Have you ever wondered what life is like in another country? How is its culture different from ours? Well, the sixth grade ELA and art classes have jumped across the Pacific Ocean and landed in Japan. Observing Japanese art prints and reading and listening to the wonderful poetry of the culture, the students are learning about two different styles: haiku and tanka. A haiku is a three line 17 syllable poem dealing mainly with nature.It has a structure which is built on syllables [5-7-5]. A tanka , a five line poem, is more sophisticated and requires 31 syllables [5-7-5-7-7].The students formed a renga, which is a poet’s group, where everyone writes a line of poetry and then adds to someone else’s poem. It is a round robin effect. In the end, many haiku were written and displayed in an art/poetry gallery. For those who find trouble writing poetry or for just some fun, the students used their Chromebooks to write haiku from a poetry generator. Lastly, Lola Ojamaa, a sixth grader, who recently visited Japan, spoke with some classes about her experiences in Japan. Learning about traditional Japanese culture, the sixth graders will be able to incorporate their experiences in creating more poetry and in their art unit this month.
