Lessons & Units :: Genre Studies: Nursery Rhymes Kindergarten Unit

Lesson 3: Tells a Story

Lesson Plan

Learning Goal
Explain that nursery rhymes tell a story.
Retell the story in a nursery rhyme in their own words.
Duration
Approximately 50 minutes
Necessary Materials
Provided: Unit Example Chart, “Little Miss Muffet,” “Jack and Jill,” and “Three Blind Mice”
Not Provided: chart paper, markers

  • Teacher Modeling

    will explain to students that another characteristic of nursery rhymes is that they tell a story. I will add this characteristic to my Characteristics of Nursery Rhymes Chart that I started in Lesson 1 (Example Chart is provided in Unit Teacher and Student Materials). A good reader will be able to retell the story in a nursery rhyme by identifying the events that happen in a nursery rhyme. Events are the situations and things that happen in a story. A good reader will then retell those events in their own words (words that do not rhyme). I will model retelling the story in a familiar nursery rhyme, “Little Miss Muffet.” I will read the rhyme aloud. Then, I will think about what happened in the story by identifying the events. Finally, I will retell the story aloud in my own words. Little Miss Muffet sat down to eat. Then, a spider came and sat right next to her. Little Miss Muffet ran away because she was frightened.

  • Think Check

    Ask: "How do I retell the story in a nursery rhyme?" Students should respond that you can identify the events after your read the story and then describe the events in your own words that do not rhyme.

  • Guided Practice

    will listen to the nursery rhyme, “Jack and Jill” and identify the events of the story. We will work together to retell the events of the story by using our own nonrhyming words. We will reflect on how this nursery rhyme told a story that we were able to retell.

  • Independent Practice

    will listen to “Three Blind Mice.” You will identify the two events in the story, and draw them on your worksheet (provided). You will use the events to retell the story in your own words. You will explain how you know this is a nursery rhyme. Note: You may use the puppets from Lesson 2 to dramatize the events of the story.

Build Student Vocabulary tumbling

Tier 2 Word: tumbling
Contextualize the word as it is used in the story “Jack fell down, And broke his crown; And Jill came tumbling after.”
Explain the meaning student-friendly definition) To tumble means to fall quickly and suddenly. After Jack fell, Jill fell too.
Students repeat the word Say the word tumble with me: tumble
Teacher gives examples of the word in other contexts The stones tumbled down the hill. He tumbled after tripping over the sled.
Students provide examples What is an example of something that might tumble? Start by saying, “Something that might tumble is _________________________.”
Students repeat the word again. What word are we talking about? tumble
Additional Vocabulary Words fetch, pail

Build Student Background Knowledge

After reading the nursery rhyme, “Jack and Jill,” explain that it was written more than two hundred years ago in England, which is a country in Europe. Point to England on a map or globe. Explain that many familiar nursery rhymes come from England. Another example of a nursery rhyme from England is “Ring Around the Rosy.”

Texts & Materials

Standards Alignment

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