Day 4 Sharing

The lesson I am sharing today I use along with a story I teach by Ray Bradbury called There Will Come Soft Rains.  The only character in the story is the fully automated house that is left standing after a nuclear bomb has gone off.  It overflows with personification so I use this activity to follow up after the story.  I begin with an introduction and a little practice to refresh their memories. I usually put this up on my white board.

After we have identified the examples of personification as a class I get out large shopping bags full of odds and ends. I have one for each row and collect them back the same way so they stay fairly well mixed up.  Over the years I have collected anything odd I could think of and put it in my bags.  I started off going to the dollar store and just grabbing some junk.  I have silly little candles, tooth brushes, wooden spoons, bars of soap, toy purses, beads, feathers, back scratchers etc. The favorite item my 7th graders get all silly about but secretly love is the little boys pair of tighty whities.  They come up with the best stories for those.  Usually some sort of super hero!  I walk down each row and let them reach in and grab an item.  They are stuck with whatever they grab so I tell them to make sure they grab something good.  They may NOT look in the bag.

Once everyone has an item they fill out the prewriting graphic organizer and then write their story personifying the object they pulled out. I usually let them have over night to finish so those that want to illustrate their stories can.

This usually takes one 47 minute class period and they have a lot of fun doing it.  I get awesome stories and good feedback whether or not they understand what personification is.  The next day if they want to I will let them share their stories.