Imagine Imagery

1. Gather student attention, and prepare them for the reading. Say to students:  As I am reading this book, you should pay really close attention to the details the author uses. Try to imagine what they are depicting in your head.
2. Read the story Night Boat to Freedom by Margot Theis Raven.
3. Although it will be tempting, do not show pictures. Read the entire story without showing any of the illustrations. 
4. Throughout the reading of the story, stop here and there to ask students what they are imagining and what they can picture in their heads at the time. 
5. Once the story is over, begin to ask students how they imagined things to look. This should be a group discussion so encourage everyone to speak or feed off others' ideas. 
6. Show students images from the story. Watch for their reactions when they actually see the illustrations.
7. Say to students: Writing and reading stories is like dreaming with your eyes open. The details should be explicit and the reader should be able to imagine the whole thing in their head. The words we pick to go into our stories - every single word - matters and impacts what the reader takes away from the story.
8. Ask students to get their writing notebooks ready. 
9. Pass out worksheets that students will fill in as you go over Powerpoint. (both found in Lesson Resources)
10. The circles in the Powerpoint correspond with circles in the bubble graph on their worksheets.
11. For the next part of the lesson, you will need paint samples. If you are not able to provide paint samples, you can make your own (like the one found in Lesson Resources).
12. Pass out a paint sample to each student. Make sure to provide multiple colors so the descriptions do not become repetitive. 
13. When students are handed their color, explain to them that they must describe their color on each square of the paint sample using each of the 5 senses. For example, if someone had orange, they might say, "The taste of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving." The next square might say "The smell of Trident gum fresh out of the pack."
14. Before writing these on their paint samples, the students will write in their writing notebooks to allow opportunity to fix mistakes and correct/improve word choice. 
15. See example of finished product in Lesson Resources. 
16. Once students are finished with their paint samples, have them partner up and one partner read what they have written and the other partner guess what color they had.
17. Another way to use these is to have each person stand in front of the class and have the class guess what color they had.

Hanging these in the hall or around the classroom could add a colorful feel to the environment. 

Grade student work and participation.