Structured Literacy in the Science Classroom - Part 1 (Haiku and Syllable Structure)

The International Dyslexia Association promotes the concept of "Structured Literacy in Every Classroom," but that can be challenging to address when teaching upper-level science courses to students in general education.  

A fun way to incorporate science vocabulary, Structured Literacy, and the Science of Reading is to practice syllabication and phonological awareness using a haiku. 

Haiku is a form of poetry originating in Japan that is based on the number of syllables per line. A haiku consists of three lines of poetry with a 5-5 syllable structure. Poems can be on any topic, but themes often revolve around the beauty of nature and the seasons.

snow gently falling (5)

a candle in the window (7)

riding home at night (5)

I was in a middle school library teaching a workshop to students on Haiku when we brainstormed the topic of winter. We made lists of words in five columns related to the number of syllables in each word. Then, students used those words to create haiku poems.  A general education science teacher who happened to be walking through the library stopped to watch as the students worked excitedly to create their poems. 

"I could do this in my science class using science vocabulary," the science teacher told me. 

Haiku is often used with young students to promote writing because it is simple, words are sparse, and it doesn't require rhyme. Additionally, grammar and punctuation are not considerations. The children's author, Laurie Halse Anderson, speaks about her struggles with dyslexia in a Reading Rockets interview and shares how she had her first positive experience with writing when a second-grade teacher introduced her to haiku because she could choose the words she knew how to spell. See my 2020 blog post about Children's Authors with Dyslexia.   

In my book, Story Frames for Teaching Literacy: Enhancing Student Learning Through the Power of Storytelling, Chapter 10 is about "Poetry: Exploring the Power of Language and  Story Through Verse." In that chapter, I discuss using haiku to create mini book summaries. The one below is based on Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille, written by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Boris Kulikov

In a cold, damp school

Louis Braille, blind and alone,

Created a secret code

I am currently working on a poem about the invention of glass for an upcoming book for my HOT ROD series (Higher Order Thinking through the Reading of Decodables). The beginning of the poem starts with a haiku:

Sand, soda, and lime

Copper oxide turns it green

Watch the melting time

Here is an adaptation of my haiku writing process, which can be used for any grade level with any subject:

A. Research a Topic: I started with the Roman Era of Glass. 

B. Take Notes: I focused on the process of making glass and how silica (sand), soda, and lime were the key ingredients, with various oxides used to change the color of the final product. I also listed the different types of vessels made from glass (jars, lamps, cups, plates, flasks) and the most popular images used to decorate the glass (pigs, fish, sandals, and so forth).

C. Make a list of keywords and terms: From my notes, I compiled a list of words I thought would fit best into a poem. 

D. Create a Syllable Chart: Next, I put words and phrases into categories based on the number of syllables. 

    1 - pig, fish, mug, plate, vase

    2 - garlands, inflate, Roman

    3 - Medusa, manganese, drinking cups

    4 - copper oxide, floral patterns

    5 - bottles in bird shapes, bake it in a kiln

 E. Make a list of phrases: I added more 5-syllable phrases to the list above and then used words from the rest of the list to create 7-syllable phrases: use a bit of manganese, there's Medusa on a flask.

F: Organize the lines: Next, I arranged and rearranged the lines to come up with a 5-7-5 structure. 

F. Play with the pattern: Along the way, I played with the number of syllables if I came across a line that didn't quite fit. This process of adding or taking out words is a wonderful activity for practicing phonological awareness. Students must repeatedly think of phrases, count the syllables, analyze the number, and make adjustments. I had to follow that process when trying to come up with a 7 syllable line about manganese:

For purple, you need manganese (8) Manganese will give you purple (8) For purple, add manganese (7).  I finally settled on the last two lines below, both with 7 syllables, which I added to the haiku shown earlier to make a tanka, a form of poetry with the syllable structure 5-7-5-7-7.

Sand, soda, and lime (5)

Copper oxide turns it green (7)

Watch the melting time (5)

Use a bit of manganese (7)

for purple perfume bottles (7)

Because this poem is part of a decodable book that includes only sound a syllable patterns previously taught, there were many key terms I had to avoid because they involved vowel teams - blow, blue lead, beads - or c pronounced as /s/ or /sh/ in circus, century, bracelet, ancient. I also avoided words with silent letters like design. Consequently, another step for me was to find synonyms for words that did not fit the Scope and Sequence - pattern for design and inflate for blow.

Students working at Level 4 of the HOT ROD series have learned closed syllables (fish, pig, mug), open syllables (Roman, spiral), Silent e (plate, vase), and R-controlled syllables (garland, copper). Find the Scope and Sequence of the series HERE and watch this blog for more news about my new poetry book.

Sign up for my newsletter to receive more free activities for my ongoing COR series HERE. Stay tuned for news about the release date for Cars, Codes, Balloons, and Guterburg: Poems about Inventions.