Developing Oral Language Using Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes are a very effective way to build important language skills. Not only are the rhymes filled with complex words and thoughts, children naturally love rhythm, movement, poetry, and song. What better way to practice language than within the safety of spontaneous chants, rhymes, and songs. The reciting of rhymes improves memory and metacognition along with other skills that are great for brain development.

Nursery rhymes help build memorization and sequencing skills. Rhymes help children with articulation, pronunciation, sound discrimination, pitch, intonation, mouth and tongue development, and much much more. Rhymes can increase comprehension, vocabulary, and reasoning skills.

Nursery rhymes are becoming a lost art. Twenty years ago, you would be hard pressed to find a kindergartner who didn’t already know most of these great rhymes. Today’s kindergartners come to school knowing very few. It is up to us, their teachers, to bring the magic of song and rhyme into their worlds. We can also introduce them to new rhymes from different cultures. The website Mama’s Lisa’s World is a great resource for songs and rhymes around the world.

I like to focus on one rhyme for a day or two. I teach the rhyme and then show alternate versions in books and song using books and videos. Here are two videos of Nursery Rhymes from different cultures “A la vibora” from Mexico and “Arroz con leche” from Peru.

With each rhyme, I have students act it out as we sing or chant it. I keep those videos to later string together to make a production to put on my classroom’s private youtube channel. Kids love watching it again and again. Another way to showcase your nursery rhymes and deepen oral language practice is by presenting a class or even grade-level play featuring Mother Goose herself.

There are so many activities you can incorporate into your daily academics using a Nursery Rhyme twist. Kids love when the song or poem spills out into their daily learning. Kids love playing a game of Old King Cole Gathers His Fiddles when they practice rhyming words, or The Cow jumped Over the Moon, where numbers are compared.

Our thematic unit contains many fun activities your students will love: Poetry, fingerplays and songs, shared or close reading activities, math games, language games, art projects, writing activities, and class-made or guided books.

So, dust off those nursery rhyme books! Research is on your side. "Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by hear…, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight.”

-Fox, M. (2001). Reading Magic. San Diego, CA: Harcourt.

Nursery Rhymes Thematic Unit

$8.00

Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!

Product Description

This thematic unit, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, is strategically linked to academic Core Standards. It is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, worksheets, science, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation.

Table of Contents:

Shared Reading Activities

Mother Goose Rhymes: Saying or Singing Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes: Sequencing Nursery Rhymes

Hey Diddle Diddle Pocket Chart Activity

Literacy Activities

Mother Goose Mix-up: Building Working Memory

Humpty Dumpty Rhymes: Matching Rhymes

Blind Mice Chase: Identifying Letters

Mary Goes To School: Using Preposition Words

Mary's Letters: Tracing Letters A-Z

Little Lost Lambs: Hunting For Alphabet Letters

Math Activities

Little Bo Peep's Sheep: Counting Objects to Match Numbers

Under The Haystack: Identifying Shapes

Nursery Rhyme Patterns: Naming and Creating Patterns

Hey Diddle Diddle Numbers: Identifying Number Names

Nursery Rhyme Puzzles: Developing Spatial Reasoning Skills

Fetch The Pail: Counting & Writing Numbers

Songs/Fingerplays

Humpty Dumpty

Jack Be Nimble

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Little Bo Peep

Little Boy Blue

Jack and Jill

Little Miss Muffet

The Fly and The Bumblebee

Art Projects

Mary's Schoolhouse: Construction Project

Mary's School Portfolio Sample

Humpty Dumpty on a Wall

Writing

Hey Diddle Diddle Prewriting Practice

My Favorite Nursery Rhyme

Science

Insects & Spiders: Making Comparisons

Guided Reading Books

Mother Goose Land

Class Made Books

Mother Goose Rhymes

Teach Me To Rhyme

$8.00

Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!

This packet includes activities to help your students understand the concept of rhyming. The lessons vary in style and format. Some lessons are scripted, others are designed for independent practice. Some lessons can be used with small groups while others can be completed with a large group. All lessons can be adapted to support struggling students or to challenge high-achieving students.

The unit is organized into 19 lessons to be spread out during 7 weeks. Many of the Teach Me To Read Units are meant to be taught in tandem, following the learning to read timeline.

Here is the link for the syllable unit: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teach-Me-To-Read-Syllables-833730

Table of Contents Week 1 Day 1: Nursery Rhyme Time
Week 1 Day 2: The Hungry Duck
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Week 2 Day 1: Buggy Rhymes
Week 2 Day 2: Apple Tree Rhymes
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Week 3 Day 1: Web Treasures
Week 3 Day 2: Roll and Rhyme Halloween (or any season)
Week 3 Day 3: Halloween Rhyme Time
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Week 4 Day 1: Picture Pairs
Week 4 Day 2: Rhyming Flags
Week 4 Day 3: Turkey Lurkey Rhymes
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Week 5 Day 1: Rhyme Me a River
Week 5 Day 2: Le Revelillon
Week 5 Day 3: To The North Pole
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Week 6 Day 1: The Lost Mitten
Week 6 Day 2: Planes Trains and Everything Else
Week 6 Day 3: Match a Rhyme
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Week 7 Day 1: Rhyming Sunglasses
Week 7 Day 2: Home Tweet Home
Week 7 Day 3: T-Shirt Twins

Mother Goose Themed Books

$2.00

Also available on TPT

Product Description

A Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme themed guided reader make learning to read fun and engaging! Kids LOVE paper themed books that visit familiar topics. This set also includes a read-aloud Mother Goose Little book.

Offering students a paper book that can be colored and taken home offers students authentic purpose for the guided reading instruction and opportunity to practice techniques at home. Plus your kiddos will love them!

Contents Include