Hi fellow teachers! Here’s a fun riddle poem for you to use in your Grades 2-4 (or ELL/ESL) classrooms. I put some teaching ideas below to inspire you. Let me know if you use the poem – I’d love to hear how it goes.
Watch a video of the “What Am I?” riddle poem here:
What Am I?
Raindrops plop on the slushy snow
It’s time to wake! It’s time to go!
My stripy fur feels warm again
Let’s find a nest! Let’s leave the den!
I zip past squirrel, hear his squeaks
I munch on nuts! I stuff my cheeks!
What Am I?
Answer: A chipmunk
Download a PDF, black & white, printable version of the poem (2 versions: 1 with the answer and 1 without) to use in class as you’d like.
Download a PPT slide version of the poem:
Teaching Ideas
- Inference: read or view the poem and pause before the answer. Ask students to guess the animal from the clues given.
- Poetry analysis: onomatopoeia. Say the word “plop” and ask students to repeat it. Elicit meaning and ask students if the word plop sounds like the action it makes? Depending on grade, introduce or review the term onomatopoeia (or simply say that some words sound like the action they describe). Ask students if they can find another example of onomatopoeia in the poem (answer: “zip”). Elicit other examples of onomatopoeia (hiss, buzz, chirp, honk, etc. and ask students to perform and/or sound out the words).
- Science inquiry: Ask students what the line “I munch on nuts! I stuff my cheeks!” refers to. Depending on science goals, elicit or tie into other information, such as: How many nuts can a chipmunk keep in its cheeks? Do chipmunks hibernate? Where do chipmunks live? Are there chipmunks all over Canada?
Happy Teaching! Kim x
Kim T. Harrison 