Poetry is an excellent means of teaching language to children. The Japanese created haiku and from this many things can be taught to children even in kindergarten. This activity will look at some ways to expose children to the art of haiku.

Haiku is a form of poetry that dates back to 7th-century Japan. It is unique in that it is short (usually three lines), non-rhyming, and speaks on one event (usually concerning nature but not always).

• Wind in the Long Grass by William J. Higginson and other books on haiku to be used for examples
• chart paper
• drawing paper
• pencils, crayons, markers

1. Locate as many books of haiku as necessary to give students good and easy to understand examples. The more concrete haiku will probably be the most helpful.
2. Tell students about haiku. Read many examples and show any pictures that may accompany them. Wind in the Long Grass by William J. Higginson is a very good illustrated book of haiku by various artists around the world.
3. Write examples of haiku on chart paper. This gives a good opportunity to work with skills such as: identifying how many words there are, what are syllables, learning simple words, comprehension, etc. If nothing else, exposing the students to this form of literature will be beneficial.
4. Many ideas can evolve from working with haiku:
   • Have students select a poem they like from a group that has been read. Either write the words down for them on drawing paper or allow them to copy the poem themselves. They can then illustrate what they think the haiku is saying.
   • Create a wall story or bulletin board of their work with these poems.
   • Create a big book of their haiku.
   • Try to get the class to work together in creating some haiku. Their haiku do not have to be true to form but this activity will get them creating and thinking.