The Art of Haiku

Grade Levels: 3 - 5

Overview
Students use a web resource to learn about and write science-fiction poetry that uses a haiku format.

Objective
To write a specific form of poetry that draws on using figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, and an awareness of syllables.

Materials

Haiku Worksheet, one copy for each student

Steps

1. Tell students they are going to use the World Wide Web to read and then write some poetry. Discuss haiku with students, reminding them that traditional haiku is a type of Japanese poetry that is three lines long. The first line is five syllables, the second, seven; the third five. The subject of haiku is usually nature; the poet usually expresses a strong feeling about something in nature.
2. Then go to a website containing poems in the haiku and scifaiku format. Have students read the poems, and note how the authors used the haiku format to express strong feelings.
3. Explain to students that scifaiku is a form of haiku in which the traditional subject, nature, has been replaced by science fiction. You may need to define science fiction as a type of fantastic story that makes use of real or imagined scientific devices or inventions, such as spacecraft. Point out that scifaiku is similar to haiku: They both are simple and direct, and they both use figurative language such as similes and metaphors, as well as sensory words.
4. Provide the following example of scifaiku:

   Once my grandmother
   Told a tale from long ago
   She saw a Martian!

   Find other examples on the Internet.
5. Suggest that students think about words and ideas from the selections that they might wish to use in scifaiku of their own.
6. Have your students write their own Haikus. Encourage creativity!
   
   (Reminders: 1. Haiku usually has three lines and 17 syllables. 2. Remember to use sensory words that suggest sounds, smells, and visual images.)