How to Teach Literary Elements to Fifth and Sixth Graders

If you’ve been blessed with the opportunity to teach literature to fifth and sixth graders, congratulations! This is one of the most enjoyable periods in literary education, as you’re beginning to explore many basic and interesting approaches writers use. Still, knowing the difference between simile and metaphor or tone and mood doesn’t mean it’s easy to teach. Here is how to improve your student’s retention rate of these different literary elements.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Various art materials
• Posterboard
• Magazines
• Creativity

1. Ask students to create metaphors and similes with cut up magazines, markers or other visual materials. Ask them to include the words “like” or “as” in simile drawings, and “to be” in metaphor images. Challenge them to create metaphors for experiences they might have recently had.

2. When reading a text together, ask students to describe the mood of the scene using sensory words. It helps to have sensory words posted on the classroom walls.

3. Create visual elements in the classroom to represent different elements. A spyglass can represent foreshadowing because it is looking into the future. A mountain with a hiker might represent plot and climax. Protagonists and antagonists can have angel wings and devil horns, respectively.

4. Identify the different elements with students in all areas taught, not just literature. Repeat using these skills as a group to drive the lessons home.

5. Practice short writing projects as a class. Use sensory words to describe mood, create similes and metaphors on suggested ideas and have students try writing specific tones.

6. Create games for the classroom. Having students create their own board games that tests literary elements is a fantastic way of helping them to learn. Likewise, creating whole-class games like Jeopardy can be very effective.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep things interesting and fun. Shorter attention spans at this age means that long, verbal lessons will bore most students.
• Teach with a multiple intelligence approach. Not all students learn in the same manner. Use verbal, tactile and visual techniques to reach all your students.