Haikus and Book Creator

Writing a haiku was my first grade class' final poem during the month of April.

I was very excited and a bit nervous at the same time. A haiku has a every specific syllable pattern. The first line is 5 syllables, the second line is 7 syllables, and the last line is 5 syllables. 

I had been thinking about the best way to teach and support my class as they wrote their own haiku. I contemplated modifying the poem so that instead of counting syllables the kiddos counted words. I decided to use have the kiddos count words if they were having problems with the syllables. 

At this time in the year, my kiddos have worked with syllables in reading and spelling. They have clapped, tapped, pinched, hopped, and stomped syllables all year long. 

To begin the lesson, we discussed what a haiku poem was and looked at several examples. 

Next, we quickly reviewed syllables and counted syllables in several words. 

After the quick review, we counted the syllables in the lines of several examples.

Then, I showed the class the organizer I had made. Each line had the correct syllables. I thought this would help them organize their writing.

We then wrote a haiku together. The children were amazing! They counted the syllables perfectly. When we had a line that didn't fit, they shared thoughts of words that would work and make sense.

I then, before sending them off in pairs to write, changed the organizer to the one below. The kiddos were able to write their poem and count the syllables without the original organizer. You may get a copy of this very simple organizer by clicking here.

Here are some of the poems they wrote.

After they wrote their poems, we used the app Book Creator to create a class book of our haikus. 

If you haven't used this app yet you must run and try it out as soon as possible!  Our 21st Century Learning Coordinator introduced me to it. This app allows for a simple creation of an ebook on an iPad and incorporates the features of the camera, touch screen, and microphone of the iPad to create dynamic and multimedia documents. 

After each pair completed the final draft of their poem, they added illustrations. They came to me and took pictures of their finished copies, added a title, and recorded themselves reading the poems. 

I uploaded the book as a movie and was able to share with parents. Below is the finished book!  

Needless to say, I was very proud of them and they were very proud of themselves!