Nursery Rhymes

I love nursery rhymes!!!  Below are just a few activities my students did while learning about nursery rhymes.  I added pictures from my students' books to show you their actual work!

Jack Be Nimble:  Of course we used our gross motor skills and jumped over the candle stick!!! The students also wrote their name, cut them out, and pasted them over the word Jack.  They also crossed out Jack's name and wrote their name and drew a picture of themselves jumping over the candlestick.

 

My students also circled sight words or letters in the nursery rhyme depending where they are academically. 

1,2 Buckle My Shoe: During alone group, students traced and tried to write on their own the numbers.  Alone group is a group where I explain the rules to the students as a whole group what they are supposed to do.  Then, we it is their turn to be at the alone group, they try to remember the directions and work on their own without any help from the teacher or assistant. If they need help, they may ask the group leader and then "Three before me." 

The students also read this story from a sight word book where they are beginning to learn the basic knowledge of books.  We are learning author, illustrator, front and back of book, and reading left to right. 

The Itsy Bitsy Spider:  This was probably my students' favorite nursery rhyme.  For this one, the students made the house look like their own house.  They then were asked to go home and share this story with a family member. We have been using Daily Five in our classroom, therefore, the students are learning how to retell a story and picture read.  I encouraged them to read in one of these ways; however, some could actually read the words from memory. 

There was an Old Lady: The students were asked to make this simple shoe into a house.  Many students chose to draw a 'bunch' of kids on their shoe to remind them of the story.  As you can see, the students have had handwriting practice with all of these activities by tracing the title of each rhyme,  While learning this rhyme, they also 'spied' certain letters or sight words with a magnifying glass depending on where they are academically. 

Humpty Dumpty: The students drew a face on Humpty.  They also continued to search for sight words and/or letters. The students would have to read the sight words or say the letter before they could circle the letters/sight words. 

 Little Miss Muffet:  The students made curds and whey.  They cut long pieces of yarn for cutting practice and glues the string on the bowl...perfect for fine motor skills!

Hickory Dickory dock:  We learned the difference between second and minute hands on the clock as well as wrote or traced numbers depending again on what they are working on in their group. 

There you have it in a nutshell what my students have been working on the past few weeks with nursery rhymes.  They have also acted out most of these rhymes, read sight word books, retold the rhymes with a puppet or during buddy reading, and sang songs about each of these rhymes.  Jack Hartman has a CD with several nursery rhymes on it.  To end our nursery rhyme theme, my students participated in a Nursery Rhyme Olympics.  Check out Hubbard Cupboard's sight for ideas to use for your own Nursery Rhyme Olympics!