Onomatopoeia for Earth Day

It's perfect that Earth Day falls in April, which is National Poetry Month.

This Earth Day, I want to combine two things I love: animals and onomatopoeia. 

In case you haven't heard of this wonderful word, onomatopoeia (pronounced ah-no-mah-to-PEE-ah) refers to a word that's formed from the sound it makes.

sizzle, crunch, cuckoo, tick-tock, fizz

Can you think of more? 



Animal sounds have great onomatopoeia:

oink, meow, chirp, hiss, ribbit, croak, squeak, quack

To celebrate Earth Day, let's write a poem using animal onomatopoeia. Here's mine:

Croaking and Squawking

The crow croaks at the mouse

Who squeaks at the sheep

Who bleats at the cat

Who mews at the dog

Who yowls at the pig

Who oinks at the raven

Who caws at the parrot

Who squawks at me that it's time to eat. 

Try making your own poetry animals "talk" with onomatopoeia.

Recite your poem out loud on Earth Day, or read it to your pets. For extra zing, add your own sound effects!

A Silly Poem for Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day!

And we're still celebrating National Poetry Month.

Have you noticed, a lot of poems about nature or Earth are serious? 

They don't have to be. 

I'm mixing my love of nature with my love of silliness. Here's my silly poem about Earth (with thanks to the poet Joyce Kilmer, author of "Trees"--who was a guy, by the way). 

I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.

I think that I shall never view
A poem as lovely as a gnu.

I think that I shall never spy
A poem as lovely as a fly.

I think that I shall never glimpse
A poem as lovely as two chimps.

I think I'll never scrutinize
A poem as lovely as the skies.

But now I'll end this poem, you see
Cause nothing's better than a tree! 


How about your Earth Day poem?

Be silly, fun, and full of mirth
To celebrate our Planet Earth! 

An Earth Day Ode

Today is Earth Day. And we're still celebrating National Poetry Month. So naturally it's a good day to write a poem about....the Earth! 

Earth is a BIG subject, so let's write about one small part of nature. 

I love to write odes. An ode is a poem that celebrates a person, animal, object...or anything. 

To write an Earth Day Ode, first think about your subject. A porcupine, pine cone, or polar star? A cactus, canyon, or caterpillar? 

Choose your favorite animal, your favorite place in nature, or go outside and find a leaf, rock, or stick you'd like to put into an ode.

Odes don't have to rhyme. Often they're addressed directly ("you") to the subject. They can follow any form.

Here's my Earth Day Ode to ice.

Ice

You cover our poles

South and north 

Keeping Earth cooled down.

Frozen bubbles of water.

Silver, white, gray, black.

Your frost and rime and crystals are

Brittle and beautiful as diamonds.

We don't thank you enough

So I'm thanking you now.

Your fields stretch out

Like a frozen blanket

Protecting us. 

Earth Day

Earth Day is over for this year, but shouldn't every day be Earth Day? It's exciting to see people recycling, turning off lights, using cloth bags, and walking instead of driving. We can do those things all year round to make our planet a better place. 


What did you do for Earth Day? Maybe you had a normal day. If you did, it may be more fun to write about "The Craziest Earth Day." Use your imagination to come up with a wacky day where everything goes wrong. 


Here's an idea to get you started. Feel free to change the story and words however you'd like! 

"The Craziest Earth Day"

For Earth Day, my family went to the _____________________. It was really crazy. First we had to find the ___________________________. Then we had to fix the ___________________. On top of that, everything went wrong when __________________. Luckily, Uncle Bob brought a ____________________________. It all turned out okay when I _______________________. I'll never forget the craziest Earth Day!