Ask your students to write riddles that describe famous people in history. Have each student choose a person to write about. Give your students time to brainstorm ideas. Encourage the use of similes and metaphors as each student describes his chosen person in riddle form. Once your students have written their riddles, ask one student at a time to read his riddle out loud. Allow the other students to guess who he is describing. Reinforce figurative language concepts by pointing out good examples of similes and metaphors as your students read their riddles out loud.
Alliteration is a form of figurative language that requires almost all of the words in a sentence to begin with the same letter. The well-known, "she sells seashells by the seashore," is an example of alliteration. Have each student choose an important event or person in history. Ask each student to make a list of what she knows about that event or person. Once your students have their lists complete, review the concept of alliteration. Encourage each student to write a sentence describing her chosen event or person using as many words that start with the same letter as possible. Have your students read their sentences out loud at the end of the activity.
A metaphor describes something using creative wording that is not literal, such as "fork in the road," or "you are what you eat." Your students can write about a variety of social studies concepts using metaphors, including holidays, events, people or community activities. Depending on your unit of study, ask your students to choose a topic. Review what a metaphor is, and give your students several examples. Ask each student to write two or three metaphors about his chosen topic to share with the class.
Come up with several figurative language statements that describe what you are studying in social studies. Include a variety of similes and metaphors. Read each statement out loud and ask your students to discuss what you are describing. Also ask them what type of figurative language each statement uses. Use this activity as an introduction to a new social studies unit or as an assessment tool at the end of a unit.