Unit Topic: Nursery Rhyms

Unit Topic: Nursery Rhymes Grade Level: Pre-K - 1 Prepared & Presented by: Diana Kealey & Julie Kim This unit has been designed to teach and reinforce basic reading and math readiness skills. It includes hands- and mind- on activities to help develop fine and gross motor skills and activities to encourage cooperation, turn-taking and sharing.

Unit Objectives: Students will demonstrate their ability to:

1) Recognize and learn new vocabulary words from each rhyme. 2) Recite 4 out of 5 of the nursery rhymes studied. 3) Identify rhyming words. 4) Distinguish objects by their characteristics such as size, color, or number. 5) Sequence events of a rhyme in order. 6) Follow hand motions to act out rhymes. 7) Count to 10. 8) Sequence numbers to 10. 9) Cut out pictures staying within ¼ inch of border. 10) Color pictures staying within ¼ inch of border. 11) Identify and match four basic shapes – triangle, circle, square, and rectangle. 12) Sort words into correct word families. 13) Follow along rebus rhyme as the rhyme is read aloud. 14) Recognize and continue AB pattern. 15) Predict whether items will sink or float when placed in a pail of water. 16) Choose appropriate materials to ‘act out’ nursery rhymes. 17) Recognize characters from nursery rhymes. 18) Display appropriate characters under correct rhymes. 19) Recognize and fill in missing letters in the rhymes. 20) Participate in creative and enjoyable activities while learning different nursery rhymes.

Objectives:  Recite the nursery rhyme.  Identify rhyming words.  Recognize and learn new vocabulary words.  Recognize and fill in missing letters.  Color pictures within 1/4-inch border.  Cut within 1/4-inch border and paste pictures on the plate provided.  Choose appropriate materials to ‘act out’ nursery rhymes.

Materials :  Nursery Rhyme CD  Rhyme poster  Drinking straw  Picture templates (cow, cat)  Paper plate  Rebus rhyme  Rhyme sheet with missing letters  Felt board characters  Coloring sheet with characters from this rhyme

Plan : Ask students if they know any nursery rhymes. Ask volunteers to recite one of their favorites. Display the rhyme poster. Ask students to identify the rhyme. Discuss the characters in the rhyme. Read the rhyme to them while tracking the words with your finger. Have students repeat each sentence after you. Read the rhyme together. Introduce and explain the meaning of the new words (fiddle, diddle). Distribute the rebus rhyme. Listen to the CD and ask students to follow along on their rebus rhyme with their fingers. Introduce and explain the word family “oon”.

* Activities : 1) Ask students to color and cut out the characters for this rhyme. Distribute a paper plate to each child. Let them paste the pictures on the plate to make a collage of the rhyme. 2) Provide templates of the cow and the cat. Ask students to color and cut out each of them. Paste each picture to a straw to make a stick puppet. When puppets are completed, play the rhyme CD and allow students to act out the rhyme with their puppets. 3) Distribute copies of this rhyme with missing letters to the students. Help students fill in the missing letters. Objectives :  Recite the nursery rhyme.  Identify rhyming words.  Count to 10.  Sequence numbers to 10.  Color pictures within 1/4-inch border.  Cut out pictures staying within ¼ inch of border.  Distinguish objects by their characteristics such as size, color, or number.  Follow hand motions to act out rhymes.

Materials :  Nursery Rhyme CD  Rhyme poster  Rebus rhyme  Picture of a big shoe with numbered pockets  Construction paper  Preprogrammed shoes – shoe cutouts with different colors, shapes, letters, or numbers on them, one pair of each to make a set  Reserve computer lab

Plan : Display the rhyme poster. Have students identify the rhyme. Go over the characters in the rhyme. Read the rhyme to them while tracking the words with your finger. Read the rhyme together. Distribute the rebus rhyme. Listen to the CD as students follow along the rebus rhyme with their fingers. Have students identify the rhyming words. Introduce and explain the word family “en”. Teach students the hand motions to this rhyme. Encourage students to act out the motions as they listen to the CD. Reinforce the rhyme by visiting http://www.smartcentral.com/BuckleShoe.htm. * Activities : 1) Have students trace and cut out ten of their classmates’ shoes. Model how to write the numbers 1-10, one on each “shoe”. Hang the picture of a shoe with numbered pockets from 1-10. Have students put each numbered shoe in the correct pocket. 2) Set up matching center using preprogrammed ‘shoes’. Children take turns picking shoes trying to make matching sets. Objectives :  Recognize and learn new vocabulary words.  Follow along rebus rhyme as the rhyme is read aloud.  Identify rhyming words.  Distinguish objects by their characteristics such as size, color, or number.  Cut out pictures staying within ¼ inch of border.  Color picture staying within ¼ inch of border.  Choose appropriate materials to ‘act out’ nursery rhymes.  Participate in creative and enjoyable activities while learning different nursery rhymes.

Materials :  Rebus rhyme  Rhyme poster  Nursery Rhyme CD  Candle patterns  Crayons, glue, and scissors  Emptied paper towel rolls

Plan : Display the rhyme poster. Have students identify the rhyme. Go over the characters in the rhyme. Read the rhyme to them while following along with your finger. Introduce and explain the meaning of each of the new vocabulary words. Ask students to make up a new sentence using the new vocabulary words. Give out the rebus rhyme. Listen to the CD and let them follow along with their fingers. Introduce and explain the word family “ick”. * Activity : Have children color the candle patterns and cut them out. Ask children to glue the candles onto paper towel rolls. Call on the children to act out the rhyme using the candles they have made, changing the words of the rhyme to match their names and candles. (______be nimble, ______be quick, ______jump over the ______candlestick.)

Objectives:  Follow along rebus rhyme as the rhyme is read aloud.  Identify rhyming words.  Recognize and learn new vocabulary words.  Identify and match four basic shapes – triangle, circle, square, and rectangle.  Participate in creative and enjoyable activities while learning different nursery rhymes.  Recognize and continue AB pattern.  Cut out pictures staying within ¼ inch of border.

Materials :  Nursery Rhyme CD  Rhyme poster  Rebus rhyme  Laminated Humpty Dumpty figure  Laminated shapes- triangle, circle, square, and rectangle- with magnets on the back  Humpty Dumpty template printed on construction paper  Scissors and glue  Decorating accessories such as wiggle eyes, pom-poms, etc.  Completed model of Humpty Dumpty craft Plan : Display the rhyme poster. Discuss the characters in the rhyme. Read the rhyme to them while following along with your finger. Pass out the rebus rhyme. Listen to the CD and let them follow along with their fingers. Introduce and explain the meaning of each of the new vocabulary words. Ask students to make up a new sentence using the new vocabulary words. Reinforce the rhyme by visiting the nursery rhyme website at http://smartcentral.com/humpty_dumpty.htm or color a page at http://www.enchantedlearning.com/paint/rhymes/coloring/ HumptyDumpty.shtml. Introduce and explain the word family “all”. * Activities : 1) Use two of the shapes to create an AB pattern that will be the first layer of Humpty’s wall on the blackboard. Ask volunteers to continue the pattern until the wall is completed. Put laminated Humpty Dumpty figure on top of the completed wall. Recite the rhyme acting it out with Humpty falling off the created wall. 2) Ask students to cut out Humpty Dumpty template. Show and/or assist students with accordion folding of the legs and arms. Assemble and decorate Humpty Dumpty figure by gluing accessories to the ‘egg’ head. Objectives :  Recite a nursery rhyme.  Cut out pictures staying within ¼ inch of border.  Color picture staying within ¼ inch of border.  Sequence events of a rhyme.  Identify rhyming pairs.  Learn and use new vocabulary words appropriately. (New vocabulary words: crown, pail, fetch, tumbling)  Predict whether items will sink or float when placed in a pail of water.

Materials :  Nursery Rhyme CD  Rhyme poster  Rebus rhyme  Reserve computer lab  Pail picture to be cut out and laced  Hole puncher  Yarn (3 feet per child)  Sentence strips with one line of the rhyme written on each  Completed model of the lace activity  Pail of water and objects that will sink or float  Sink/Float chart – list of objects with 2 columns – sink, float Plan : Display Jack & Jill Nursery Rhyme poster. Allow students to share their knowledge of the rhyme. Play nursery rhyme CD. Trail your finger along the words as the rhyme is sung. Play several times, encouraging children to sing along as they learn the rhyme. Introduce and explain the meaning of each of the new vocabulary words. Play the rhyme once more using the sentence strips to trail the words as they are sung. Scramble the sentences. Ask the children to help you put the rhyme back in order. Introduce and explain the word family “ill”. Review rhyme by visiting http://www.smart-central.com/Jack_and_Jill.html. * Activities : 1) Ask children to color and to cut out a pail picture. Use hole punch to punch holes on pail where indicated. Show students the finished product and model how to follow the arrows on the pail. Assist students with lacing. 2) Show children an object and ask if they think it will float or sink in the pail of water. Allow a child to place object in water to see if they are right. Mark correct column on Sink/Float chart. Continue until all objects have been tested. Objectives :  Recite 4 out of 5 of the nursery rhymes studied.  Identify rhyming words.  Sequence events of a rhyme in order.  Follow hand motions to act out rhymes.  Sort words into correct word families.  Recognize characters from nursery rhymes.  Participate in creative and enjoyable activities while learning different nursery rhymes.

Materials :  Sentence strips representing each line of the rhyme  Nursery Rhyme CD  Rhyme poster  Rebus rhyme  Pictures of characters from each rhyme with magnets on the back  Reserve computer lab  Nursery Rhyme books  Laminated strips of the word families (oon, en, ill, ick, all)  Flash cards for the word families

Plan : Display all the rhyme posters. Review the rhymes by listening to the CD and tracking the words on nursery rhyme posters. Play nursery rhyme character match game. (See activity below). Have students sequence the events of the rhymes in order. Display the laminated strips of word family. * Activities : 1) Nursery Rhymes Character Match game: a) Pass out one character to each student. Ask him/her to match each character to the correct rhyme. b) Display the scrambled sentence strips. Divide into five groups and have each group rearrange the sentences of one rhyme into the correct order. c) Show students each flash card and ask which word family it belongs to. Continue until all cards have been named. 2) Go to computer lab and have students paint their favorite rhyme at one of these websites: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/paint/rhymes/coloring/ HumptyDumpty.shtml http://www.enchantedlearning.com/paint/rhymes/coloring/ Heydiddle.shtml http://www.enchantedlearning.com/paint/rhymes/coloring/J ackandjill.shtml http://www.enchantedlearning.com/paint/rhymes/coloring/J ackbenimble.shtml 3) Give students free time to enjoy other Nursery Rhyme books in the classroom. Additional Hotlinked reference sites:

http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/sbcss/specialeducation/ecthemati c/rhymes/ (Activities, lesson plans and other information about nursery rhymes) http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Rhymes.htm (rebus rhymes, online coloring pages, songs) http://www.first-school.ws/theme/nurseryrhymes.htm (activities, themes, coloring pages, songs, lesson plans) http://www.niteowl.org/kids/hpdcolor.html (pages to print and color) http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/7444/hickory_dic kory_more_rhyme_menu.htm (some nursery rhymes and music, activities, lots of links to other useful sites) http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Fountain/5540/# H (Nursery Rhyme verses and songs) http://www.mothergoose.com/ (clip art, activities, rhymes, games and history) http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/index.htm (rhyme words, songs, crafts, activities)

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