Do You Haiku?

I was asked to teach 4 poetry workshops to the 4 second grade classes at Mann School in Oak Park, District 97. This is part of the Art Start program, funded by the Oak Park Education Foundation. I've never taught poetry workshops for Art Start before, never done a series of poetry workshops, and never taught poetry without first using art as an entry into the creative process.

I decided to ask for some advice. Debbie Creticos is a second grade teacher at Longfellow School. We've worked together on Art Start (art) projects for at least 4, maybe more years. And sometimes we've introduced poetry to go with the art. Debbie invited another second grade teacher to join us and we brainstormed poetry and second graders together. At the end of the session Debbie said, "You'll be fine. They'll love you."

I reread Gooney Bird Is So Absurd, by Lois Lowry. This is a book Debbie introduced me to several years ago. Gooney Bird Green is a fabulous second grade character who likes to be in the middle of things and who wears the most flamboyant outfits imaginable. And each of the books in the series focuses on different aspects of writing and story-telling. In Gooney Bird Is So Absurd, the class is studying poetry. Following Lois Lowry's lead, I decided to begin with Haiku for my first Art Start workshop.

I turned to another great book, Haiku (Asian Arts and Crafts For Creative Kids) by Patricia Donegan. In this book the author provides a real understanding of traditional Japanese haiku, provides 7 keys to writing haiku, and includes many examples of both traditional Japanese haiku and haiku written by contemporary poets including children from all around the world.

Since my workshops are only 30 minutes long, the teachers follow up after I leave and help the students continue writing. I made a poster for each class with examples of haiku poems and a page spread from the proofs for my own book, The Robin Makes A Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal. Each season opens with a bird list, a sketch of a white oak tree in that season, a few bird sketches, and a haiku appropriate to the season. I also included a sheet of tips for writing haiku (basically taken from Donegan's Haiku book. Here's a copy of that sheet:

How to Write Haiku:

Haiku poems are made up of very few words, maybe six to ten, broken into three short lines. If you are trying to count syllables, the pattern is:

5 syllables

7 syllables

5 syllables

It is not necessary to count syllables.

Describe a moment in time—something that actually happened to you, that you actually saw. Choose your words carefully to paint a picture in your mind. Use descriptive words—not just “flower” but what kind of flower, what color flower, what about that flower is special and unique?

Create a snapshot, a picture, using words. Use your senses to get in touch with the world around you.

What do you see?

What do you hear?

What do you smell?

What do you taste?

What do you feel?

At recess, at lunch, on your way to and from school, pay attention to the world around you. Watch with “haiku eyes,” keep an open mind. Prepare to be surprised and find your haiku moment.

I left each class with a poster, a stack of magazines for cutting up, and nice blue card stock for the kids to write out their finished poems on and illustrate, perhaps using the page proofs from my book as inspiration. Here's a list of the books I left each class:

Lois Lowry, Gooney Bird Is So Absurd

Jack Prelutsky, If Not For The Cat

Bob Raczka, Guyku

Sallie Wolf, The Robin Makes A Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal

Reading Journal March 28, 2011

Poetry by Heart: A Child’s Book of Poems to Remember
Compiled by Liz Attenborough
Foreward by Andrew Motion, poet laureate, UK
The Chicken House, Scholastic, Inc.
Copyright 2001
124 pages

Wide ranging in subject matter, depth, length, and age-level, this collection contains many poems by “anonymous” and poems by Shakespeare, Yeats, Langston Hughes, Edward Lear and many more. From Limericks such as THREE LITTLE OWLS WHO SANG HYMNS:

There were three little owls in a wood
Who sang hymns whenever they could;
What the words were about
One could never make out,
But one felt it was doing them good.
Anonymous

to the wordplay of A FLY AND A FLEA:

A fly and a flea in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, ‘let us flee!’
‘Let us fly!’ said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
Anonymous

to WALKING THE DOG SEEMS LIKE FUN TO ME:

I said, The dog wants a walk.

Mum said to Dad, It’s your turn.
Dad said, I always walk the dog.
Mom said, Well I walked her this morning.
Dad said, She’s your dog.
I didn’t want a dog in the first place.

Mum said, It’s your turn.

Dad stood up and threw the remote control
At the pot plant.
Dad said, I’m going down the pub.
Mum said, Take the dog.

Dad shouted, No way!
Mum shouted, You’re going nowhere!

I grabbed Judy’s lead
and we both bolted out the back door.

The stars were shining like diamonds.
Judy sniffed at a hedgehog, rolled up in a ball.
She ate a discarded kebab on the pavement.
She tried to chase a cat that ran up a tree.

Walking the dog
seems like fun to me.
Roger Stevens

this collection is full of poems I want to keep close by me.

Reading Journal March 24, 2011

Small Talk: A Book of Short Poems
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by Susan Gaber
Harcourt Brace & Company
Copyright 1995
48 pages
Illustrations done in watercolor and colored pencil on Strathmore Bristol board
Display type—Simoncini Garamond
Text type—Stempel Garamond

All the poems in this book are short—from 2 to 16 short lines, each poem fitting easily on a single page. Some of the poems are quite simple and some are thoughtful and resonant. All contain beautiful language. This collection will appeal to young children who enjoy words and to older children who will find the depth without struggling to read length. Most of the poets collected here are familiar—Carl Sandburg, Aileen Fisher, Eve Merriam, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Langston Hughes, et al.

Two of my favorites include:

WHAT ARE HEAVY? By Christina G. Rossetti

What are heavy? Sea-sand and sorrow.
What are brief? Today and tomorrow.
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth.
What are deep? The ocean and truth.

And:

SUMMER COOLER by X. J. Kennedy

In the summer young Angus MQuade
Carried off to his castle of shade
Two cool soothing pillows,
The Wind in the Willows,
And an ocean of iced lemondade.