Growing Readers and Writers

Primary-grade children can learn rhythm and rhyme from nursery rhymes. But those same poems can be used to help young students make connections to letters, sounds, and word chunks. This lesson lets Mother Goose help children grow as readers and writers. During the 5-10 minutes per day for these lessons, students will: develop a feel for the rhythm of poetry as they recite, chant, and sing the nursery rhymes; connect familiar characters from the nursery rhymes with letters of the alphabet and beginning sounds; recognize and identify rhyming words, noting the familiar chunks in words like Jill and hill or wall and fall; and apply these skills in shared and interactive writing, and as they are ready, in their own writing. The instructional plan, lists of resources, student assessment/reflection activities, and a list of National Council of Teachers of English/International Reading Association (NCTE/IRA) Standards addressed in the lesson are included.