Lesson Title:
Haiku Hike
Author name(s) and affiliation(s):
Sherry Mills Donald, Teacher of Gifted, Oxford School District, Oxford, Mississippi
Objectives:
At the end of this lesson students will be able to:
- Write a haiku
- Have an appreciation of haiku as a powerful form of expressing a connection with nature.
Guiding questions:
What makes haiku different from other forms of poetry?
Standards addressed:
Intelligently Gifted Standards can be found at:
- MCT Competencies for Gifted 4th and 5th Graders include: communication, creativity, group dynamics, research, and thinking skills. This lesson will include communication creativity, and thinking skills.
Notes:
Focus of Lesson
- This lesson will teach students how to communicate through haiku poetry the connection with nature.
- Grade level: 4th and 5th is the grade level that I used the lesson for, but could be used for grades 4th through 12th.
Subject area(s): Writing, Language Arts, Poetry
Featured student skills: In Mississippi the Process Skills that should be introduced, developed, reinforced, or extended for intellectually gifted students in 4th and 5th grade include, among others, creative thinking skills, critical thinking, evaluation techniques, and writing skills. These are the skills that are the focus of this lesson.
Suggested time: 3 hours
Advance preparation
- What do teachers need to do in advance of teaching? In advance, teachers need to find a safe place in nature where students can observe uninterrupted.
Background information
- In this lesson, students will come to an understanding of how 17 syllables can be a powerful way of expression.
Materials:
- Haiku Hike, written by 4th Graders at St. Mary's Catholic School, Mansfield, MA. Scholastic, 2005.
Plan for Assessment:
The plan for assessment is to publish the haiku after revising and editing has taken place and the class has peer critiqued the haiku.
- Students will share one on one the haiku as it develops. The teacher will have individual conferences with students to help them to revise and edit their haiku.
Implementation:
- Teacher will ask if anyone knows what the word haiku means. Discussion of the haiku form of poetry will take place, particularly emphasizing the element of nature and the use of a kigo in each haiku. Many students will know something about haiku from previous writing classes.
- Teacher and students together will read Haiku Hike. The fact that this book is written by 4th graders makes it particularly appealing to students. Discussion will take place about how each haiku was developed.
- Teacher will then instruct students to get a notebook and pencil to go on our own haiku hike.
- Instructions include: students must stay in sight of teacher at all times; students are to be as quiet as possible; students are to observe and write down their observations in their notebooks.
- On the hike: at first the teacher may point out things such as dew on a spider web or the way the sand glistens, but soon the students are pointing out things to the teacher who says, "write it down." After 45 minutes, the class goes back to the classroom.
- In the classroom, the teacher and students first write a group haiku pointing out the form and developing a poem with the required kigo.
- The students are then instructed to write their own haiku from the observations they made.
- Students are given 30-45 minutes to write, with the teacher also writing. As the students finish, the teacher will confer with each to help develop the haiku.
- Students are invited to write and illustrate their haiku for publishing, either on a wall in the hall, or in book form.
Extensions and Cross-Curricular Ideas:
- From the intitial haiku hike, students are given ample opportunity to write haiku each day.
- Haiku can be used in any subject, and is a powerful way to communicate a moment in time with few words.
Resources and References:
- Haiku Hike, Fourth Grade Class at St. Mary's Catholic School, Mansfield, MA. Scholastic 2005.