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Teach Haiku, Close Reading, and Cross-Curricular Learning with Riddle-ku

Riddle-ku: Haiku for Very Close Reading makes teaching haiku to children easy with 30 American-style (5-7-5) haiku by award-winning poet Laura Purdie Salas (author of BookSpeak , Water Can Be..., and more). Each haiku speaks from the voice of a common object recognizable to kids from kindergarten age up. These riddle poems make excellent close reading passages, as students study images and text and make inferences to answer them. A Note from the Poet with each poem shares Laura's writing process. Vivid language and rich nonfiction content-along with a sense of wonder and a dash of humor-make these poems engaging and accessible. Extension materials by Marcie Flinchum Atkins, including close reading activities, share ideas for springboarding from these riddle poems/haiku into deeper learning across many content areas.

Sample:

This merry-go-round
spins upside down: I'm singing
the room full of breeze

Answer: ceiling fan

A Note from the Poet:

Most haiku don't have a sing-song rhythm (da-DUM, da-DUM, etc.). But since a ceiling fan has a steady beat, I had fun trying to make this haiku have a beat, a rhythm.

The 30 PAINLESS CLASSROOM POEMS series

Are you uncomfortable with teaching poetry? Do you wonder what poems mean, how to meet Common Core poetry standards, and how to fit poems into your day? These are some of the issues educators face with teaching poems to elementary students. Let 30 Painless Classroom Poems make it easy Each book features 30 or more short poems for the classroom, Notes from the Poet, activities/lesson plans for teaching poems-written by an experienced classroom teacher, and tips for weaving poetry into your classroom. Terrific for National Poetry Month or everyday use See all of the 30 Painless Classroom Poems at 30PainlessClassroomPoems.com.

NOTE: In the 30 Painless Classroom Poems books, some sections, such as Why Poetry Is Important and Classroom Poetry Tips, repeat from book to book. But the poems, Notes from the Poet, and activities and poetry lesson plans are unique in each book.