This was another National Poetry Month lesson I did with first grade. We talked about haiku, and amazingly enough they got it! We learned that haiku usually has 17 syllables–5 in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third line–and we read Mark Reibstein’s excellent Wabi Sabi. They loved Ed Young’s illustrations and were constantly trying to figure out what was drawn and what was taken from photos. I really wasn’t sure the kids would get this book, it’s very subtle and addressed beauty in simple things. I need to give them more credit, because they got it. And without really being able to verbalize why, they understood that haiku was poetry even though it didn’t rhyme. They just liked the way it sounded, and they understood that it was different from regular lines in stories.
Tag: haiku