St. Patrick's Day Haiku

What You Need:

• Lined paper
• Pen or pencil
• Markers, colored pencils, or crayons

What You Do:

1. With your child, discuss the concept of a haiku: a form of poetry originating in Japanese culture. It is made up of three lines: the first line contains five syllables, the second line contains seven syllables, and third line contains five syllables. A haiku poem does not rhyme. The challenge of a haiku poem is to take something simple and make an image of it in the reader's mind. For example:

A Cloud

2. Have your child practice writing a haiku by filling in the blank line in the following poem:

A Mountain

3. Have your child take a piece of lined paper and write down several words that he associates with Saint Patrick's Day. For example: green, leprechaun, shamrock, paddy, Ireland, etc.
4. Ask your child to choose one of the words to describe in detail. The word he chooses will be used as the focus for the haiku poem.
5. Encourage your child to write as many descriptive words or adjectives as possible for the word he chose. For example, shamrock: green, clover, plant, Irish, etc.
6. Then, using a new sheet of lined paper help your child arrange these descriptive words into a fun haiku poem. Make sure he gives the poem a title. For example:

Shamrock

7. Finally, have your child cut out the poem and paste it onto a sheet of red construction paper. Have him decorate it with markers, confetti, sparkles, leaves, etc.