I hope everyone had a restful and fun holiday season! If you’re like me, it was a little rough getting back into the working routine. Thankfully, I have 26 second graders who were happy to share their energy!
I am excited to start our poetry unit, as this is one of my favorites! Although we use primarily free verse lessons from Lucy Calkins, I like to expose the students to several other types of poems. To do that, I use a variety of mentor texts and personal examples. Today, I’d like to share two great mentor texts and a freebie for Haiku poems that you can use in our own poetry unit.
The first mentor text I’d like to share is Dogku. This is a picture book written completely in Haiku. It tells the story of a stray dog finding a home.
Here’s an example of one of my favorite poems as this stray puppy is “adjusting” to his new home.
I love how Andrew Clements compares Haiku to a small vase for words in his Author’s Note. He explains how using just a few words helped him pick the perfect words. I have to agree with him, as his words perfectly describe how this family found a stray dog and made him their own.
Haiku is traditionally a three-line poem written in 17 syllables (5/7/5). However, modern poets are now taking liberty with some of these rules. The second mentor text I would like to share is Hi, Koo! This book explains their definition of Haiku in the Author’s Note.
I am loving this option, and thinking about having my students give it a try. In the past, some of my students got stuck on the syllables and gave up on some good ideas. I’m thinking that a little more freedom may alleviate that.
Hi Koo! takes students through the four seasons while providing excellent imagery and emotions. Each poem still has three lines, but the syllable rules are broken. Here is one of my favorite winter poems. I just love the figurative language.
If you’re interested in trying one of these Haiku styles in your classroom, I have a great freebie for you. I made two versions, one is for writing traditional Haiku, and the other is for the more modern version. If you’d like to use these forms in Google Classroom, simply delete the lines and keep the text box for your students to type. To download the forms, click here or on the pictures below. (You will be prompted to make a copy.)
I hope your students enjoy poetry as much as mine do! Please share your favorite mentor text for poetry. I would love some new titles to add to my collection.
