Introducing Idioms

📖STANDARDS: 

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.5.B Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.5.B Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.

[For state-specific standards, click here.]

LESSON TIME

45 minutes

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

A device with a web-browser – PC, Mac or Chromebook – or phone or tablet

📃SUMMARY

This lesson plan helps students recognize and understand idioms and what they are through different examples. Students will be able to understand the meaning of common idioms through an instructive video, idiom book activity, and Making Camp Premium gameplay. 

📚Lesson Plan

1. VIDEO: Idioms

Start your lesson with this video that covers the meaning of idioms and understanding common idioms through different examples. 

2. Have your students make their own idiom book.

What you’ll need:

You can go about this in different ways. You can have students pick their favorite idioms. You can assign different idioms to different students. You can assign all students the same idiom. Or you can make it more like a game and random by having students draw out idioms. 

Once students have their idioms, have them write the idiom and what it actually means (this reinforces the memorization of the idiom’s meaning). Then have kids draw pictures as to what the idiom suggests. Students can then share their drawings with the class and see what fun ensues as they share their drawing and explain their idiom. 

3. GAME: Making Camp Premium

Have students play Making Camp Premium for 20 minutes. Students should focus on the WORDS section of Making Camp Premium and especially the idioms activity (the first box in the Words section) in order to reinforce the understanding of idioms. You can access Making Camp Premium on Mac, Windows, Chromebook, and iPad on the Games page of the Growing Math site.   

Choices screen from Making Camp Premium - Watch movies. Answer questions. Earn points.

ASSESSMENT: Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports

You can view your students’ progress on mastering this standard by viewing your Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports. You can view the Making Camp Premium reports here. 

STATE STANDARDS 

Arizona (AZ), New Mexico (NM), North Dakota (ND), South Dakota (SD), Minnesota (MN) and Oregon (OR) have all adopted the English Language Arts standards covered in the Common Core Standards. 

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List of Idioms & Meaning

IdiomMeaning
Cool as a cucumber.To be calm and relaxed.
Going bananas!To go crazy; to get very excited or angry.
It costs an arm and a leg.To be very expensive.
Bite your tongue.To not say something that you want to say.
On thin ice.Being in a risky situation, usually one where you might upset someone.
Hit the books.To study. 
In hot water.To be in a difficult situation, in trouble. 
Smells fishy.Doesn’t seem quite right.
It’s a piece of cake.To be very easy.
Under the weather.To be sick; not feeling well. 
Raining cats and dogs.To be raining very hard.
More than you can shake a stick at. A great number; very many. 
Drive up the wall.To become frustrated or annoyed by something.
Break a leg!Good luck!
On cloud nine. To be very happy. 
Time is money.Work quickly. 
That ship has sailed.It’s too late. 
Like two peas in a pod.Always together. 
Fit as a fiddle.In good shape. 
On the fence.To be indecisive. 

2 thoughts on “Introducing Idioms

  1. Pingback: Figurative language & poetry

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