Onomantopoeia, Oreos, and Outstanding Writing

Hey y'all! I'm excited to share one of my favorite writing activities of the year because it involves two of my favorite things: onomatopoeia and Oreos! Yum!!

I've seen different versions of this activity everywhere.  Clearly, oreos are a hot writing topic and great for introducing persuasive text or how to. However, this is a one day writing assignment used to teach descriptive writing and onomatopoeia. Who knew Oreo cookies were so versitale?

Objective: Students will use onomatopoeia and spicy words to write an engaging descriptive paragraph about how they eat an Oreo.

Materials:

• bag of Oreo cookies
• student examples to act as mentor text
• anchor chart

Lesson:
Review onomatopoeia and generate a list of examples. Then, tell students you have a very serious and important question for them: How do you eat your Oreo?

And just like that...the ALL want to share.

Introduce the task. "Today you are going to describe how you eat an Oreo cookie with as much description as possible" 

Read lots of examples written by other 4th graders. Click here for the original lesson and examples!

You'll notice that each example follows the same pattern, but don't worry about point that out. They catch on fast!  After reading 3-4 examples, stop and ask students the kids, "What do you notice?"

Hopefully They will point out:

• They all start out with onomatopoeia.
• They all describe an Oreo using lost of good adjectives.
• They all write out the steps to eating an Oreo using transition words. (first, then, finally)
• They all wrap up with the author talking directly to the reader. 

After discussing the organization, read a few more examples before sending them off to write... Oreo in hand to eat of course!  Nothing sparks writing like licking frosting and eating cookies.

Students typically write for 20-30 minutes.  These are not long pieces, but they are a lot of fun and an easy piece to take all the way through the writing process.  After editing and revising, I have students publish.

Last year we published on the computer and then posted to their blogs, but you could also publish with good ol' paper!

Here is a simple writing frame I made that could also be used to publish your writing.  Thanks to Michelle at 3AM Teacher for the frame.  It was perfect for our Oreo theme. Download for free at my TPT or TN store.

And... If you want to get really fancy and fun, check out this fantastic bulletin board display I found on Pinterest. How cute is that?!

From Fun 2B In First

I'd love to hear back if you do the lesson, have done something similar, etc.  I love hearing your stories. Happy Writing!!









P.S. Don't forget to check out Fiction Friday from last week.  I reviewed two excellent books and other bloggers linked up with their own fabulous reads.  This is a great way to build your children's literature repertoire.

P.P.S. Also, how is the new font?  I was going for REALLY easy to read as I have noticed my eyes get tired way to quickly when I'm blog reading and deciphering all those super cute fonts.  So, just in case my readers are suffering from the same "I must be getting old" problem - I made the switch.  Thoughts?