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5th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 2 of 11

Figurative Language

Similes, metaphors, idioms and more

What your child practices

Spotting similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, onomatopoeia and alliteration, and explaining what common idioms really mean.

Alaska content standards learning standard: L.5.5 · similes, metaphors, idioms and more

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A simile compares with like or as. A metaphor says one thing is another.
  2. Personification gives human traits to things. Hyperbole is a huge exaggeration.
  3. An idiom means something different from its words: “over the moon” means very happy.

Example: “Telling a joke helped break the ice.” What does “break the ice” mean? Nobody is breaking real ice. A joke at the start helps people relax. Answer: help everyone feel comfortable together

Figurative Language in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 2 of 11 in 5th grade English Language Arts, after Plot and Conflict and before Purpose and Structure.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What does this hyperbole really mean?

    Our family stood in that line forever.

    • We left the line right away.
    • We waited a few seconds.
    • We are still in line today.
    • We waited a very long time.

  2. Question 2

    What kind of figurative language is this?

    The flowers danced in the breeze.

    • metaphor
    • hyperbole
    • personification
    • alliteration

  3. Question 3

    What does this hyperbole really mean?

    I've told you a million times to close the door.

    • I've told you many times.
    • I've told you exactly one million times.
    • I told you once, quietly.
    • I've never told you.

  4. Question 4

    What does the idiom “once in a blue moon” mean in this sentence?

    It snows here only once in a blue moon.

    • every winter
    • every night
    • very rarely
    • when the moon is full

  5. Question 5

    What kind of figurative language is this?

    The old map was as fragile as a dry leaf.

    • alliteration
    • personification
    • simile
    • metaphor

  6. Question 6

    What kind of figurative language is this?

    I'm so hungry I could eat a mountain of pancakes.

    • simile
    • hyperbole
    • alliteration
    • personification

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