Noises and Sounds

Whispering of the wind bellows at me as I pass the row of awesome houses before me. What is the element of sound within a poem, especially words that are spelled like an actual sound? We all hear noises every day, but we probably don't think about words that have particular sounds attached to them.

Approaching today's classes, we took a sound journey together, writing flowery, loud and brash words that clang against our ear drums filling our souls with the elements of sound. Some students (especially the 4th graders) understood onomatopoeia. Even the 2nd graders who really didn't know how to spell the word, but once we got to talking about which sounds are associated with certain things, and looking at the great poems in Kenneth Koch's books, they were able to write some fabulous poems using onomatopoeia. Even the focused 8th graders took some time to think of great words like 'hiss', 'zap', and others and place within a story or poem that unfolds into a poetic journey the reader could take.

I hope this inspires you to create your own Onomatopoeia poem!

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Sarai W. - 2nd Grade (Sims)

The sound I hear is ribbet

ribbet...

and also the sound of my cat

and the air

the sound of clap clap

and i hear the sound

of my Mom and my Dad

talking

and I hear the sound of popcorn

pop pop

and I hear the sound of cars

and I hear the sound of kids in the park

too

and hear the sound of my brother talking

The Sound of School

Whitney -- 2nd Grade (Sims)

The bell is ringing

ding a ling

a ling

it's so loud

I hear the children talking

in the lunch room

blah blah blah

I hear the food crunching

in their mouths

crunch crunch crunch

When it's time to go

We go outside

When I step on the snow

a crunch sounds

crunch ...crunch

Sound Poem

Steeve C. 2nd Grade (Sims)

Ding dong

the bell goes!

Standing there listening

to tick tock

on the clock

waiting for time

to go home

"Hurry up!"

We all say.

Carry clocks home

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock..

"Oh!"

Says my brother

My head hurts.

Mine too, I say.

Boom! Boom!

goes our foot

trying to break the clock

Cluck, cluck, cluck

goes our hand.

Crack! Oops!

Oh NO!!!

Well we finally broke it

-- tick tock!

Oh No!

The Wind

Jaasiel R. 4th Grade (Forsell)

This afternoon the window opens

"Swish swish" that's the sound the wind makes.

"Brrr brrr" says the cold children.

I follow the wind to the restaurant.

"Swish."

"Ooh ooh" goes the hot customers.

"Uh Uh" goes the hungry children.

The wind goes to the store.

"Ching Ching" says the cash register.

The wind travels to my house.

"Ahhh Ahhh" says my Mom.

"Brrr Brrr" goes my Dad.

Then they finally closed the window.

The Buzz Noise

Thomas P. 4th Grade (Forsell)

I was outside in the Summer.

A bee was buzzing around me

I slapped the bee but it kept coming.

It was still saying "buzz" around me.

So I told the bee too leave me alone.

Then I thought "Why am I talking to

a bee?"

Then I looked at my shirt.

I had on yellow.

And I knew...bees liked yellow.

The Sound of Summer

Yazmine F. 4th Grade (Forsell)

Buzz buzz buzz is what I

hear from a bee

Whoosh...I run through the sun

I drink water

gulp gulp gulp gulp

I hear a ball boing boing

I love the summer, do you?

Under the Sea

Dajae H. 8th Grade (Collins-Jones)

I hear the beach

with all of the wet

splash splash

the rock on the sand

smack...

the water with a loud

thump thump

I look into the sea

whoosh

I have been pulled in by the fish

I thought it was very fun

boing boing

boom!

I landed at the bottom of the ocean

There I find a big party which

awaits me in my lonely hour

pop pop

sound of fireworks

and loud music

filled the sea

Oh how wonderful

life was when

I was free

Wow!

You can sit for hours and have a blast

blup blup blup

I was turning into a fish

Swap

on the ocean's ground

there was my tail

now I know I was

a fish

but where are my scales?

Shuss shuss

Oh there they are

Clump as I was

dancing around

I tripped over my tail

gulp!

I swallowed as if I

was taking a huge Algebra test.

It was embarassing

but "hey"

the party still goes

on and on.

Fire to the Back

Zaire B. 8th Grade (Collins-Jones)

When I walk in the snow

the sound is like

scrusss

and the next summer

I hear a buzz right by

the bush.

When I get in trouble

I get a slap

and if I say something...

it's fire to the back.

Whamm!