Help students explore the power of metaphor and hyperbole through this engaging five-day text exploration pack built around the original mentor text, The Mountain.

Designed for Years 7–8, this pack focuses on how authors use figurative language to communicate ideas, emotions and deeper meaning. Through Ethan's overwhelming pile of homework transforming into a towering mountain, students discover how extended metaphor, hyperbole and symbolism work together to help readers experience challenges rather than simply read about them.

Across five carefully structured lessons, students revisit the text multiple times, building their understanding of vocabulary, figurative language, imagery, inference, author's purpose, themes and evidence-based responses. Students are encouraged to explore how the mountain represents more than just homework, considering how it can symbolise stress, responsibility, fear, perseverance and personal growth. Throughout the week, they learn how authors deliberately use exaggeration and comparison to communicate powerful messages about overcoming challenges.

This pack includes:

• Original mentor text
• Five days of structured learning
• Explicit WALTs and success criteria
• Vocabulary and figurative language investigations
• Extended metaphor analysis
  
• Inference and interpretation tasks
• Theme and author's purpose exploration
• Evidence-based response scaffold
• Student self-reflection pages
• Comprehensive teacher guide with answers and alternative interpretations

Perfect for:

• Whole-class reading
• Guided reading follow-up
• Literacy rotations
• Independent literacy tasks
• Figurative language instruction
• Explicit comprehension teaching

Students will explore how metaphor and hyperbole deepen meaning, why authors use symbolism to communicate complex ideas, and how figurative language helps readers connect emotionally with a text. They will also discover that perseverance often begins with a single step, and that changing our mindset can be just as important as changing our circumstances.

Curriculum Focus: Reading Comprehension, Author Craft, Figurative Language, Metaphor, Hyperbole, Symbolism, Inference, Evidence-Based Responses
Year Level: Years 7-8
Lesson Length: 15–20 minutes per lesson
Pack Focus: Figurative Language
Week Focus: Metaphor and Hyperbole
Theme: Perseverance

Scope and Sequence: Pack A, Week 5

Key Learning: Students explore how authors use extended metaphor, hyperbole and symbolism to communicate ideas that cannot always be expressed directly, discovering how an ordinary mountain can represent overwhelming challenges, changing mindsets and personal growth, while recognising that perseverance often begins with one small step and that resilience comes from changing ourselves rather than our circumstances.