Judith Jango-Cohen

 Nonfiction
Mix-in

As a science teacher for nine years, and a nonfiction author, I am delighted with the new emphasis on nonfiction in the Common Core State Standards. Incorporating nonfiction into your curriculum is a fun and effective way to teach literacy skills while integrating content subjects like science, social studies, math, and English language arts.
In light of this, I will begin creating posts that introduce literacy skills and are linked to Teachers Pages  featuring related classroom activities. The first installment is below. Have fun!

Making Music with Alliteration

Alliteration is a literary technique that adds a lyrical touch to writing with the repetition of initial consonant sounds. “Making music” is an example. In Why Does It Rain I used alliteration to add a poetic touch to a scientific topic: the water cycle. There are seven examples in this excerpt below. To check your findings and for related classroom activities see the Teachers Page: Making Music with Alliteration  .

Wrapped in Water
Can you tell when it is going to rain?
What are the clues?
Sometimes the wind
whisks through the grass
or sweeps up swirls of dirt.
Tree limbs creak and sway.
Their leaves flutter as if they might fly away.
Gray clouds shade the sun.
The dark of dusk comes during the day.

Then the rain falls.
It may plop down in plump drops
like pounding feet.
Or it may drizzle in drips like little tiptoes.
When the rain ends,
the air smells cool and clean.
It seems as though
a window has opened in the sky.

To check your findings and for related classroom activities see the Teachers Page: Making Music with Alliteration  .

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