Classroom comic kit · lesson 4 of 6

Sound words: teaching onomatopoeia with comics

Grades 2–5 · 30–40 minutes. Students explain what onomatopoeia is, find sound words in comics, and draw their own so the letters show how the sound feels (big, shaky, dripping, fast).

Two pages: the plan, then the student sheet. For a class set, print the sheet alone and set the copies to 30.

Materials

Print the bubble cut-outs template, one each.
Print the blank page, 4 big panels template, one each.
A few comics with big sound words, flagged with sticky notes
The student sheet, one each
Pencils and markers

Steps

Make three sounds (a clap, a tap, a crumple) and ask the class to spell each one. Write their spellings on the board.
Name it: onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like the noise it names. There is no one right spelling.
Show flagged sound words in comics. Ask how the letters look: tall, jagged, wobbly. Why would an artist draw a crash that way?
Hand out the sheet. Students fill the table: a sound word, what made it, and the word drawn to look like its sound.
In the last row, each student invents a brand-new sound word for something nobody has named (a cat landing, a pencil snapping).
Students add their best sound word to a 4-panel blank page or a cut-out burst, inside a little scene.

Quick check for understanding

Say a sound word aloud; students show thumbs up if it is onomatopoeia, thumbs down if not (try SPLASH, HAPPY, BUZZ, TABLE).

For every learner

More help: Give a word bank (BOOM, DRIP, ZOOM, CRUNCH, POP, HISS) and let students pick instead of invent.

A stretch: Write a short paragraph of a scene using three sound words, then turn the same scene into one comic panel.

Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3

Common Core English Language Arts codes; the wording is in your state's copy of the standards.

The two pages, as they print

Sound words and onomatopoeia: the plan and the student sheet2 pages · Letter · portrait

Sound words and onomatopoeia

Grades 2–5 · 30–40 minutes · Peabody's classroom comic kit

Goal

Students explain what onomatopoeia is, find sound words in comics, and draw their own so the letters show how the sound feels (big, shaky, dripping, fast).

Materials

Print: the bubble cut-outs template, one each
Print: the blank page, 4 big panels template, one each
A few comics with big sound words, flagged with sticky notes
The student sheet, one each
Pencils and markers

Steps

Make three sounds (a clap, a tap, a crumple) and ask the class to spell each one. Write their spellings on the board.
Name it: onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like the noise it names. There is no one right spelling.
Show flagged sound words in comics. Ask how the letters look: tall, jagged, wobbly. Why would an artist draw a crash that way?
Hand out the sheet. Students fill the table: a sound word, what made it, and the word drawn to look like its sound.
In the last row, each student invents a brand-new sound word for something nobody has named (a cat landing, a pencil snapping).
Students add their best sound word to a 4-panel blank page or a cut-out burst, inside a little scene.

Quick check

Say a sound word aloud; students show thumbs up if it is onomatopoeia, thumbs down if not (try SPLASH, HAPPY, BUZZ, TABLE).

Every learner

More help: Give a word bank (BOOM, DRIP, ZOOM, CRUNCH, POP, HISS) and let students pick instead of invent.

A stretch: Write a short paragraph of a scene using three sound words, then turn the same scene into one comic panel.

Standards (Common Core codes)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3

Name Date

Sound words

Fill a row for each sound. Draw the word so it looks the way it sounds.

Sound word	What made the sound?	Draw the word the way it sounds





A brand-new one:

Sound words and onomatopoeia

Grades 2–5 · 30–40 minutes · Peabody's classroom comic kit

Goal

Students explain what onomatopoeia is, find sound words in comics, and draw their own so the letters show how the sound feels (big, shaky, dripping, fast).

Materials

Print: the bubble cut-outs template, one each
Print: the blank page, 4 big panels template, one each
A few comics with big sound words, flagged with sticky notes
The student sheet, one each
Pencils and markers

Steps

Make three sounds (a clap, a tap, a crumple) and ask the class to spell each one. Write their spellings on the board.
Name it: onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like the noise it names. There is no one right spelling.
Show flagged sound words in comics. Ask how the letters look: tall, jagged, wobbly. Why would an artist draw a crash that way?
Hand out the sheet. Students fill the table: a sound word, what made it, and the word drawn to look like its sound.
In the last row, each student invents a brand-new sound word for something nobody has named (a cat landing, a pencil snapping).
Students add their best sound word to a 4-panel blank page or a cut-out burst, inside a little scene.

Quick check

Say a sound word aloud; students show thumbs up if it is onomatopoeia, thumbs down if not (try SPLASH, HAPPY, BUZZ, TABLE).

Every learner

More help: Give a word bank (BOOM, DRIP, ZOOM, CRUNCH, POP, HISS) and let students pick instead of invent.

A stretch: Write a short paragraph of a scene using three sound words, then turn the same scene into one comic panel.

Standards (Common Core codes)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.5 · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3

Name Date

Sound words

Fill a row for each sound. Draw the word so it looks the way it sounds.

Sound word	What made the sound?	Draw the word the way it sounds





A brand-new one:

Nothing is typed into this page and nothing is sent: the student sheet prints blank, to fill in by hand.

The other lessons

The parts of a comic · Grades 2–5
A 4-panel retell · Grades 2–4
Sequencing: panels in order · Grades 2–5
A comic book report · Grades 2–5
Reading right to left (manga) · Grades 3–5

All six are on the classroom comic kit.