4th

Grade Haiku
Poetry Lesson

by Heather Antunez

Overview

Students will learn to identify the structure and components of Haiku poetry with an
understanding of syllabication and the syllable pattern, and use descriptive words of vivid
imagery to create their own Haiku poetry.

Connections to Standards

Continuum Text Goals: Grade 4

Understanding the Genre, (pg. 88)
Understand poetry is a unique way to communicate about and describe feelings, sensory
images, ideas, or stories.
Understand the way print work in poems and demonstrate the use in reading and writing,
haiku, cinquain.
Understand the poems do not have to rhyme.

Word Choice, (pg. 91)
Use a range of descriptive words to enhance meaning
Use memorable or vivid words

Iowa Common Core:
W.4.2.Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and
information clearly.

Materials

Power Point with Models of Haiku Poetry to Introduce the Lesson

Elmo Projector / White Board & Dry Erase Markers

Poster with Syllable pattern, Structure and Rules for Writing Haiku Poems

Nature books or magazines with photographs or Nature magazines

Graphic Organizer with steps for wring a Haiku poem from readwritethink.org

Book Models: Dogku by Andrew Clements

Black Swan White Crow; Haiku by Patrick Lewis
The Four Seasons; Japanese Haiku Second Series by Basho et al.
Haiku by Peter Washington

Item from Nature for Guided Practice (Cutie Oranges for the Whole Class)

Student Self Assessment Checklist

Student Dictionaries and Thesauruses

Students: Paper & Pencil

Introduction & Instruction

1. Today we are going to learn the pattern or structure of Haiku poetry, so that how to
create one of your own. Lets take at look at some examples and see if you can figure
out the pattern.
2. For large group instruction share the following Haiku poems with the class with the
overhead projector Use the Power Point presentation with models and vivid pictures:

Buds bursting open

Summer looms closer each day
Breathtaking delights

An old silent pond

Over the wintry

A frog jumps into the pond

Forest, winds howl in rage

Splash! Silence again.

with no leaves to blow.

Does anyone know what kind of poems I just read?

Have you heard of Haiku poetry before? If so, what do you know?

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry, which has become appreciated all over the world. A Haiku
poem is a short poem that gives us a message in only 17 syllables.

Can anyone tell me what is a syllable?

Syllables are ways to split words into sounds. A syllable (syl-la-ble) is usually made up of one vowel
sound alone or a vowel sound with one or more consonant sounds. We dont usually think about
breaking words into syllables unless we may be trying to decode a word while reading, or perhaps
when we are trying to spell a word. How many syllables are in the word syllable? If you are unsure
you can put your hand under your chin and when your chin touches your hand that is one syllable.
Lets try it out together with the word syl-la-ble. How many times did your chin tough your hand
when you said the word syl-la-ble out loud?

The word Haiku has two syllables: Hai-ku How many syllables in the word in-tro-duc-tion? (Point
out the vowel sounds and consonants in both words).

Haiku poems usually describe something in nature, or one simple topic that the reader can
recognize. Seasons and animals are examples of a simple topic that you would recognize when you
read the poem.

Haiku poems are made up of 3 lines. The first and last lines have 5 syllables, and the middle line
has 7 syllables.

Modeling

1. Lets take a look at a couple of Haiku poems together and notice the syllable structure
of the poem.

Read the following poem aloud and have the students count the syllables in each line along with
you:
Green and speckled legs,
Hop on logs and lily pads
Splash in cool water.

2. Discussion & Questions

How may lines in the poem? Lets count them out together. 3

How many syllables in the first line? Lets count them out together5

How many syllables in the second line? You try it with your should partner7

How many syllables in the third line? Try this one on your own and check with you
neighbor to see if you both got the same answer...5

What do you notice about the pattern and structure of the words that may be different
than poems that you may have heard before?

What is the animal is the poem? Guide students thinking with the clues if there is
some uncertainty and clarify understandinggreen and speckled legsHOP on logs
and Lilly pads. yes---- a frog.

Have the students think- pair-share first, and then have a class discussion how the three lines of
the poem go together.



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Here is another poem to help you remember the rules of writing Haiku poems:

I am first with five
Then seven in the middle
Five again to end.

Lets check that out and see if it works on the Rules of Writing Haiku poems. Ask for students
who feel comfortable with the rule to volunteer to demonstrate for the class.

Guided Practice

Have students get into small groups at their desk, so they can eat and brainstorm ideas together.
Now Lets write a Haiku poem together. Show students a few pictures of items from nature, so
they can get some ideas about possible topics for writing their own poems later in the lesson.

Today we are going to write Haiku poem about the Cutie Oranges, and we are also going to
eat them so we can get some good descriptive words to describe the fruit using words with
vivid imagery. That means I want you to help me use adjectives to describe a cutie orange to
someone who may never have seen or eaten a cutie orange.

Have a couple of students give each student a cutie orange and a paper towel. After everyone has
an orange, tell students to go ahead and start peeling and eating their orange, so they can think of
some good descriptive words for our Haiku poem.

Introduce Graphic Organizer

Here is a graphic organizer that will be a tool to help us organize our thoughts and ideas and
visualize the relations between them (or what things they have in common). The graphic
organizer will also serve as a guide as we practice to help us to remember the rules of Haiku, so
that we can create our own poems.

Begin with the first step on the graphic organizer and model how to use the graphic organizer.
Have students contribute with their ideas to help you as you demonstrate and write a poem about
cutie oranges.

Graphic Organizer Format:
First Step: Choose a Topic: __________________________
(Encourage students to think of their emotions and senses when thinking of a topic).

Second Step: Brainstorm descriptive words that describe the topic.
(Generate a list with the class and write the words or phrases on the board).

Third Step: Write the draft. Use the words from your brainstormed list, but each line will
need 5 or 7 syllables. (Model rearranging and rethinking word choices to match the
syllable pattern).
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Line 1 (5 syllables)_________________________________________

Line 2 (7 syllables)_________________________________________

Line 3 (5 syllables)_________________________________________

Read the poem aloud together and clap out the syllables and make adjustments to obtain the 5-7-5
pattern.

Collaborative Practice

On the same day or another class period distribute nature books or magazines for students to look
at to get ideas for writing Haiku poetry.

If weather permits, you could even take the class on a nature walk on a nice Spring day to get
ideas or practice taking notice of the imagery that they can experience in nature. I would have
students take their notebooks and pencils, and prompt them to write down some notes about
what they experience with their senses during the nature walk.

Distribute graphic organizer to students to practice writing a Haiku Poem. Students may choose to
work with a partner or independently if they think they are ready to write their own poem
independently.

Have students work in collaborative groups to write a Haiku poem. Encourage them to use a
dictionary or Thesaurus to find synonyms and good word choices for their poems.

Discussion/Closure

On the same day or another class period have student groups share their poems.
Encourage the class to clap out the syllables to check for the 5-7-5-syllable pattern. Have the class
to guess the topic if no title is given, or ask students how the poem made them feel.

Read aloud and share the book Dogku by Andrew Clements. Be sure to include the authors note
at the end of the book.

Independent Practice

In the following days students will write their own Haiku poem independently.
The teacher will provide students with a graphic organizer, and self-checklist to use to write their
poems. Students will be encouraged to illustrate, or decorate their poem by using pictures,
colorful backgrounds etc.

Assessment

Students will be given an informal self-assessment checklist (below) to complete before they turn
in their Haiku Poems. Students will be encouraged to have a peer partner also give them feedback
before they turn in their poem.


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Student Self-Assessment:
Name_______________________

Haiku Self Checklist
_____My poem has 3 lines.
_____I used my senses and/or emotions.
_____My poem has a single simple focus-one topic.
_____My poem follows the 5-7-5-syllable pattern.
_____My poem has descriptive words that use vivid imagery.
_____The format is attractive and easy to read.
_____I had a peer read my poem and give me feedback.
Peer Comments: (Be nice and write only positive comments).

References

Betsy Franco. 2008. Graphic Organizers for Teaching Poetry Writing; Grades 1-3. New York, NY:
Scholastic Inc.

http://www.readinga-z.com/poetry/writing-program.html

http://www.kidzone.ws/poetry/haiku.htm

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/what-haiku

http://www.haikucandy.com/hai_browse.jsp

http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/how-to-write-a-haiku/

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/printouts/haiku-starter-30697.html

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Reflection

I completed this less over a period of two weeks, and each lesson was only four 20-minute lessons.
I was able to carry out the introduction and the guided practice. However, my mentor teacher told
me to omit the collaborative practice and skip right to the independent practice. My mentor
teacher had been busy Benchmarking her students for reading, therefore writing had been
absent from their daily schedule for some time.

The fourth graders did not have a great deal of background knowledge about Haiku poetry.
Nonetheless, the whole class seemed to enjoy learning about Haiku poetry. I thought that it would
be accommodating to have lots of visual pictures for the lesson, since the class had a few students
in ESL classes and some students who received special education services. The Cutie oranges
really made it easier for students to think of and consider good descriptive words for the guided
practice portion of the lesson.

The teacher was not familiar with the Gradual Release Model that I wanted to incorporate into this
writing lesson. While it appeared that the students were capable of generating descriptive words
and writing the poetry lines, I observed many of them struggling when the class went directly
from guided practice to independent practice. In my opinion, it seemed like the students needed
more practice generating descriptive words in small groups with less teacher support, and most of
the students had difficulty independently breaking the words into syllables.

In reflection, I would imagine that the Haiku poetry lesson would have be more successful if the
students would have had previous instruction and more practice learning about syllabication, and
generating descriptive words own their own. In the future, I would spend an adequate amount of
time introducing syllabication, and providing students more time to work together to be more
experienced with these concepts before attempting a poetry unit of this nature. I also would not
omit the collaborative section, because I believe that the students needed the opportunity to have
more time practicing and working together to develop the prerequisite skills needed to write
Haiku poetry.

Even though the lesson was not an ideal poetry unit, I was pleased to notice that most of the
students were successful at developing the concept of the 5-7-5 syllable pattern, and the structure
of the poetry writing. Still, I would suspect that most of the class would have benefited from small
group or one- to-one instruction, as well as conferencing during the writing process to give them
feedback and support with their writing. I would work with students on how to construct better
sentences with lines that flowed more smoothly together, so that their audience could put all the
ideas together to understand the main topic of their poem. Some of the students were off to a
good start with their poetry writing. They were also really exited to share their work with the
class, but it was difficult to guess the topics of some of their poems, because they did not have the
opportunity to revise and improve on their ideas. The students enjoyed when their classroom
teacher read aloud to them each day, so I think that reading aloud the Dogku book by Andrew
Clements was a great way to bring closure to this lesson. Since the students were already familiar
with the format of the Haiku poetry, they were able to comprehend and make connections about
what we had learned with the lesson. Ideally during a writing unit, I would want to read and
discuss lots of good models of the writing topic. However, in this case, Im glad that I decided to
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read that particular story at the end of the lesson. Because the children got a little silly after I was
finished reading. Given the time frame and circumstances that I was given to work with the
fourth grade class on Haiku poetry, I was very pleased with the outcome of the lesson. The
students and I both learned, so the teaching experience was It was a good learning experience to
really consider every aspect of my planning and delivery of my writing lessons.