Proverbs- Lesson Plans and Resources
Lesson Plan for Proverbs
Grade Level: upper elem. students
Goal: Students can identify proverbs and determine when to use them in their writing.
Focus: Identifying proverbs and to understand their meanings
Proverbs have been called the shortest art form. They use devices associated with poetry -- rhythm, rhyme, and metaphor.
Proverbs provide vivid imagery to teach one a life's lesson. Proverbs are an important part of our oral traditions. They are usually similar from one country to another. People are not certain where most proverbs come from. The origin is usually lost. Many are very, very old. They come from the Bible, classical mythology, and from ancient philosophy. The majority of these proverbs came from ordinary people in ordinary situations. The saying, "Don't buy a pig in a poke," originated in the medieval European marketplace, where unscrupulous merchants substituted cats for pigs. A poke was the bag for carrying goods, and naive shoppers, who thought they were buying a pig in a poke, might discover they'd bought a cat instead.
Examples:
Never wear two faces under one hat.
You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
If you want to see the valley, you'll have to climb the hills.
A closed mouth catches no flies.
Activities:
Stock a learning center with drawing paper, crayons, markers, magazines, and resource books. Have students individually or in pairs create a collection of existing proverbs. Then have students create their own original proverbs. Share these in class.
Discuss proverbs around the world: Africa, Spanish, proverbs around the world site
Discuss these common U.S. proverbs
A great site for poetry and proverb
Evaluation: Students will write and/or complete proverbs with 75% accuracy.