In honor of National Poetry Month (April), our storytime for today focused on rhyme. I began by asking the kids if they have ever heard of words that rhyme? A few of them had. One boy gave us the example "cat" and "hat." I offered "frog" and "log" as another example.
Books Rich in Rhyme:
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There's a Wocket In My Pocket! (Dr. Seuss)
Next, I explained to the kids that we will be reading books which have lots of rhymes in them. Our first book was Dr. Seuss's There's a Wocket in My Pocket! I showed them the cover and asked if they had heard about Dr. Seuss. Of course they had.
As I read the book aloud, I asked them to help me locate the different creatures that were hiding on the pages. I also repeated the words that rhyme (like "zamp" and "lamp", "jertain" and "curtain", etc.) so that they could hear the words side-by-side.
Bonus: "Walk it Like I Talk It" Rap
Whether you choose to show this to the kids or not, it is still so cool to hear how Dr. Seuss can be converted into a rap! I've caught one of our boys singing this song by himself on a few separate occasions (he is also obsessed with the wocket craft we made, which he carries in his pocket regularly).
Fat Cat On A Mat (Phil Roxbee Cox & Stephen Cartwright)
The next little book we read was Fat Cat on a Mat. We have a few different books from this Usborne Phonics Readers series and any of them could have worked.
This book has lots of different animals in it, so it's good to ask the kids to mimic the sounds when the different animals are introduced. In this book, there was the fat cat, a big pig, bees, Jake the Snake, and some chicks.
Whoops! (Suzi Moore)
For a final book, Ms. Courtney joined us to help read Whoops! by Suzi Moore. As Courtney read the story aloud, I used several finger puppets and an owl from the last story time to put on a little puppet show. The kids loved this book and thought it was very funny. If you would like to do a puppet show to go along with it, you will need a cat, dog, mouse, frog, owl, and old woman.
Rhyme Matching Game
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Next we did a rhyming activity. I created a set of flashcards on publisher which contain several categories of rhyming words, like words that rhyme with "dog," "cat," or "mail."
I chose two categories (words that rhyme with "cat" and words that rhyme with "mail" in this case) and showed the kids the first cards. I each card on either side of me then showed them some other cards. For example, I showed them the card "sail" and asked "Does 'sail' sound more like 'cat' or more like 'mail?'" Students called out which word they thought it rhymed with and we placed that card into the correct category on either my left or right side.
Craft: Make a Wocket!
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Finally, we ended with a fun Wocket in My Pocket craft I found on the Book Nerd Mommy website. This was a hit with the kids and the adults loved it too. You will need the following materials:
1. Popsicle Sticks (large; colored optional)
2. Markers
3. Feathers or Craft Pompoms
4. Googly Eyes (optional)
5. Adhesive (hot glue/sticky glue)
Let the kids draw and their faces and if you have googly eyes they can choose how many eyes and what sizes they'd like. Also let them choose their hair color. They can use the markers to draw on clothes or if you really want to go all-out they can use felt as well.
