Nursery Rhyme Mania

Happy Monday!  I’m popping in for a few minutes to share our fun times with nursery rhymes.  This is one of my favorite topics to teach at the beginning of the year because I feel like regardless of the level, all of my kiddos can be successful reading and reciting the rhymes. 

Also, in such a short amount of time we are able to focus on so many fundamental skills:  

Tracking left to right

vocabulary

rhymes

sequencing

retell

Not to mention we target reading, writing, speaking and listening all at the same time.

We are focusing on one nursery rhyme every two days.  Last week we did Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, Hickory Dickory Dock, and this week we are finishing Hickory Dickory Dock, Jack and Jill and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. 

I begin my lesson by having the students listen to the nursery rhyme. I want my students to feel comfortable with the rhythm and rhyme of the nursery rhyme.  We sing it a few times together and act it out.  Then after we sing it I show them the nursery rhyme in print. 

After we read it a few times for enjoyment we dive in and take a closer look.  We read like detectives and look for important words that help us understand the rhyme.  I track line by line and ask my students to tell me words they think are important.  

We take some time talking about the vocabulary words and why they are important. For a movement break I have them quiz, quiz, trade (a Kagan strategy) where students walk around with a vocabulary card and tell why it is important in the story and then trade their card with a partner.  

Next, we work on sequencing the nursery rhyme with pictures. 

Students color, cut, and glue the nursery rhyme in order and then tell me the rhyme when they are finished.  I model pointing to the pictures as we tell the story.  Afterwards they color the nursery rhyme book where they practice their tracking left to right.  I have them get with a partner and practice EEKK (elbow to elbow, knee to knee) as they read the nursery rhyme with a partner.

Finally, we finish our nursery rhyme with creating props to act out the rhyme.  

For kiddos that finish early I have puzzles ready where they can sequence the rhyme by themselves or with a partner.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my nursery rhyme lessons.  It has been fun to watch my kiddos work through these rhymes.  They really enjoy it!  I hope you found them useful.  If you are interested I have all my nursery rhymes available in one bundle or sold individually on my TpT store.  

Have a great night!