Book Talk Thursday ~ Who Let the Cat Out of the Bag?


It is no secret that I love teaching the comprehension lessons, and that the upper grades are much easier for me!  For the last few weeks, the 4th and 5th grade students have been working on author's purpose, one of the major weaknesses in our school.

This week we started to work on figurative language and discussing WHY the author uses it in their writing.  When I took my position as the reading specialist, I inherited a lot of books.  I found this wonderful book to help the students understand various different idioms ~ Who Let the Cat Out of the Bag?
It was written by a group of 4th graders in Reseda, California way back in 2002.  Each student created a picture of the literal meaning of an idiom and then wrote what the idiom meant.  Their drawings were perfect!

When I read it with my students, we laughed at the literal pictures.  I even had one of my fifth graders act them out!  It was riotous!  After I read each one, the students tried to figure each one out.  I was amazed at how many they actually knew!

One of the things I am going to get my students to do is to choose an idiom not in the book and draw a picture of it. Then they will tell everyone what it means, just like the book did.  Then I can put them all together in our own book of idioms to revisit and share with others.

We are also going to look at similes and metaphors and other aspects of figurative language.  Once we learn about those, we will look at various different poems, books, and articles to find figurative language.  They will decide WHY the author used it in what they are reading.  That is much more meaningful to them.

I can't wait to see what they have learned!

5 comments

  1. What a terrific post Andrea! I love the sound of the book, "Who Let the Cat Out of the Bag". Do you know if it can still be purchased? I tried Book Depository and Fishpond without luck.
    Kylie
    http://ripperresources.blogspot.com.au/

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    1. The only place I could find it was on Amazon. It is a great book, but I hate that it is so hard to find!

      Thanks for stopping by, Kylie!
      Andrea

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  2. What a cute book! I'm going to have to check it out for my little ones.

    Mandy
    Caffeine and Lesson Plans

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  3. What a cute book! I have never heard of it. Thanks for sharing :)
    Julie
    The Techie Teacher

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