Awsome Alliteration

By Author: Dorie Thurston
Total Articles: 1
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This lesson teaches the student how to write with alliteration, which means that the same letter sound is repeated at the beginning of two or more words in a sentence. The lesson also reviews adding adjectives and adverbs for a more descriptive sentence.
First, the teacher reads the book, Thank You for the Thistle, or any other book that is alliterated. Ask the class if they heard anything special about the style of writing of the story that you have just read. Explain that this is called alliteration, and authors use this method of writing to get the readers attention. Tell the class that they will now write a sentence in the same manner as a group. Put the word "cat" on the board and ask students to think of an adjective or descriptive word that tells us what kind of cat it is. The adjective has to start with the "k" sound. It can begin with a "c" or a "k." (Crazy, cool, calico, cute) Then ask them to think of a verb or action word that begins with the "k" sound. What does the cat do? (Caught, climbed, crawled) Now how did the cat do it? Think of an adverb that begins with the letter sound "k." (Carefully, carelessly, ...
... cautiously) Where did he do it or what did he catch? Continue until a nice sentence is written on the board. Pick another subject, such as "dog," and write another sentence together. Then have them write sentences on their own and share them with the class. Make sure that you explain that certain letter combinations do not make the same sound such as the "ch" sound instead of "k" sound or the "th" sound instead of the "t" sound. When children are comfortable with alliterating, tell them that they are going to write an alphabet book for the kindergarteners. Give each student a letter of the alphabet and tell them to pick an animal that begins with that letter. They will then write an alliterated sentence using that letter and draw a picture to illustrate their sentence. Each student can then read their sentence to the kindergarteners in alphabetical order like an alphabet book.
Thank You for the Thistle by Dorie Thurston can be found at http://www.doriebooks.com
About the Author Graduated from University of Richmond with a Bachelor of Arts degree and received Intermediate Honors in Sophmore year. Wrote a children's book which is highly recommended for elementary school teachers.