Friday, April 11, 2008

Poetry Friday -- Original Haiku

Each week this month, in celebration of National Poetry Month, my students are trying out a different short form of poetry. Last week they wrote 15 Words or Less poems. (I added a few more now that more permissions are in. Check it out!)

This week they tried haiku. All of the poems in this week's post were written by my fourth graders.

First, a haiku about haiku:

Look at the haiku
with the 5-7-5 pattern
on the white paper.

The next few were inspired by these photos I called "Faces in the Trees:"


The hawk is hunting
The squirrel is hiding
Tree is cowering

Hawks can hide from you
Hawks can hide from you
and me
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDay and night we'll wait

A hawk is hunting
A hawk hunts animals in
Forest and city

Magical forest
That is where a squirrel lives
Hiding in the tree

I am an old tree,
the vines tickling my nose,
in an old forest.

Your bark-made face, rough,
mysterious, nice and tough,
special and unique.




These were inspired by a set of photos I called "Buds and Blooms:"


It's spring! Let's play!
The garden has some flowers.
Let's give them to mom!

Flowers, Flowers, Hi!
Flowers, Flowers over there.
Good bye Flowers, bye!

flowers are blooming
in a garden full of plants
where they are growing

Sunny side up egg.
It's a beautiful flower.
It's yellow and white.

Look at the flowers
With the sun shining on them
And the petals bright







This week's round up is at a wrung sponge.

8 comments:

  1. Oh, my! You're growing some fine poets there. The one about haiku makes me laugh. It's so deadpan and true, very Billy Collins-like. And the sunny-side up egg! And the "hawks can hide" riff---I love that one.

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  2. ML,
    Your students are doing very cool things with poetry! Good imagery going on with some of them! I love that you're using photographs to inspire their writing. Most importantly, you lead by example when it comes to writing poetry.

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  3. Anonymous11:32 AM

    Don't you love that egg image?? Dang, I wish I'd thought of that...

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  4. These are delightful. Very nice pairing with the photos! I love the old vine in an old forest.

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  5. These are fun...the sunny side up comparison was a my favorite too. Doesn't poetry make kids happy?!

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  6. Love the forest poems. The photos look like they could have been taken at our house! We have the face tree, too! Love the old tree with the vines tickling my nose.

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  7. Mary Lee,

    I enjoy reading the poems your students are writing. I'm sure your students will remember their poetry-writing exercises in our class as truly positive educational experiences. I loved writing poetry with my students in both the classroom and later in the library.

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  8. Anonymous9:53 PM

    I love the delicacy of these. I'll bet these 4th graders are thinking differently about themselves and their writing after this assignment.

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