Haikus and Emotional Creatures

Last week a student expressed interest in writing haiku, so I offered Nettelhorst 2nd grade teachers the option of working on haikus or emotional creatures this week. Students in Ms. Rodriguez’s and Mrs. Barbeau’s classrooms practiced writing haikus for the first time. We looked at haikus from the book Guess Who, Haiku?, as well one by Matsuo Bashō and another by Richard Wright. Haiku poems originated in Japan, and consist of three lines with the pattern of:
line 1: 5 syllables
line 2: 7 syllables
line 3: 5 syllables
Traditionally written about nature, haikus are now written about any and everything! Students learned that small poems written in a specific pattern can be more challenging to write than they appear!

In Ms. Froman’s class, we read “J is for Jealousy” from An Emotional Menagerie. We discussed what it means to be jealous, and how jealousy is a very human emotion that can be managed in a positive way. Like the poem’s final stanzas suggest:
“For jealousy points out for us/ Our own deepest desires:/ Those hidden wants and secret dreams,/ Which stoke our jealous fires.”
“Note down what you feel jealous of/ And use this as a guide/ To plan the life you’d like to lead,/ The path you hope to find.”
Afterward, students selected emotions and wrote poems about those feelings as emotional creatures!

Ms. Rodriguez/ Ms. Thornborough 2nd Grade

Alastair H.

as the sun rises
and the clouds fill up dawn skies
the moon goes away

Love that poem Marielle B.

a three lined poem
as tall as a sunflower
teamo poems

Charlotte P.

tigers moving slow
in the prairie tall grasses
hunting for bunnies.

Nature smelling good
helping animals live life
always helping us.

Arthur P.

a duck sits at dawn
a duck splashes in the pond
a duck sleeps silent.

the tree is silent
the tree wildly shakes in wind
the tree stops shaking

Mrs. Barbeau 2nd Grade

Group Haikus Group

1
students on the rug
clap their hands with sounds of joy
think, make, and create

2
flowers feel like cloth
yellow, red, petals that fly
with the wind, gently

Kedem L.

petals floating down
sounds of the waterfall move
in a melody

Audrey D.

the city is loud
the city has cars honking
the city is safe

Yuzuki A.

I hear loud noises
from the wind of the deserts
and small sounds going

Ms. Froman 2nd Grade

Group

If quiet was a creature
it might look like a mouse
it might live in the desert
feelings of calm and nothingness.

Violet is the color quiet
or the gray or black
of silence.
Quiet might live in a cave.

Anxiety Malik A.

If anxiety was an animal
It might have bunched up fingers
nervous and orange. scared if
he’s lost. he gets scared easy
when he’s with friends he’s still
nervous a little bit

Emotion Quinlynn A.

If kindness was an
animal
it would
be light blue
and its little
wings glide
and its little
antennas would
swirl.

The creature of frustration Gabriel W.

If frustration was a creature
it would have black scales.
a forked four-banded tail.
It would howl and growl,
and have sharp fangs.
It would lurk the trees
and on its head,
are two pointed horns.
I guess that wraps up my
story, like how it curls up
with fury.

S is for Sleepy Teyjas S.

It lays on a tree
munching on a leaf
suddenly it jumps
up. A fuzzy gray
coat. Now it hugs
a tree and falls
asleep. What is it
thinking now?

Show the Way Ayla S.

Sad is like a[n] animal
that purrs and has
fur but lives in

the unknown but still
will show the way
in silence for a
animal shall not make
a word for it has
a pure heart so
stick with me and
you’ll soon be
leading the way.

Happy Oliver W.

If happy was a creature,
it would look orange and white
it would sniff and explore
It would go to the forests. It would feel
furry and warm.