Teaching analogies can be challenging, especially if it is a first lesson on how to solve them or write your own. What a great language lesson to figure out the relationship between words or concepts and condense it into words. A new book, “Beach Is To Fun: A Book of Relationships” by Brisson and Yoshikawa is a wonderful introduction to the world of analogies. I’ve used this with kids to:
- read the first half of the analogy, sometimes giving prompts from the picture illustration and then give the first word of the second phrase to let the child complete it
- talk about the illustrations and how they relate to the analogy. “Night is to moon as day is to sun,” can generate a discussion about the pictured globe and how half the world is in darkness (night) while the other half is in light (day).
- Find the dog on most of the pages and use it as an exercise in description–what is the dog doing? See how long you can make your description
- Find the pieces of the illustration made out of newsprint or letters–the sail of the boat, the side of the building or the dog’s shirt as he floats in the water. Kids loved this and helped them scan the whole picture to gain information
- Encourage kids to make up their own analogies, start with the first phrase if they need a prompt.
Here is my review:
Brisson’s rhythmic text delightfully introduces children to the world of analogies, challenging them to see relationships between words and concepts. The reader is lead through kid-friendly analogies of rhyme, illustrated in vibrant, peppy drawings. “Red is to green as stop is to go,” is a scene exploding with detail and activity as a dog getst the green light and skateboards along the crosswalk followed by a boy carrying his flippers. The crossing guard holds up the red stop sign, detaining a man driving his poodle who is applying lipstick looking in her mirror. Each analogy is illustrated with enough abstraction to invite some conversation. “On is to off as yes is to no,” is represented by a mom coming in to turn out the light while her little boy is protecting his toy ship in bed. Why on and off? One little boy told me, ” Because his mom is turning out the light so he will stop playing and go to bed!” “Beach is to Fun” is a prefect read aloud for the classroom too, to spark young authors to pen their own analogies.
Here are some great websites with more resources to teach analogies:
Super Teacher Worksheets: Click here
Vocabulary Co.IL: Click here
