Kids find out what "onomatopoeia" means

Abby Lewis

The word "onomatopoeia" isn't in every-day use for most kids. But, 4th graders at Keysor Elementary School used it often while working on a unique poetry project.

With the help of two St. Louis area poets, the Keysor kids wrote and acted out a class poem. Their assigned subject was Thanksgiving. But, it was up to them to use their own Thanksgiving experiences and write an original poem.

That's where "onomatopoeia" comes in.

The dictionary defines the word as what you get when you use a word that imitates the sound or thing it describes.

Megan Miener

For instance, you can hear the explosion when you say the word, "boom". Or you can almost hear a snake when you use the word, "hissing".

Eight-year-old Abby Lewis said one of her favorite things she likes to put in her poetry is "onomatopoeia" words. But, she likes to use another poetry technique that calls for repetition.

Earlier, she had written a poem entitled, "Sometimes I Wonder".

It included a series of questions, all starting with the words "Sometime I Wonder." The questions were like "why dogs have tails?" "why birds fly?" and "why are trees called trees? why aren't they called cars?"

Ten-year-old Megan Miener said she thinks the most fun in poetry writing is "putting the poem in order." Some of her earlier writing involved "dancing pigs" and "snow days."

Leah Davidson

Nine-year-old Leah Davidson said she's read "a ton of poetry books" and has even written her own book of poems. It was entitled, "A Poetry Book by Leah."

Ten-year-old Christine Hakenjos said her favorite book of poetry was "Video Games Crazy Day."

That's one of the books written by the two poets who helped them with their project.

St. Louis poets Amy Glaser Gage and Connie McIntyre conducted three video-conference lessons for selected St. Louis area schools. Their classes were called, "From Plain Words to Poetry: Write and Perform Original Poems."

One of their classes was for the teachers, to explain how the series would work.

But, the other two classes in November involved the kids. In the first kids' class, the students acted out a four-stanza poem about fall leaves. The poets gave them that poem.

Christine Hakenjos

The Keysor kids acted out their poem by raking and tossing colored-paper leaves.

Twenty kids were involved in the Keysor poetry project.

On November 20, the kids came back to perform their original Thanksgiving poem. (For the text of the Keysor kids' poem, see sidebar below.)

The first step in drafting the Thanksgiving poem was for the kids to offer suggestions about their family experiences. Also, they were to suggest some unique wordings.

Again, "onomatopoeia" reared it head.

For instance, Leah Davidson said she offered "mashy potatoes" and "greasy turkey skin." You can almost feel the "mashy" and the "greasy."

Abby Lewis offered the idea of "gooey corn pudding" and "squishy mashed potatoes."

Christine Hakenjos said one of her favorites for Thanksgiving is "sweet gravy." That's a special family recipe.

Megan Miener said her ideas were going to center around eating turkey.

Then, the kids had to decide what poetic devices they would use to spice up the poem.

The adult poets suggested they might like to use repetitive words to start each stanza. They also told the kids that surprise endings add a lot of life and excitement to a poem.

Keysor kids get a regular dose of poetry in their classes. Leah Davidson said she'd read and wrote poetry in first, second and third grades as well as this year.

Leah and Abby said they plan to be elementary teachers when they grow up. While Megan and Christine are planning to work with animals. Christine wants to be a veterinarian.

Megan said she wants to be a dolphin trainer. She got the interest during a trip to Sea World "when I got to feed the dolphins."

Here's the Keysor Thanksgiving poem

This is the original poem the Keysor school 4th graders came up with. Also, the kids created an entire Thanksgiving dinner out of paper for props to use to perform the poem.

Thanksgiving Dinner

The turkeys are coming. The turkeys are coming.

Get ready! Get your knives and forks in hand!
Mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, green bean casserole,
Sweet potatoes, my oh my.

The turkeys are coming! The turkeys are coming!

Thank you for the squishy mashed potatoes.
Thank you for the pumpkin pie as sweet as pixie sticks.
Thank you for the gooey, gushy green bean casserole.
Thank you for the mmmmmm sweet potatoes, my oh my.

Amen....
Charge!