Lessons & Units

Genre Studies: Nursery Rhymes Kindergarten Unit

Lessons

Lesson 1 Rhyming Words Explain that nursery rhymes have rhyming words.Identify rhyming words in a nursery rhyme.
Lesson 2 Characters Explain that nursery rhymes have characters.Identify the characters in a nursery rhyme.
Lesson 3 Tells a Story Explain that nursery rhymes tell a story.Retell the story in a nursery rhyme in their own words.

Unit Extension Ideas

  • Using other nursery rhymes, students should be expected to identify rhyming words, identify characters, and retell the story in their own words.
  • Students can act out a nursery rhyme in sequence.
  • If character traits have been introduced, students can discuss how a character in a nursery rhyme is feeling. For example, how does Humpty Dumpty feel when he falls? When he can’t be put back together again? How do the king’s men feel when they can’t help Humpty Dumpty?
  • You can use nursery rhymes to teach different phonics skills (“Jack and Jill”: “j” sound or “Baa Baa Black Sheep”: “b” sound or “sh” sound).
  • Make a class big book about all of the nursery rhymes that your class studied in this unit by writing one rhyme on each page and have different students illustrate each page.
  • Create a rhyming words bulletin board with rhyming words from nursery rhymes and other stories.
  • Create a rhyming words bingo game and have the students play the game during center time.

Teacher and Student Materials

User Comments

This unit was awesome!! By the end, my students had complete mastery of nursery rhymes. I did not make the brown bag puppets, we do not have time for that during our literacy block. However my students were still able to explain and discuss the characters! Great unit!

Submitted by Ashley Reichert on 4/11/12