Poetry, ah, poetry.

My sixth-graders just finished their second semester poetry unit, during which we read, dissected, and wrote our own:

Cinquains
Diamantes (sort of the Cinquain's Italian cousin)
Acrostics
"This is Just to Say" poems, a'la William Carlos Williams

Including this standout example:

This is just to say
That I kicked
Your football over the fence
Now it's in the street

I'm not sorry
And I'd do it again

I'm going to give you a slap also.



Omonatoepia. Onomon. Monoi. Sound word poems.
And
Haikus.


Now, I love Haikus. Basho is my homeboy, as the young people say. And in teaching the form to the kids, I tried to make it super engaging and fun. We started with a Haiku quiz: I wrote a bunch of haikus describing different areas in the school and different teachers, and the kids had to guess who/what the haikus were describing. Why? Because who doesn't like a short, easy to read poem about the boys' bathroom or the frequently enraged school janitor? Also, this is how I introduced the  5 syllables/7 syllables/5 syllables structure.

 Then, they all got to pick out and read haikus from the Haiku Hall of Fame (an institution of which I am the sole curator, custodian, and consigliore) from within the mysterious depths of the "Haiku Hat"(Skeptical question from the back: "Becky, isn't that just your recess hat?" Shut up, kid, and enjoy the fun and wonder! . . . Yes, yes it is..), we organized those haikus into different groups to figure out recurrent themes and images in classical haikus (the changing of the seasons, elements of the natural world, details involving the five senses, etc).

Next, everyone got clipboards with haiku templates and we went outside to be inspired by the school gardens and the animals in the peenat chai (the school zoo--literally "the corner of life."). Everyone's enjoying, everyone's having a good time. The carefully scaffolded, differentiated, constructivist lesson is a success. Japanese poetry is alive and well in Israel!

We end the class by going inside and listening to everyone read at least one of their poems out loud. The highlights follow (author names changed to protect privacy, natch):


A Pair of Haikus by Shira

University!
I love university!
Why? Because it fits!

Refrigerator!
I love refrigerator!
Why?See it! Also fits!


"The Teachers' Room" [Ed: i.e. "The Teachers' Lounge] by Avi

Room with many chairs
Students hate who is inside
Except for Becky

[Ed: This would have been very flattering if Avi did not add after reading it aloud, "I wrote that so Becky wouldn't get mad."]

"Untitled"
(This is by Tamir, and is very meta-poetic and post-modern, commenting on the form as he creates it)

I walk to the court
But I can't play basketball
I have to write this.

"Biebr Fiver" (sic, read: "Bieber Fever")

[please enjoy the scansion and meter employed here]

Justin  was just here
For a concert in Tel A[erased smudge]
viv and I saw it!


"Japan" by the extremely sweet, altruistic (and exclamation point-loving) Maayan

Home of the haiku!
But then there is earthquake!
Let's all give money!!!!

And last, but certainly not least:

The untitled and guilt-inducing work of Noy

Becky teaches me
But not forever because
Moves to Chicago
[Frowny face, frowny face, frowny rain cloud]