Audio PodCast #1:

Play Investigation (cinematic) :30 Good Morning and Welcome to 5th grade! Today, we are crossing the curriculum in Social Studies and Writing with our Essential Question being: How can I observe figurative language in text so to apply it in my writing? Our standards that we will address in this exercise will be: SS5H6 of the WWII era in history, and our writing standard that is ELACC5RL4, which is the identification of figurative language in text. So lets get started! We will be using our suggested text for the Social Studies Unit, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This is the story of a girl growing up in Nazi Germany during WWII. We are going to use this text to look for phrases and sentences that demonstrate one form of figurative language called Personification. What is personification? The Merriam Webster dictionary defines this as: the practice of representing a thing or idea as a person in art or literature. Or quite simply said: Giving a non-living object a human trait or characteristic. Our text is full of interesting and unique figurative language that allows us as a reader to envision or create a picture in our minds of what the author is trying to say. Lets practice with this phrase from page 308 in The Book Thief. The desperate Jews their spirits in my lap as we sat on the roof, next to the steaming chimneys. Read it again to yourself and try to identify the form of personification from the excerpt. Remember we are finding an abstract object in the sentence, and giving it a human ability. In this sentence, we are seeing the object spirits as a living object and the author is having them sit in his lap

on the roof. We know spirits cannot sit, so a picture of the scene is being represented as spirits in a human way. Very descriptive, dont you agree? Lets try another one: On page 322 of the text we have this example of personification: The cloud came over the hills like a white monster. It climbed the mountains. Play Children aahing (sound effects): :07 Can you see what is being expressed? What object is being portrayed like a human and what is the object doing? *Heres a hint: Find the subject of the sentence. What are we talking about? What is the focus of the sentence? Now ask yourself What is it doing? Did you say the cloud? Great!! Play kids cheering (sound effects): :07 What was the cloud doing? Can you see in your mind the cloud climbing? That is the human action given to a cloud, which is a non-living object. Can clouds really climb? Good job! Lets try one more for the day: On page 397, there are two very descriptive phrases that shows personification: The hallway murmured and Her feet scolded the floor I would like for you to use your journals to write these phrases down and to illustrate their meanings. Remember, everyone may see these phrases in a different way. Your understanding is as unique as the phrase. Looking for figurative language can be a fun activity. Being able to use this strategy in your writing can make your writing come alive for your audience. Play School Bell Ringing (sound effects): :09

O.K., students, that is all the time we have for today. Continue to search for interesting phrases as you read from The Book Thief and try to model and apply what you have learned into your writing. Most of all, have fun!