English Language Arts · 6th Grade

Active learning ideas

Figurative Language and Imagery

Active learning works because figurative language and imagery thrive when students manipulate words and meanings directly. When learners swap similes, design mood boards, or write personified diaries, they move from abstract definitions to lived understanding, making invisible techniques visible through their own creations.

• Common Core State Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.5.a
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.4

• 25–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Gallery Walk
• 25 min · Pairs

Pairs: Simile Swap Game

Partners write five original similes about classroom objects, then swap papers to interpret each other's and rewrite in metaphorical form. Discuss how changes affect meaning. Circulate to prompt deeper analysis.

How does a metaphor provide a deeper understanding than a literal description?

Facilitation Tip

During the Simile Swap Game, circulate to listen for precise language choices and ask pairs to read their matched sentences aloud to build auditory recognition of simile structures.

What to look for

Provide students with a short poem. Ask them to identify one example of a simile or metaphor, write it down, and then explain in one sentence what two things are being compared and the effect of the comparison.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Gallery Walk
• 45 min · Small Groups

Small Groups: Imagery Mood Boards

Groups select a poem excerpt and create visual mood boards with drawings and labels using sensory imagery, metaphors, and personification. Present to class, explaining mood creation. Vote on most effective examples.

In what ways does imagery appeal to the senses to create a mood?

Facilitation Tip

For Imagery Mood Boards, provide exact color palettes or texture swatches to anchor mood discussions in sensory details rather than abstract claims.

What to look for

Present students with a sentence containing personification. Ask them to identify the non-human thing being personified and the human quality it is given. For example, 'The wind whispered secrets through the trees.' Teacher asks: What is being personified? What human action is it doing?

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Gallery Walk
• 30 min · Whole Class

Whole Class: Hyperbole Relay

Divide class into teams. One student acts out a hyperbole prompt (e.g., 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse'), next teammate guesses and adds their own. Continue relay-style, debriefing emotional impacts.

How can word connotations change the emotional impact of a sentence?

Facilitation Tip

In the Hyperbole Relay, time each round strictly so students feel the pressure to exaggerate effectively and teammates must interpret the intent quickly.

What to look for

Students write two original sentences, one using a simile and one using hyperbole. They exchange sentences with a partner. The partner identifies which is which and explains the intended effect of each sentence.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 04

• Gallery Walk
• 35 min · Individual

Individual: Personification Diaries

Students write diary entries from an object's perspective using personification. Share volunteers read aloud, class identifies techniques and discusses created imagery.

How does a metaphor provide a deeper understanding than a literal description?

What to look for

Provide students with a short poem. Ask them to identify one example of a simile or metaphor, write it down, and then explain in one sentence what two things are being compared and the effect of the comparison.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach figurative language through layered practice: start with isolated examples, then combine devices in short creative tasks, and finally analyze mentor texts for patterns. Avoid overloading with terminology upfront, as students need repeated, low-stakes exposure to internalize the effects. Research shows that students learn these devices best when they create first, then reflect on their choices in context.

Successful learning looks like students confidently distinguishing similes from metaphors, justifying personification choices with evidence, and explaining how hyperbole shifts tone. They should use specific examples from their work to show that figurative language shapes mood and meaning in texts.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Simile Swap Game, students may claim that similes and metaphors are interchangeable because they both compare things.

  During Simile Swap Game, provide sentence strips with both simile and metaphor examples, and ask students to sort them into two columns, then justify their choices by adding the missing 'like' or 'as' to turn metaphors into similes or vice versa.

• During Imagery Mood Boards, students might believe figurative language is only decorative.

  During Imagery Mood Boards, after students create their boards, have them revise a simple sentence about the same scene three times: first literally, then with one figurative device, and finally with two, discussing how each change alters the mood and reader response.

• During Hyperbole Relay, students may assume hyperbole is always funny.

  During Hyperbole Relay, include sentence cards with hyperboles in different tones (e.g., humorous, dramatic, urgent) and ask teams to perform the exaggerated sentences with matching tone and facial expressions, then explain the intended effect.

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Methods used in this brief

• Gallery Walk