Similes...We've Been As Busy As Bees!!

My firsties and I have been talking a lot about writing stories that are very descriptive so that the reader has a good mental image of their story.  This week, we worked with similes.  We read the book, "Quiet as a Cricket" and learned how to write our own similes.  I tell them I do not want 'baby-kindergarten' sentences, I want first grade sentences packed with details.  And viola...they certainly don't want to be compared to kinders, so they rise to the challenge of making their writing more descriptive.  We made these cute little simile books to help us remember what similes are.  I gave them the words at the top of each page, like hot and fluffy and they had to come up with a simile comparing two things.  They worked very hard and turned out great!  I love it when they are excited to share their work with me and beg to take it home that day to show their mommas!!  Here are a couple and I especially oh so l-o-v-e the volcano erupting one! 

 Okay, here goes...first try at sharing something from Google Docs...let's see how it goes!  Click here if you would like a copy of the simile booklet!  Enjoy!
 

If you have any great ideas for teaching similes, please share!  

Next weeks writing focus...onomatopoeia!  Buzz! Zap! Ka-Boom! We'll be reading tons of Froggy Books...they're loaded with great onomatopoeia words.  Click here to download an onomatopoeia book similar to the simile book.

And for a bit of randomness to wrap things up, I have been dying to do Babbling Abby's (from The Inspired Apple) Color Word Adjective Lesson with my nice, new big box of 96 Crayola's!  So I sat on the couch Thursday evening and tortured my hubby by making him guess the colors as I picked the ones I wanted to use on Friday.  (He puts up with so much!!  I love him!!)  My favorites by far were razzmatazz and jazzberry jam...so fun to say!  Friday to wrap up our writing, we did this fun little activity.  We read the book, "The Crayon Box That Talked" first and had a little talk about the theme of the book.  

Then on to the crayons!  It tied in perfectly with our similes.  We talked about how being more descriptive with our colors allows the reader to have a more clear mental image.  A fun way to end the week.  

 Reason 1,452 I love Dollar Tree...the lovely green crayon piggy bank I stuck on the wall to display with their sentences.