Figurative Language Crash Course!!! To Kill a Mockingbird Activity

 Write about your morning, everything you have done…up until you arrived at the door of this classroom.  What did you do?  Who did you see?  Where did you go? How did you get there?  Tell me everything! WNB: How was your morning?

What is figurative language?  Language used to help readers visualize and experience what is occurring in a piece of writing  There are a lot of examples in To Kill a Mockingbird

What is imagery?  Imagery is a word or phrase that refers to a sensory experience (sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste) that helps create a physical experience for the reader and helps the reader understand.  Examples:  I heard the shrill cry of the kittens screams in contrast with the clanking of the ceramic mugs even before I entered the kitchen.  Their eyes were only squinting as they popped their velvety-soft heads out of the hand-crafted mugs; the silhouette of whiskers could be seen in contrast with the ivory tint of the mugs.

From TKAM  The fire was well into the second floor and had eaten its way to the roof: window frames were black against a vivid orange center.

What is a simile?  A comparison of two things that at first seem quite different but are shown to have significant resemblance. Similes employ connective words, usually ‘like,” “as,” “than,” or a verb such as “resembles.”  Examples:  The panda cub slept like a newborn baby.  The panda cub resembled a half-eaten Oreo cookie.

From TKAM  The back porch was bathed in moonlight, and the shadow, crisp as toast, moved across the porch toward Jem.

What is a metaphor?  A statement that one thing is something else that, in a literal sense, it is not. By asserting that a thing is something else, a metaphor creates a close association that underscores an important similarity between these two things.  Example:  The Ducati is the cheetah of the motorcycle world.  It is a monster that cannot be stopped.

From TKAM  As a result the town remained the same size for a hundred years, an island in a patchwork sea of cotton fields and timberland.

Think of imagery/ a simile/ a metaphor for this picture...

Your turn!!!  You will be split into groups; each group will be assigned a group of chapters.  Work in your groups to find three examples of figurative language  You must write out the quote, then label which type of figurative language it is  After, work INDIVIDUALLY to re-write your journal entry today on a separate sheet of paper, using TWO instances of imagery, TWO similes, and TWO metaphors.  Staple this to your other handout and turn it in.  What you don’t finish today is DUE TOMORROW!!!