Splash is a popular book of poems by Constance Levy that your students are guaranteed to enjoy, as it explores nature and allows its readers to make their own observations as well.
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Feet Talk
In this descriptive poem about walking, students will identify examples of onomatopoeia and rhyming words.
By Constance Levy
From the December 2017 / January 2018 Issue
Learning Objective: In this descriptive poem about walking, students will identify examples of onomatopoeia and rhyming words.
Can’t-Miss Teaching Extras
Can't Get Enough of Constance?
Support For Onomatopoeia Instruction
To drive home the concept of onomatopoeia, you might show one of these videos. The first contains a catchy tune (no guarantees it won’t stick in your head!), and the second is a 30-second old-school clip from the 1970s show “Electric Company.”
Poetry In The Classroom
Check out this post on the Storyworks Ideabook for some fabulous ideas for incorporating poetry into your classroom!
Extending the Poem
For a fun assignment, have students write a version of “Feet Talk” about walking in a different environment. For example, maybe their feet can squelch through some mud or crunch on some fallen leaves.
More About the Article
Key Skills
onomatopoeia, author’s purpose, figurative language, inference, imagery, rhyme
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
1. PREPARING TO READ
Set a Purpose for Reading (10 minutes)
• Begin by reading the onomatopoeia bubble for the class, emphasizing its pronunciation. Prepare students to listen for or look for examples of onomatopoeia in the poem. Discuss how words that imitate sounds make a poem more interesting or exciting.
• Students can explore onomatopoeia by thinking of other sounds we can make, such as the clap of hands, the snap of fingers, the achoo of a sneeze, the growl of a hungry belly, etc. Students can say the word while acting out the sound.
2. READING AND DISCUSSING
• Read the poem for the class or play our audio version.
• Project or distribute the close-reading and critical-thinking questions and discuss them as a class as students refer to the poem in their magazines.
Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions (15 minutes)
• Why does the poet tell us to listen to our feet? (author’s purpose) The poet wants us to notice that our feet make different sounds in different places.
• What are some words in the poem that are examples of onomatopoeia? (figurative language) Examples may include crackles, squeaks, slaps, shuffles, clacks, or thumps.
• In what kind of place is the person in the poem walking? What words does the author use to describe the setting? (inference) This person is walking in a city. The author uses words like gravel, hard concrete, busy streets, and street talk to describe the setting.
• In the second stanza, the author says “feet meeting feet.” What does she mean by that? (imagery) She is describing the sounds a crowd of people make as they walk along the streets.
Text-to-Speech