When it comes to teaching figurative language, I am absolutely head over heels about teaching idioms. Not only is it fun because of all the silly phrases that we go over as a class, but hearing the students use them in both their regular conversations and writing is like music to my ears.
I absolutely love using these Idiom Cards during their language centers. There are 50 idiom cards that we can review all year. I have the students go over two to three in their center and they practice using them in sentences on white boards. For my second language learners, I have them also use them in small conversation groups. Practicing them in context helps to define and internalize these phrases. These cards lend themselves to independent centers because it has the idiom, uses them in context, defines them and has a picture. The best part about them is there is an extension question on the bottom of each, which lends itself to differentiating for the different levels in the classroom.
For a more whole group approach to integrating idioms, I use this Idiom Pocket Chart and go over one idiom a week. With just a few minutes each day we evaluate these idiom of the week closely. Every Monday I have the student of the week choose an idiom picture to hang. As a class, we look at the picture and guess what the idiom is.
On Tuesday, I put the actual idiom underneath the picture and we talk about how the picture correlates with the phrase. On Wednesday, we introduce the sentence that uses the idiom in context. By this point, the students can make an accurate guess at what the idiom means. Thursday we finally share the definition and Friday is when the real fun begins. On Fridays the students get to add this idiom to their very own Idiom Book. 
Each student gets a Hardbound Story Writing Books where they take the idiom of the week and make it their own. They write the idiom of the week at the top, define it, draw their own interpretation of the idiom picture and compose their own unique idiom sentence. They color in their pictures with pride using 8-Color Crayola® Classic Washable Fine-Point Markers and 30-Color Crayola® Twistables Colored Pencils.
At the end of the year students are so proud of these books. They love displaying them at open house. By going over idioms each week their writing has so much more color and depth. Check out some more of my fun figurative language ideas that I shared here.
