November 13, 2009 - Fifth and sixth grade students at Blue Creek Elementary may not be mixing music for Beyonce, Justin Timberlake or Taylor Swift any time soon, but after creating their own songs from scratch, they may be well on their way to a career in the music industry.

Students were allowed to write Haiku’s about any topic they wished. Haiku is a major form of Japanese verse, written in 17 syllables divided into three lines of five, seven and five syllables. In this case, students wrote a poem, written in haiku-form. After they recorded the Haiku’s, the students used nano-keys to create music to add to the Haiku in a program called Garage Band. This program allowed the students to make their music sound like whatever instrument they wanted.

Listen to some of their work!

Sample Haiku 1 (.wma)

Sample Haiku 2 (.wma)

Sample Haiku 3 (.wma)

Once each project was complete, students presented their final productions in front of their classmates.

“It was really a great experience,” Blue Creek Elementary music teacher, Brook Greco, said. “We will be podcasting the projects and cross-referencing them in itunes so they are accessible to all families.”