131-Haiku Scrolls Lesson Plan--Grades 4 and Up

Haiku Scrolls—Grades 4 and up

Aims:

• To learn how to use gradated shades of ink on rice paper to create a “Japanese-style” scroll
• To integrate literacy and social studies into the curriculum
• To combine poetry and image in a work of art
• To learn about syllables and the haiku form

Materials

India ink/water

Styrofoam egg carton or watercolor palette

Bamboo ink pen

Soft brush

Rice paper (11”x 36” or so)

Practice paper

Procedure

If you have students who need a place to start, have them write on a piece of paper the following:
2 places
A weather word
Another weather word
6 verbs
2 names
6 nouns
6 descriptive words (Adverbs/adjectives)
2 animals
4 feelings
A few random words (and, the, into, out, etc.)

(You can make up your own list, but you need enough to give your students good options.) Have students cut out the words, magnetic poetry style and write how many syllables are in each word at the top of each small piece. This will help when constructing your haiku.

Students then are give the challenge of constructing a simple haiku using the 5-7-5 syllable format. An example might be 

Fleeting gold sunshine

Falls into winter darkness

Until the morning.

Usually there is some sort of reference to the season in a haiku, which is something your students might be able to try. After they get their haiku composed they should plan their scroll on practice paper, putting the words in the body of the scroll. Decide whether you want horizontal or vertical scrolls. (I prefer vertical.) Next, you can have your students play with their bamboo pens and brushes to see how to make marks and get effects on the rice paper. Put newspaper under the work to protect the table as rice paper is very porous.

When students have practiced, they can go onto the scroll. (I prefer not drawing in pencil first but this may be difficult, depending on your students. Working directly on the rice paper will give you more luscious results.)

When completed, you may glue dowels to the ends, adding a string hanger for vertical scrolls.

Note: These scrolls look beautiful in windows, as they are translucent.