Sample Lesson #1—The House as Human
Objectives Students will be able to
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1. identify examples of personification
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2. draw a series of pictures illustrating their houses from the, back, and top.
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3. recognize and discuss the use of positional words and human qualities in houses.
Note to the Instructor Prior to beginning the unit you may want to have a bulletin board containing pictures of different houses and labeled with the position words. Perhaps a title of “Houses are Human Too” or “Your House—A Living Thing.” When students finish their drawings and narrations they can be hung on the bulletin board to begin the unit on a high note.
Materials Needed paper, crayons, pencils, paper
Vocabulary personification, positional words(front, back, top, side)
Procedure
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1. Begin by discussing a story which uses personification such as one of Aesop’s fables. Ask the students if animals can really talk. Do these characters act like animals we know? It is a good idea to have them generate a webbing of similar examples they know when animals or objects have been made to act human. After they have shown a grasp of the concept you can tell them that this technique is often used in storytelling and it is called personification.
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2. Tell students that many experts think that houses are like people. Go on to suggest that the same positional words we use to refer to ourselves are also used in speaking about houses. Refer to your bulletin board or else utilize a teacher illustrated example mounted on tagboard.
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3. Give children a piece of drawing paper split into four sections. Have the children label the top “My House”. Then have them label each section front, back, side, and top. Ask the children to draw their house from each angle. After this is completed have each child take a pencil and lined paper and write about their house describing what features they like and what they would change about it.
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4. After children have completed this assignment have them share their work with the rest of the class and then hang the papers and drawings of those who wish to exhibit their work.
