Idioms, Adages and Proverbs

Read the poem aloud together before your child answers. For each saying, ask when someone might say it in real life. Check with the answer key and compare your child's explanations with the samples.

Match idioms, adages and proverbs to their meanings and explain one in your own words. An idiom is a phrase whose meaning differs from its words. An adage or proverb is a well-known saying that gives advice. The directions on the page read: Write the letter of each saying's meaning in the box. Then, explain one saying in your own words on the lines. The page opens with a worked example, and the answer key shows every answer.

Yes, both. We made it for 5th Grade figurative language, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

CCSS L.5.5.A asks 5th graders to interpret similes and metaphors in context, and L.5.5.B covers idioms, adages and proverbs. Sound devices like alliteration and onomatopoeia often come up in the poetry unit.

An idiom is a phrase whose meaning differs from its words, like on thin ice. An adage or proverb is a well-known saying that gives advice, like don't count your chickens before they hatch.

Ask two questions: what two things are compared, and what do they have in common? In the river is a silver thread, both are long, thin and shiny. That answer is the meaning.

Yes. Each figurative language sheet has an answer key, with sample answers for the written explanations.