A GREAT Simile Lesson!

Loreen Leedy's book "Crazy Like a Fox" is a GREAT way to really help kids understand similes. The entire story is told in similes.

If you're looking for a fun way to help students understand this writing craft, check it out!

1. Read the book Crazy Like a Fox. Students can predict how some of the similes will end since they begin on one page and end when you turn the page.

2. Pause occasionally to let students try out their own similes using Leedy's work as a frame. Ask them what words they would use, for example, if the simile was "He ran as fast as a __________."

3. Use Leedy's note page at the end to talk about this craft that writers use. Practice some more in small groups of two or three. Let students share their thinking.

4. Have writers get out their writing notebooks and find a piece they can revise using similes.

5. Circulate the room and look for those places where writers have successfully "hit the target" for using similes.

6. When they hit the target, put a colored marker dot on their paper to mark the spot. We call these "Did It dots". Then, let them ring the target bell to signal to all writers that another writer has "hit the target".

7 This is a fun way to encourage revision, use of similes, and writing for a target all at once!

Book Review: Schooled

I picked this book up quite by fluke recently and have to say it was a fun distraction for me! This book is published by Hyperion Books and is geared for the middle school crowd.

You might be asking yourself just HOW it fell into my hands? A couple of weeks ago, I was headed to the gym and looking for another book I am currently reading to while away the minutes on the ellipticle. I couldn't find the current title, so I picked this book up from a pile of potential reads that I've made for my DS 3 (an 8th grader).

I am really trying to "up" my knowledge of books for teens and tweens as I am excellent in the picture book arena, but seriously lacking the minute you move to chapter books.

Schooled is a book written about a 13 year-old boy, Capricorn Anderson, who has been raised by his Grandmother who is a hippie "stuck in the 60's". She is still living alone in a former commune and has home-schooled her grandson as she sheltered him from the world. The story takes place as she is injured and he's suddenly thrust into a local middle school and experiences total culture shock because his hippie lifestyle collides with that of eighth graders in 2007. It is a very realistic look into the culture and "pecking order" that exists for students in middle school and deals with bullying and peer pressure quite well.

Throughout the story is woven the important message of being true to yourself. Ultimately, I think you could sum up Cap Anderson (and this book) in one Beatles' song phrase: "All You Need Is Love".

(Note: I think this book is totally appropriate for kids who are mature fourth graders through middle school. It is definitely a fun read and may prepare them for what life is like in grades 6-8.)