We started the week learning how to use descriptive language in order to allow readers to visualize what the writer has experienced. A vivid description shows rather than tells. Fifth graders have been using the “show, don’t tell” strategies to create descriptions that appeal to the five senses and allows readers to visualize vivid images in their minds by using tools such as similes, metaphors, adjectives, hyperbole, and interesting verbs.
Tells: Our paintball match had begun its intensity.
Shows: With the scream of a whistle, I dove to the muddy ground and slid into a tree to avoid getting annihilated by the popping of the green and orange blobs of paint.
Tells: I was terrified by the strange sound.
Shows: My heart was beating like a jackhammer and my feet were cement blocks as I set out to investigate the strange sound coming from the basement.
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