Father's Day Lesson Plan and Craft
Teach Onomatopoeia or Sound Words Using Froggy’s Day with Dad
May 17, 2008
How to teach onomatopoeia to primary students using the Father's Day themed picture book, Froggy's Day with Dad by Jonathan London.
Froggy’s Day with Dad by Jonathan London [Viking, 2204] provides a perfect springboard to teach elementary students about onomatopoeia. Use this lesson near Father’s Day or anytime of year as fun way to teach silly sound words.
Onomatopeia Lesson Objectives
- Students will identify onomatopoeia in the picture book, Froggy’s Day with Dad.
- Students will compose a sentence containing at least one silly sound word.
Materials For Froggy's Day with Dad Lesson
- Froggy’s Day with Dad by Jonathan London [Viking, 2004]
- Whiteboard or chart paper and writing utensil
- Paper and pencils
- Mugs for each student
- Permanent paint
- Paint brushes
Motivation and Prior Knowledge Connection to Father's Day
- The teacher will announce that Father’s Day is coming up and ask the students what they already know about Father’s Day.
- He will ask the students what types of special things they have done for their fathers.
- The teacher will tell the students that he is going to read them a story about Froggy and the things he does for his dad on Father’s Day.
Onomatopeia Lesson Introduction
- The teacher will show the students the pictures in the book and ask them to make a prediction about what will happen in the story using all of the information they have so far.
- The teacher will tell the students that Froggy uses a lot of silly sound words in the story such as "splat" and "thunk."
- He will ask the students to listen for all of the silly sound words while he reads and after the story is finished they are going to make a list of the silly sound words.
Onomatopeia Lesson Procedure
- The teacher will read the story to the students exaggerating the onomatopoeia, or silly sound words.
- After the story is finished the teacher will ask the students what silly sound words they remember from the story.
- He will show the students the pages of the story to increase recall and point out any onomatopoeia they have missed.
- The teacher will tell the students that silly sound words have an even sillier name- onomatopoeia. He will ask them to generate more onomatopoeia to add to the list.
Onomatopeia Lesson Conclusion
- The teacher will guide the students to come up with a sentence that includes a silly sound word about what might happen at their house on Father’s Day.
- Depending on the age and ability level of the students they will write and illustrate the sentences or paragraphs they have composed. The teacher will scribe a sentence for any student who is not able to yet.
Extension Activity for Froggy's Day with Dad
- The students will paint a mug for their dads to as a Father’s Day gift.
- They will write, “To the Best Dad I Ever Had” as Froggy did or paint any type of picture they think their Dad will enjoy.
- When the mugs have dried the students will roll up their illustrated sentences and place them inside the mugs to give to their fathers.
Onomatopeia may sound like a hard concept for primary school students to understand, but with creative instruction it can be very easy for them to grasp.
Other language arts lessons for primary students: The Language Experience Approach, Teach Kids to Write Paragraphs, and Writing Poems with Kids
The copyright of the article Father's Day Lesson Plan and Craft in Primary School Lesson Plans is owned by Megan Sheakoski. Permission to republish Father's Day Lesson Plan and Craft in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
