A Lesson on Foreshadowing for the Fourth Grade

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is a literary technique in which authors build suspense by hinting at what is yet to come in a story. Students can remember what the term foreshadowing means by looking at the parts of the word: “fore” and “shadow.” The “fore” in foreshadowing refers to something that comes before another event -- a clue as to what will happen later on. The word part “shadow, “ on the other hand, suggests something that isn't solid. Foreshadowing doesn’t clearly tell what is going to happen; instead it works by making readers ask themselves what will be next.

Looking at the specific words and images a writer uses in foreshadowing can help students to understand how the technique works. Give students photocopies of a short story, and read it together. Ask the students to identify the event that had been foreshadowed earlier in the story. After agreeing on the event, ask each student to work independently to circle or underline the words and phrases in the story that foreshadowed the later event.

Give the class the first few pages of a short story to read. Split students into small groups of three or four. Ask the students to decide what they think will happen at the end of the story, with each group writing its own ending based on the foreshadowing in the beginning of the story. After the groups have finished their endings, ask them to take turns presenting to the rest of the classes. After all of the endings have been presented, read the actual ending of the story to the class.

After each of the previous activities, ask the students to share the most important words or images that they thought foreshadowed the events in the stories. Discuss the endings that the student wrote in the group activities, and whether the different groups came up with similar or different endings. If the endings were different, ask the students why foreshadowing might make them imagine so many different endings. Discuss whether foreshadowing makes reading a story more fun.