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2nd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 8 of 12

Word Pictures

Similes and sound patterns

What your child practices

Spotting similes (comparisons with like or as) and repeated consonant sounds, and what they add to a text.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: Reading 7; Language 5 · similes and sound patterns

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A simile compares two things using “like” or “as”.
  2. “As soft as a pillow” helps you picture how soft something is.
  3. Pick something that really has that quality: flat as a pancake, fast as a cheetah.

Example: Complete the simile: as cold as ___ (ice or toast) Which one is really cold? Ice is cold. Answer: ice

Word Pictures in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 8 of 12 in 2nd grade English Language Arts, after Grammar Gears and before Reading Detectives.

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: Maine Department of Education

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 “as cold as ice” tell us?

    • Something is very cold.
    • Something is slippery.
    • Something is made of ice.

  2. Question 2

    Complete the simile: as sweet as ___

    • honey
    • a lemon
    • a rock

  3. Question 3

    Which phrase repeats the same consonant sound?

    • big brown bear
    • slippery slimy slug
    • red hot ball

  4. Question 4

    Which phrase has the same consonant sound again and again?

    • pitter-patter, plip-plop
    • up and down
    • red and blue

  5. Question 5

    What does “as quiet as a mouse” tell us?

    • Someone is very quiet.
    • Someone is squeaking.
    • Someone is a mouse.

  6. Question 6

    Which sentence repeats a consonant sound?

    • The dog ran to the park.
    • The fish flipped and flopped in the foam.
    • A bird sat in a tree.

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