Today I am sitting here in a small claustrophobic office getting my MacBook re-imaged for next year’s image. As I was sitting and watching my computer load and hoping I backed up everything correctly, I pulled out my iPad to get on Twitter and check up with my awesome PLN. It’s amazing how you can find an idea to use in the classroom within 5 minutes of keeping up with people.
I ran across @Trianglemancsd blowing up my Twitter feed with Haiku poems. Now, most of the time I would see something of this nature and think, “That’s neat” and move on. Something was different about these Haikus though. They were all tagged with the hashtag #WordProblemHaiku. As I started reading more and more, I realized this could be a great idea to use in the classroom during math, writing, or a unit on poetry. Many times I see students struggling to come up with an idea for a poem, however, writing Haikus has just taken on a whole new purpose with trying to write word problems in the form of a Haiku. The best part about it–they don’t necessarily have to be solved. It’s just another way to get students thinking outside the box in writing.
Implement this lesson with your students and have them comment to this post with their creations! I would love to see what they come up with!
Here are a couple I came across that were intriguing:
My dog’s bandana
Folded into a triangle
What’s the area?
–@Trianglemancsd
Bought a nice fishtank
We could find the volume, or
Fill it with a hose.
–@HawkeTalke
Two trains traveling
One east, one west; different speeds
When will they collide?
–@Trianglemancsd
Sides of three and four,
what is your perimeter?**
I sure hope you’re right.
–@absvalteaching
**It was originally hypotenuse, but I changed it for my elementary kiddos
