Burns
O MY Love's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June:
O my Love's like the melody
That's sweetly play'd in tune!

15. A Special Place Poem
Using what you’ve learned about similes today,
you will be writing a poem about a location or
place that is special to you. You may use the
format printed below to guide your writing,
but you don’t have to follow that map. The
only rule is that you MUST include at least
ONE SIMILE in your poem!

16. Suggested Format: A Special Place Poem
• Line 1-My special place
• Line 2-What I see there
• Line 3-What I smell there
• Line 4-What I hear there
• Line 5-What I touch there
• Line 6-How I feel there

17. Suggested Format: A Special Place Poem
• My special place
• What I see there
• What I smell there
• What I hear there
• What I touch there
• How I feel there
There is a place called Central Park
Where there are trees like towers.
The scent of summer fills the air
And I hear people laughing
somewhere
My feet touch the grass as I walk,
And I feel very lucky