Poetry Friday: Haiku Projects

Head over to Carol's blog, 

Beyond Literacy Link, for this week's

round-up of poetic goodness.  

Thanks, Carol, for hosting this week!

When I completed my month long alphabetic stroll for National Poetry Month in April, there were things that I left out that I knew I would want to revisit.  In mid-June I shared the book, Cool Melons Turn to Frogs about the life and poetry of Issa.  And this week I want to share a favorite poetry how-to book about haiku.  April was an expensive month for me since I kept thinking about poetry books that I wanted to own.  One of the books I purchased was Haiku:  Asian Arts & Crafts for Creative Kids.  This is a book that I checked out of the library each year to use with my sixth graders.  I taught them the seven keys to writing haiku and one of the students suggested that we make a mini-book with one of the keys listed on each page.  It was perfect and provided a ready resource for the students to reference as they wrote their own haiku.  I highly recommend this book if you're a novice to this writing form or if you'd just like to refresh your understanding.  

The book has a variety of projects that include writing your first haiku, a favorite season haiku, haiku with stories (haibun), haiku with drawings (haiga), and grouplike haiku with friends (renga).  

I see this as a perfect book to use with students or to give to a poetry loving child who also loves making things.  I like these words from the preface:  "Haiku may help us all to slow down, relax, and stop and see what is around us, so that we can appreciate our world and everyday life more."  And that's a perfect recipe for any day of the year.