Interpret Words with Multiple Meanings

Ready-to-teach lesson

TUMBLETA · GRADE 3 · VERIFIED STANDARD EDITION

Louisiana Art's Supplies - Interpret Words with Multiple Meanings

RL.3.4

Standard

Determine the meaning of words and phrases in context, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

Why this lesson is a winner Students explain how the same phrase works literally for an art supply and nonliterally in ordinary speech.

Decision: WINNER

Included only because the lesson teaches and assesses the claimed expectation. Partial or merely topical matches are excluded.

The standards page is additive. The approved TumbleTA skill lesson follows unchanged.

Gives each supply an action from its own page.

Says how the book ends.

• 2.Two Meanings at Once

Full lesson

TIME

30 minutes

OBJECTIVE

Find the sentences that mean one thing about art supplies and another thing about a party, and say both meanings.

STUDENT PRODUCT

Rows for each sentence with a box for each of its two meanings

FOCUS

Everyday sayings that are literally true of the thing saying them

Essential question

How can one sentence be true about a pencil and true about a guest at the same time?

Materials

The book The narration lines, copied without the pictures Text to mark before teaching Text to mark before teaching Passage 3 — Art sprawled across the page holding a pencil Passage 5 — crayons on a sheet of paper, Art drawing Passage 8 — Art kneeling with both hands flat in smeared colour Passage 11 — the same scissors and tape roll, the tape now grinning Passage 12 — a pale page, a thin trail of glue running down it

Lesson sequence

1

One sentence, twice · 6 min

Focus:

A saying that is also a description

page 1

Teacher model:

Read the eraser line. Say the everyday meaning first, then what an eraser literally does, and show they are the same sentence.

Prepared text:

Passage 3

2

Both columns · 10 min

Teacher direction:

For each of these lines, write what the saying usually means and what the supply actually does.

Expected answer:

Thinking outside the box means having a new idea; crayons genuinely live in a box. Blending in means fitting into a crowd; pastels genuinely blend.

Prepared text:

Passage 5, Passage 8

3 The two on one page · 8 min

Teacher direction:

This page has two of them in two sentences. Find both and write the pair of meanings for each.

Expected answer:

Cutting jokes means telling them, and scissors cut. Having the tape rolling means keeping the laughing going, and a roll of tape rolls.

Prepared text:

Passage 11

Prepared text:

Passage 11

4 Why it is funny · 6 min

Focus:

Teacher direction:

Prepared text:

The joke depending on the right supply

Ask why the joke stops working if you swap the glue for the scissors.

Passage 12

Teacher guidance

Why this text works: Each of these lines is an ordinary saying about people attached to a supply the saying happens to describe exactly, so both meanings are on the page and neither has to be supplied by the teacher.

Expected answer:

An eraser really does cross lines, and crossing a line also means going too far. Crayons come in a box, and thinking outside the box means having a new idea. Pastels blend colour, and blending in means fitting into a crowd. Scissors cut, and cutting jokes means telling them. Glue holds things together, and so does somebody who keeps a party from falling apart.

Model: This page has the eraser almost stopping the party and then deciding not to cross a line. An eraser does cross lines - that is its job. But not crossing a line also means not going too far, so the sentence is doing both at once.

Support and extension

Above: Write a new sentence of your own about one supply that works both ways, and say what the two meanings are.

Below: For one sentence, point at the supply and say what it really does.

page 2

Assessment

Look for:

Gives both meanings, not just the funny one.

Connects the saying to what that supply actually does.

Uses the words on the page rather than a retelling.

Short version

TIME

15 minutes

OBJECTIVE

Find the sentences that mean one thing about art supplies and another thing about a party, and say both meanings.

STUDENT PRODUCT

Rows for each sentence with a box for each of its two meanings

FOCUS

Everyday sayings that are literally true of the thing saying them

Essential question

How can one sentence be true about a pencil and true about a guest at the same time?

Materials

The book The narration lines, copied without the pictures Text to mark before teaching Passage 3 — Art sprawled across the page holding a pencil Passage 5 — crayons on a sheet of paper, Art drawing Passage 8 — Art kneeling with both hands flat in smeared colour Passage 11 — the same scissors and tape roll, the tape now grinning Passage 12 — a pale page, a thin trail of glue running down it

Lesson sequence

1

One sentence, twice · 5 min

Focus:

A saying that is also a description

Teacher model:

Read the eraser line and give both of its meanings.

Prepared text:

Passage 3

2

Both columns · 7 min

Teacher direction:

Write the two meanings for each of these lines.

Expected answer:

Outside the box: a new idea, and where crayons live.

Cutting jokes: telling them, and what scissors do.

Prepared text:

3 Why it is funny · 3 min

Passage 5, Passage 11

Focus:

The joke depending on the right supply

Teacher direction:

Ask what breaks if the glue and the scissors are swapped.

Prepared text:

Passage 12

page 3

Teacher guidance

Why this text works: Each of these lines is an ordinary saying about people attached to a supply the saying happens to describe exactly, so both meanings are on the page and neither has to be supplied by the teacher.

Expected answer:

An eraser really does cross lines, and crossing a line also

means going too far. Crayons come in a box, and thinking outside the box means having a new idea.

Pastels blend colour, and blending in means fitting into a crowd. Scissors cut, and cutting jokes means telling them. Glue holds things together, and so does somebody who keeps a party from falling apart.

Model: This page has the eraser almost stopping the party and then deciding not to cross a line. An eraser does cross lines - that is its job. But not crossing a line also means not going too far, so the sentence is doing both at once.

Support and extension

Above: Write a new sentence of your own about one supply that works both ways, and say what the two meanings are.

Below: For one sentence, point at the supply and say what it really does.

Assessment

Look for:

Gives both meanings, not just the funny one.

Connects the saying to what that supply actually does.

Uses the words on the page rather than a retelling.

• 3.Who Is Talking Here

Full lesson

TIME

30 minutes

OBJECTIVE

page 4