by Lu Duimstra

Grade Level: 4-5

Content Area: Language Arts

• Students will be able to define the word “idiom”.
• Students will use a special dictionary to find the meaning of idioms.
• Students will recognize common English idioms and their meanings.
• Students will demonstrate understanding of idioms by using them in original sentences.
• Students will compile a database of idioms.
• Students will illustrate an idiom.

Other Materials

• Internet site: http://www.funbrain.com/idioms
• Illustrated Idioms: http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/idioms/
• Books:
  • The Phantom Tollbooth (Chapter 7-”The Royal Banquet”) by Norton Juster
  • More Parts by Tedd Arnold
  • Even More Parts by Tedd Arnold
  • In a Pickle and Other Funny Idioms by Marvin Terban
  • Mad as a Wet Hen by Marvin Terban
  • Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms by Marvin Terban
  • There’s a Frog in My Throat by Loreen Leedy & Pat Stree

Procedures
1. Show students the following two sentences and ask how they
   are to be understood:
   • It’s raining cats and dogs.
   • When I told my mother I’d broken her favorite vase, she had a cow.
2. Discuss the idioms briefly. Develop the idea that idioms are an example of figurative language. Mention that the word “idiom” comes from the Greek word “idioma” which means a peculiarity or a peculiar phraseology. Discuss briefly what using idioms may add to oral and written language. Note that all languages have idiomatic expressions and that they are sometimes difficult for second language learners to understand.
3. Briefly introduce the books More Parts and Phantom Tollbooth (Chapter 7). Form collaborative groups. Assign appropriate books to each group. Instruct students to read their book or excerpt and identify any phrases that they think are idiomatic. As they identify a phrase that they think is an idiom they should record it under “Idiom” on the worksheet. Instruct them to use the context and/or their experience to speculate on the meaning of the phrase. They should record their ideas in the “What I think it means” column of the handout.
4. Reconvene the class. Discuss the idioms the students have found and their speculations. Introduce special dictionaries. Students will work in their collaborative groups to use the dictionaries to find the actual meanings of each idiom. They
   should create a category entitled “Idioms” in Address on their handheld computer. They are to enter the idiom, its meaning, and an original sentence that illustrates how the idiom can be used in their handheld Address Book. When they are finished, they are to beam their list of idioms to each of the other collaborative groups. Delete duplications. Each person will then sync their database with the computer desktop. Each group is to read the idioms they have received from other groups. (To create the handheld database in Address Book, have students do the following:
   • Open Address Book and under “Edit Categories”, add a category entitled “Idioms”.
   • In “Options”, change “Custom Field 1” to “Sentence”.
   • The idiom is to be entered in the “Last name” field, the example sentence will be entered in the newly created “Sentence” field, and the idiom’s meaning is to be attached as a note.)
5. Show students illustrations of common idioms. Working in their groups, have them choose two idioms from the list that they compiled previously to illustrate on their handheld in Note Pad. After students have completed their illustrations, each of the handhelds will be placed in numbered stations around the room. Students are to visit the stations and try to guess which idiom is being illustrated at each location and record their guesses. Reconvene the class. Discuss the guesses and have appropriate groups reveal the correct answers.
6. Divide students into two groups. Using a teacher-created PowerPoint, students will compete in a “Wheel of Fortune” game to review the idioms they have learned. (The PowerPoint should be set up so that individual letters of an idiom are in a grid on the slide and animated to appear when the mouse is clicked. After each mouse click, alternating teams have an opportunity to guess the idiom within a set time limit. The first team to correctly guess the idiom gets points by spinning PrizeWheel. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins the prize.)
7. Students will independently visit Funbrain on the Internet at http://www.funbrain.com/idioms/. Each will take at least one quiz and record the quiz level and his/her score.

Idioms from The Phantom Tollbooth (Chapter 7)	Idioms from More Parts
make a mountain out of a molehill split hairs make hay while the sun shines leave no stone unturned hang by a thread eat your words in one ear and out the other just desserts if it isn’t one thing, it’s another half-baked idea out of the frying pan into the fire bite my head off	break my heart give me a hand crack me up stretch your arms and legs hold your tongue jump out of your skin scream your lungs out lost your mind