Ten Ways to Hear Snow
Learners explore onomatopoeia with the mentor text from Cathy Camper, Ten Ways to Hear Snow. Cathy Camper is an Arab-American artist and writer. Her beautiful picture book, illustrated by Kenard Pak, is a sweet meditation on relationships and what comes alive when you slow down and listen. As Lina walks to her grandmother’s house in the freshly fallen snow, we are invited on a sensory journey alongside her.
Grade level 2nd
Subject English Language Arts
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✎Teacher picture of you and a loved one
✎ Sentence strips to write sentence frames (optional)
✎Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper
✎Alphabreths the ABCs of Mindful Breathing by Christopher Willard
✎Whiteboard or chart paper
✎Whiteboard markers or markers
✎Paper
✎Pencils
Launch
Show learners a picture of someone dear to you and anecdotally share a memory you have with them. “I wanted to share this picture of my teta with you all! I was visiting her in Lebanon all the way from Bahrain and we had a great time together. My favourite memory was______.”
Invite learners to think of someone dear to them and a memory they share with that person. They may utilize the sentence frame:
A memory I have with my ______ is ____________. It is special to me because __________.
Have learners turn and talk.
Introduce skill
Share with learners that the text you are about to read is called Ten Ways to Hear Snow and the author, Cathy Camper, utilizes figurative language in this book. Briefly compare literal language and figurative language by comparing these two sentences, or sentences similar to these. “This marker is black” is an example of literal language. I am only describing what I can directly see. “Whooosh! The marker dances across the page” is an example of figurative language. I am using a sound at the beginning to bring my writing to life.
Introduce the word onomatopoeia as words that make a sound like “Whoosh!” Have learners come up with some examples of onomatopoeia and scribe them on a whiteboard or butcher paper. Tell learners that there will be several examples of onomatopoeia in our mentor text. Engage learners by asking them to participate in finding onomatopoeia with a whole body response, for example, by twinkling their fingers every time they hear onomatopoeia.
Read Aloud
Read Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper.
Movement Break/Mindful Moment
Invite learners to send a stretch or take a gratitude breath.
Model Activity
Learners will practice onomatopoeia in their poems. Teacher models how to write poem. Think of someone you love dearly and a memory you have with them. (It would be helpful to align with the person you shared a photo of in the beginning) utilizing this frame:
Ten ways to hear ________ (insert symbol of person.) What does the person you love make you think of? Gather input from learners.
Ten ways to hear “mountains”! Mountains remind me of my teta because she lives in Brumana up in the mountains.
Whoosh! Bicycles sped past my teta’s house
Swing! Swing! Teta and I rock back and forth in her porch swing
Pop! My brother and I pop open Pepsis and sip them in the hot sun.
Splash! I dive into the pool as teta dips her feet in.
Woof Boyo, my teta’s dog protects her home.
Clank she puts plates on the table. It’s time for watermelon and feta.
Zzzz she naps on the couch.
Shhh! I remind Ziad not to wake her.
Mwah “keze g’ sir’um em”, I love you! She says.
Extensions
Weather Spark - Compare Bahrain’s climate maps with other countries in the SWANA region. Do other places in the region get snow? Where? How often?
Video of Saudi men dancing and singing in the snow.
