One autumn night, when the wind was high,
And the rain fell in heavy plashes,
A little boy sat by the kitchen fire,
A-popping corn in the ashes;
And his sister, a curly-haired child of three,
Sat looking on, just close to his knee.
Pop! pop! and the kernels, one by one,
Came out of the embers flying;
The boy held a long pine stick in his hand,
And kept it busily plying;
He stirred the corn, and it snapped the more,
And faster jumped to the clean-swept floor.
Part of the kernels flew one way,
And a part hopped out the other;
Some flew plump into the sister's lap,
Some under the stool of the brother;
The little girl gathered them into a heap,
And called them a flock of milk-white sheep.
This anonymously written poem was found in the 1881 version of McGuffey's Eclectic Primer. Read it to your students with the understanding that it sounds old-fashioned, but contains wonderful imagery.
One way to get started
Give them a copy and have them work with a partner to notice the adjectives and how they help create a vivid image of the scene. Look at the first lines - autumn night, high winds, and rain falling in heavy (s)plashes. That helps set the tone for warmth inside the home while it's cold and raw outside.
You can use other poems, of course, or even the beginning sentences of a book. The first lines from A Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga go like this:
I am not born in the way humans are, but there is a beginning. Beeping. Bright lights. A white room filled with figures in white hazmat suits. So much information to process, but I can handle it. I awake to knowledge. My circuits fire. The room cheers. A loud sound, but it does not startle me.
Or from The Fort by Gordon Korman:
I get stuck with Ricky the morning after the big storm. A tree branch the size of the Loch Ness Monster blew in through his bedroom window, so his parents need him out of the way while they get everything fixed up.
The more examples you can share and have students work through, the more they will understand how to write descriptively.
Another way to get the nuance of adjectives
Ask a student to act out "He walked into the room."
Then, do the same for "he staggered into" or "he tripped into." Let students come up with more powerfully descriptive adjectives.
Create two lists of adjectives with your students, those that are weaker and those that are more powerful.
Next steps
Provide an example like the one below:
The dog ran across the yard.
Have students work alone to create the best descriptive sentence that provides better imagery. Let them share with a partner and see if they can use the best parts of each of their sentences. Make sure they don't get too descriptive! Too many descriptions cause readers to tune out and ruin sentence fluency.
Challenge students to create another weak sentence (they can do this alone and revise it, or you can choose one of their sentences for the class to work on.)
Remember: the more practice they get, the stronger their writing will be.
Need more help?
Many years ago, I was working with my students on adjectives and put together this packet of activities for them. They were struggling and I was pleased to see how much this helped.
Do your students need something similar? Take a closer look.
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