Students investigate sensory details in their favorite young adult books.

1. Investigating Sensory
Details
• What do I see?
• What do I hear?
• What do I smell?
• What do I taste?
• What do I feel?
11-19-13 FMS 7th Grade

2. Today, you will…
Identify sensory elements in your favorite
young adult novels and books. (Analysis)
Explain how sensory images contribute to
meaning. (Synthesis)
Communicate effectively in group
discussions and problem-solving.
(Synthesis)
Create Diamante poems using sensory
words. (Synthesis)
 Use precise words and phrases, relevant
descriptive details, and sensory language
to capture the action and convey
experiences and events. [W.7.3d]
 Analyze how a drama's or poem's form or
structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet)
contributes to its meaning. [RL.7.5]
 Engage effectively in a range of
collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse
partners on Grade 7 topics, texts, and
issues, building on others' ideas and
expressing their own clearly. [SL.7.1]
 Acquire and use accurately grade-
appropriate general academic and
domain-specific words and phrases;
gather vocabulary knowledge when
considering a word or phrase important
to comprehension or expression. [L.7.6]

3. Katniss Everdeen,
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
“What must it be like, I wonder, to live
in a world where food appears at
the press of a button? How would I
spend the hours I now commit to
combing the woods for sustenance
if it were so easy to come by?”

4. “White is the color of little bunnies with pink noses.
White is the color of fluffy clouds fluffing their way across the sky.
White is the color of angel's wings and Angel's wings.
White is the color of brand-new ankle socks fresh out of the bag.
White is the color of crisp sheets in schmancy hotels.
White is the color of every last freaking, gol-danged thing you see for
endless miles and miles if you happen to be in Antarctica trying to
save the world, which now you aren't so sure you can do because you
feel like if you see any more whiteness-Wonder Bread, someone's
underwear, teeth-you will completely and totally lose your ever-
lovin' mind and wind up pushing a grocery cart full of empty cans
around New York City, muttering to yourself.
That was my first poem ever.
Okay, so it's not Shakespeare, but I liked it.”

5. “She lowered her head until it was at his
level. He stroked the line of her jaw, and
then pressed his forehead against her hard
snout and held her as tightly as he could,
her scales sharp against his fingers. Hot
tears began to slide down his cheeks.
'Why do you cry?' she asked.
'Because... I'm lucky enough to be bonded
with you.'
'Little one.”

6. “Alas! Earwax!”

7. “Without pain, how could we know joy?”
This is an old argument in the field of
thinking about suffering, and its stupidity
and lack of sophistication could be
plumbed for centuries, but suffice it to say
that the existence of broccoli does not, in
any way, affect the taste of chocolate.

8. “Hades raised an eyebrow. When he sat
forward in his throne, shadowy faces
appeared in the folds of his black robes,
faces of torment, as if the garment was
stitched of trapped souls from the Fields
of Punishment, trying to get out. The
ADHD part of me wondered, off-task,
whether the rest of his clothes were made
the same way. What horrible things would
you have to do in your life to get woven
into Hades' underwear?”

9. “Look at Me! Look at me!
Look at me now! It is fun to
have fun, but you have to know
how. I can hold up the cup, and
the milk, and the cake! I can
hold up these books! And the
fish on a rake! I can hold the
toy ship and a little toy man!
And look! With my tail I can
hold a red fan!”