Similes are like Paintbrushes

For our 3rd sessions Twain 3rd graders in Mrs. Murphy’s and Ms. O’Reilly’s classrooms discussed tools that writers and poets use to make their writing come alive for readers. Our key terms were COMPARE and SIMILE. We looked at ways to find similarities between two very different things: are they similar in shape, size, or texture? Are they alike in color, movement, or idea? We read and discussed small poems made of comparisons, and noted that comparisons using the words “like” and “as” are similes that are like paintbrushes in our “art class with words.” Students worked quickly to invent poems made of their comparisons.

Mrs. Murphy 3rd Grade

Leap Matilda C.

Leap in a cartwheel
Leap like a ballerina who flies
high to the sky in the
sky

The rhyming finding poem Isabella L.

The person is as loud as a[n]
elephant.
The elephant is as large as a tree.
The tree is as green as grass.
The birds sing like a person.
A[n] angry person is as hot as a
spicy chip.

Brianna M.

This cotton candy is sweet
like a smile.
My pillow is fluffy like
a soft blanket.
My blanket is so gigantic
like my dad.
My sister’s face was red
like a tomato
red like the nose of
the red nose reindeer because
she was crying.
Sadness is like rain dripping.
Running is like the wind.

Sofia C.

The water was blue as turquoise
and shines like stars dancing to
music on a blue cloth that
never ends. Water is like a blanket.

Ms. O'Reilly 3rd Grade

All my 6 comparisons Alyza R.

These chips are as spicy as jalapeños
This pillow is as hard as a rock
This dog is tiny as a mouse
The sun is as yellow as bananas
Sadness is like rain
Her singing sounds bad like
a screaming cow.

Sebastian R.

My grandma is sweet like a chocolate bar
My brother is gigantic like a building
My shirt is yellow as mustard
I’m as happy as a clown
I run as fast as a cheetah

McKenzie C.

My carpet is fluffy like a cat
A ruler is tall like a block tower
Bubblegum ice cream is colorful like
a rainbow
When I sing it sounds like a
sweet melody coming from heaven

Sofia O.

My grandma is as sweet as candy
The bread is hard as a rock
A puppy as tiny as an ant
The sun is as yellow as a sunflower
My tears are like big raindrops