Article
Art by Andy Elkerton
Poetry,

Haikus

Delightful nature poems

By Kenn Nesbitt
From the March/April 2023 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will learn about the poetic structure of haikus and write their own.

Complexity Factors
  • Levels of Meaning
    The three poems of “Haikus” capture life around a pond from the point of view of three different animals.
  • Structure
    The three poems are haikus. The three lines of the first haiku rhyme. The first and third haikus contain internal rhymes as well.
  • Language
    The poems use figurative language, including metaphor, alliteration, and assonance. The language is mostly simple but contains a few words—like murky and sludgy—that may be unfamiliar to students.
  • Knowledge Demands
    No prior knowledge is needed.
Featured Skill: Poetic Structures,
Other Key Skills: poetry writing, text features, setting, visual literacy, point of view, summarizing, interpreting text, rhyme, synthesizing, figurative language, author’s craft, narrative writing
Standards
  • Common Core
    RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4, RL.5, RL.6, RL.7, RL.9, RF.4, W.3, SL.1, SL.2, SL.3, L.1, L.5
  • TEKS Grade 3
    1a, 1c, 3b, 4, 6a, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g, 6h, 7c, 7d, 7f, 8b, 8d, 9b, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e, 11, 12a

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Poetic Structures

The poems on this page are called haikus. Go online to learn more about this special type of poem and to write your own haiku!

Haikus

Through the sky, I fly.

A frog’s long tongue flashes by.

My, oh, my. Bye-bye!

Where you see a bug

zigzagging over water,

I hear the lunch bell.

Cold, murky water.

Slugs, bugs, and sludgy mud. Ahh . . .

There’s no place like home.

Reprinted by permission of THE POET. All Rights Reserved.

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Activities (3)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
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Activities (3) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Can't Miss Teaching Extras

Poet Kenn Nesbitt’s Poetry4Kids website is a treasure trove of delightful poems, fun games, and other wonderful resources related to understanding and appreciating poetry. Teachers and students alike will find much to enjoy here. See the webpage “How to Write a Haiku” for more great information on haikus.

Offer more opportunities for writing poems that use a specific poetic structure by going to “Shape Poems,” two funny and endearing shape poems, and “A Circle of Sun,” a graphic poem that celebrates the joy of being alive.

Enjoy another poem told from an animal’s point of view. “A Poem From the Treetops” offers an orangutan’s perspective on humans. 

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Table of Contents

1. Preparing to Read

2. Close Reading

3. Skill Building

1. Preparing to Read

Set a Purpose for Reading

  • Read the title of the poem along with the poet’s name. Ask students to describe the illustration and predict what the poem will be about. Review the predictions after reading the poem.
  • Explain that each of the three poems is a haiku, a very old form of poetry created in Japan. Haikus are short poems made up of three lines. Each haiku contains exactly 17 syllables. The first line has five syllables. The second line has seven. And the third line has five. Choose one of the poems and have students clap out the syllables for each line.
  • Ask a volunteer to read aloud the Think and Read prompt.

Preview Text Features and Vocabulary

  • Before reading, point out the words zigzagging (moving along a path with short, sharp turns), murky (not clear), and sludgy (muddy) to students, and review their definitions. Go over any other vocabulary terms that may be challenging for your students.

2. Reading and Discussing the Poem

  • Read the poem to the class, play the audio version, or use text-to-speech.

  • Next, ask students to take turns reading aloud each line in the poem.

  • Discuss the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions.

Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions

  • Based on the poems and the illustration, where do the three haikus take place (the setting)? The setting for the haikus is a pond (or other small body of water). (setting, visual literacy)
  • Each haiku is told from a different animal’s point of view. Look at the illustration and describe who is speaking in each poem. In the first haiku, the speaker is a flying insect. (Some students might identify the insect as a dragonfly.) In the second haiku, the speaker is a frog. In the third haiku, the speaker is a turtle. (point of view, visual literacy)
  • What do you think is happening in the first haiku? In the first haiku, I think a dragonfly is flying over a pond while a frog is trying to eat it. The dragonfly decides to fly away to keep from being eaten. (Some students might interpret the last words of the poem to mean the dragonfly is eaten by the frog.) (summarizing, interpreting text)
  • Which words rhyme in the first haiku? The words that rhyme in the first haiku are sky, I, fly, by, my, and bye-bye. (rhyme)
  • How is the second haiku related to the first one? The second haiku is about the frog that is trying to eat the dragonfly in the first haiku. The two poems describe the same event from different points of view. (point of view, synthesizing)
  • Why does the frog compare seeing a bug flying over the water to hearing a lunch bell? The frog makes this comparison because it eats these types of bugs. For the frog, seeing an insect flying over the water is like hearing a lunch bell because the frog knows it’s time to eat. (figurative language)
  • What descriptive details does the poet use to help you imagine the home of the animal in the third haiku? The poet helps you imagine the home of the turtle by describing the feeling of the cold water and sludgy mud. He also tells you what the water looks like by describing it as murky and filled with slugs and bugs. You can tell the turtle really likes living in the pond because it says, “Ahh . . .” and “There’s no place like home.” (author’s craft)
  • How do the illustration and the haikus work together to show life at a pond? The illustration shows the different parts of the pond and what is happening in all three haikus. The dragonfly is above the pond trying to avoid the frog’s long tongue. The frog is atop the water on a lily pad trying to eat the dragonfly. And the turtle is enjoying its home at the bottom next to a slug and some bugs. (visual literacy, synthesizing)

 

3. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Writing Poetry

Distribute or digitally assign our Write a Haiku! Skill Builder and have students complete it in class or for homework.  

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