The Haiku Gallery www.HaikuGallery.com

Cold Antarctica
dangerous frozen desert
bottom of the world

Ponce de Leon
seeking a fountain of youth;
thirsty old soldier

Crazy Columbus
sailing west to end up east,
never finds China

Balboa's barrel
the man the dog
           and a sword;
poor brave stowaways

Where the streets are wet
they read of eastern wonders,
Marco Polo's Book

Copyright 2001 by J. L. Wagner.  
All rights reserved.

Welcome Teachers!

I built this site to provide recognition for the best work of my second and third grade students.

I introduce haiku when our phonics curiculum teaches about syllables.  Since haiku is used as a means to this end, we strictly adhere to the 5-7-5 structure.

Haiku writing is used to trigger higher-order thinking throughout the curriculum.   For example:  As each history story is finished, students meet in small groups to review the material and decide what moments, personalities, or places were important enough or interesting enough to deserve to be put into a haiku.

We do the same with other curriculum areas.  The contents of our Haiku Gallery are organized by school subject.

Initially, our students are satisfied just to achieve the right number of syllables.  As the year progresses, and they are exposed to numerous examples of classical haiku, their sensitivity to the potential of haiku is reflected in better work.

So stay tuned.  Visit us throughout the year, and watch us grow!