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3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 11 of 15

Word Pictures

Metaphors and sound patterns

What your child practices

Understanding metaphors and similes, hearing repeated vowel sounds (assonance), and choosing strong, exact words.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 3.10(D) · similes, imagery and sound devices

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A simile compares two things using like or as: as quiet as a mouse.
  2. A metaphor says one thing is another: the classroom was a zoo.
  3. Strong, exact words paint a clearer picture: scurried instead of went.

Example: Which is a simile: “She was a mouse.” or “She was as quiet as a mouse.”? A simile uses like or as. The second sentence uses as. Answer: She was as quiet as a mouse.

Word Pictures in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 11 of 15 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Grammar Gears and before Reading Patterns.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    “My brother is a night owl.” What does it mean?

    • He likes to stay up late.
    • He has feathers.
    • He sleeps all day and all night.

  2. Question 2

    Which phrase has assonance, with words that repeat the same vowel sound?

    • a quick brown dog
    • a blue pencil case
    • a cool blue moon

  3. Question 3

    Which phrase has assonance?

    • my pet cat sat
    • the old road rolled slowly
    • a fast red car

  4. Question 4

    Which sentence is a simile?

    • He ran fast.
    • He was the wind.
    • He ran like the wind.

  5. Question 5

    Which sentence is a metaphor?

    • My brother is a night owl.
    • My brother is as sleepy as an owl.
    • My brother stays up late.

  6. Question 6

    Which phrase has assonance?

    • my old wooden box
    • the bus drove past
    • high white kites flying by

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