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Welcome back to our month-long WaterPoemProject.  It’s Day 3. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ.

Children’s poet and school librarian Linda Mitchell is sharing the writing prompt today.

Linda’s poetry prompt is a Found Haiku using Wonderopolis

You may have tried writing a haiku before. (Check out children’s poet Kenn Nesbitt’s haiku instructions here.) But today’s haiku challenge has an extra layer: Create your haiku from words you find in a Wonderopolis article about water.

Linda has provided some printables for us to use as we construct our poems.

Click to enlarge and/or print.

Click to enlarge and/or print.

Click here for Linda’s slides on how to create your Found Haiku.

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Your task is to draft a found haiku about water before the end of the day tomorrow, Wednesday, March 25, 2020. If you’re not in the mood for haiku, any found poem using words taken from a water-related article is a good alternative.

What exactly is a found poem? Find out at Facing History.

If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.

Linda Mitchell

Linda Mitchell is a family girl, middle school librarian (public school), creative, curious, geeky and loves to learn! Her weekly Poetry Friday posts can be found at A Word Edgewise: A Word Edgewise.

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#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:

Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections

Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.

14 responses to “#WaterPoemProject: Day 3, Linda Mitchell”

  1. Liz says:

    Linda, thanks for this prompt. It really made me read carefully! I chose to write a haiku with fewer than 17 syllables. I found the words in Wonder of the Day #79 Why are All Snowflakes Different?

    water vapor freezes
    on a tiny piece of dust
    snowflake

    • Linda Mitchell says:

      Love it! Yes, this does make a reader read and re-read very carefully. Seeing those words makes my teacher heart sing. I love how your poem condenses down to snowflake.

    • Laura Shovan says:

      I love that this prompt shifted your reading, Liz. The poem makes me appreciate the magic that must happen to creat a snowflake.

    • Amber Hadley says:

      I really like your poem. It’s lovely and precise.

  2. mia says:

    I wrote this poem using the article “Why Is Hot Water Foggy?”, all about the process of water boiling and the steam it releases.

    “evaporation”

    at the boiling point,
    your steaming cup of coffee’s
    liquid water turns

    • Laura Shovan says:

      Thanks for sharing which article you used, Mia! You captured that moment between liquid and steam so well. (And having the appealing detail of a steaming cup of COFFEE — yum.)

    • Linda Mitchell says:

      Cool! I mean, hot! I love that you focused on the movement. Nice job.

    • Amber Hadley says:

      I like the way you changed the word format, instead of water turns liquid (although I know you’re talking about steam) you put “turns” at the end. It created a unique image in my mind.

  3. I wrote from What is a Watershed #1812

    Where does water go?
    As upside-down umbrella,
    flow to lowest point.

  4. Amber Hadley says:

    Fun and challenging, thank you!
    Found poetry from Does Salt Water freeze? #833
    https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/does-salt-water-freeze

    ocean in winter

    polar ice caps crystalline

    isn’t ice wonderful?

  5. […] 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say? Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water Prompt 6: […]

  6. […] 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say? Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water Prompt 6: […]

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Laura Shovan

Laura Shovan is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Her second book, Takedown, is a Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selection. Look for A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi, in 2020. Laura is a poet-in-the-schools Maryland.

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