301 Applied Lesson Plan-Cognition

Title: "Busy as a Bee"
Source: http://www.col-ed.org/cur/lang/lang42.txt
Author: Lorraine M. Tanaka, Sierra Grande Elementary, Blanca, CO
Grade: 3-6 Grades
Subject: Language Arts

Objective: As a result of this activity, students will:
1. Define the term 'simile'.
2. Write their own similes using the words as or like.
3. Work cooperatively to write similes.
4. Write stories that will include similes.
5. Illustrate picture books that contain similes.

Materials Needed:
1. Uncut fruit (Strawberry, Kiwi, Pineapple, Honey Dew, Apple, Grapes, Cherries, etc)
2. "Quick as a Cricket" by Don Woods
3. "The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists"
4. Crayons
5. Drawing paper
6. Writing paper.

I would get the students attention I will write the word “boy” on the board and have them tell me things that describe a boy (not necessarily a boy in the class.) Once we have compiled a good list I would ask the students to compare the items on the list with things they are not like (ex: eyes brown as chocolate, hair white as snow, etc.) After I would define and tell them about similes and give them example that they might already know (busy as a bee, quite as a mouse, hungry as a hippo)
—This activity grabs the student’s attention and prepares them for any new information that might come but it mostly helps them realize they use similes everyday.
—This activity also contains elaboration because we are taking this new knowledge of similes and connecting it with phrases and saying the students already know.

To get this idea into their sensory memory and then into their working memory I would put 5 or 6 pieces of uncut fruit on a table and have the students tell a neighbor different similes about the fruit outside appearance. After the students have given at least one example for each fruit I would cut the fruit and have them repeat it for the smell. Once smell was complete they would be able to touch the fruit and give similes for the touch. Finally they would be able to taste the fruit and they give a simile for the taste.
—This activity engages their hearing, smell, touch, and taste, the more sense used the faster the idea will move into the working memory. But because they have only been given this new knowledge so quickly it is only in working memory and nothing else.
—The strategy of massed practice is used here. The students are making similes over and over in one sitting in an attempt to move the knowledge into their long term memories.

To get the knowledge into their long term memory I will read "Quick as a Cricket" by Don Woods as a review for the students. I will then split the students into groups of 3 passing out sheets of paper that have been prefolded into thirds. Each student in the group will have a special writing job. Child One will write a short subject that includes a linking verb. Child Two will write a simile in the second column (without looking at Column One). Child Three will write a phrase telling how, when, where, or why. When the three columns are read together, some very humorous sentences will have been formed. (EX: The tall boy's hair is / as thick as a rug /when he runs.)
—This activity moves the information into their long term memory because it takes the information they have learned over the past couple of days and makes them review it.

To keep the knowledge from decaying or from having interference happen the students will write a story and a poem using multiple similes throughout their writing. Once the stories are complete they will go back and draw pictures for their books. When they have finished their poem they will draw a picture that puts some of their similes into pictures.
—The students are keeping their information protected because they constantly have to reuse the information as they do their writing and again as they draw pictures that have their similes in them.
—This entire lesson is using distributed practice because it is being span over a week but they are not only focusing on similes throughout the day but every day they are learning a little bit more about them.