Writing
with
Nursery
Rhymes
Kathryn Bigelow
Westwood Elementary
Friendswood ISD
Special Education K-3
WHY use Nursery Rhymes?
Nursery rhymes have a strong sense of story
structure.
“Children’s exposure to fairy stories, tales, and nursery rhymes resulted in
awareness of story structure which was evident in thought-provoking
short stories with intertextual references.”
Janet Evans, “The True Story of Insy Winsy by A. Spider”, 2002
WHY use Nursery Rhymes?
Nursery rhymes are fun, repetitive, and nonthreatening.
“Exploring rhymes in games, poetry, and songs are enjoyable
Ways to provide knowledge and skills that can later help children
Become successful readers and writers.”
Elaine Danielson, “The Importance of Nursery Rhymes”, 2000
Using nursery rhymes as a literature base, represents a non-threatening
Approach to help students with reading and writing.
Beth Neiderman and Jean Kuhn, “Star Light, Star Bright:
Whole-Language Activities with Nursery Rhymes”,1993
Lesson :
Using characters/objects
within a nursery rhyme to
express a thought or
perspective
cavorite-lis
n
-fGET
tg/stores/d
communit
rate-item
cust-rec
just-say-n
true
m/justsa
Consider sharing before the lesson :
•variety of styles or versions of nursery rhymes
•books that tell the same story from different sides
Ex. The Original Three Little Pigs and The True Story
of the Three Little Pigs
• books that intertwine more than one story with another
Ex. A Wolf at the Door! By Nick Ward and The
Web Files by Margie Palatini
Center Ideas:
*Listening Center
-tapes with Nursery Rhymes
*Language/Reading Center
-puzzles
-sequencing
*Poetry/Writing Center
-copy the nursery rhyme and illustrate
*Drama or Dramatic Play
-post nursery rhyme(s) and have students act it out
-have puppets or felt activities for the students to use
to retell or make up their own versions of nursery rhymes
Adapting to Your Students
Younger Students
Older Students
•May have a nursery rhyme
with some words missing that
they can fill-in
•Could have students adapt a nursery
rhyme to the present time
Humpty Dumpty ________ on a
___________.
Humpty Dumpty had a great
______________.
All the king’s _________ and all
the king’s ______
Couldn’t ____________ Humpty
together again.
•Have groups of students write a version
of a Nursery rhyme as a character/object
within the same rhyme, the students will
then together they will make a skit using
everyone’s thoughts. Write it into play
format, and then perform for the whole
class.
Integrating Nursery Rhymes to ALL
Subject Areas
Math
*Use nursery rhymes to
write word problems
Ex. Little Miss Muffet had 2
gallons of curds and whey. She
decided that she was going to
share with the three bears.
How many cups will she be able
to get?
Science/Social Studies
Now and ThenRub-a-dub-dub
Jack and Jill
*locate the history/orgin of the
nursery rhymes
Journalism
The cow jumped over the moon
three times. Each time it took
him three minutes. It took the
dish and and the spoon five
minutes to run away. All this
started at 2:00 PM. What time
did this nursery rhyme finish?
*write newspaper leads,articles, etc.
from nursery rhymes
Art
*use the illustrators of nursery
different rhymes different
styles to discuss technique, etc.
Nursery Rhyme Websites
www.atozteacherstuff.com
www.enchantedlearning.com
www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/nursery_rhymes
www.hubbardscupboard.org/nursery_rhyme_activities.html
www.kinderkorner.com/names2.html#nursery
www.squiglysplayhouse.com
Lists of Nursery Rhymes
www.downingm.freeserv.co.uk
http://nurseryrhymes.allinfoabout.com/list.html
Bibliography
Teacher Resources and Articles
Janet Evans: “The True Story of Insy Winsy by A. Spider”
Beth Neiderman and Jean Kuhn: Star Light, Star Bright: Whole-Language
Activities with Nursery Rhymes
Elaine Danielson: The Importance of Nursery Rhymes
Iris McClellan Tiedt: Teaching with Picture Books in the Middle School
Sequencing published by Evan –Moor ISBN1-55799-662-8
Nursery Rhyme Mini-Book Plays published by Scholastic ISBN 0-439-35530-3
Bibliography cont.
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Amoroso, Lisa. Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog
Dalton, Anne. This is the Way
Fujikawa, Gyo. Original Mother Goose
Halpern, Shari. Little Robin Redbreast
Johnson, David. Old Mother Hubbard A Nursery Rhyme
Jones, Carol. Hickory Dickory Dock and other Nursery Rhymes
Lawson, Carol. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Manson, Christopher. A Farmyard Song An Old Rhyme with New Pictures
Peppe’, Rodney. The House that Jack Built
Trapani, Iza. Baa Baa Black Sheep
Trapani, Iza. I’m a Little Teapot
Trapani, Iza. The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Reid, Alastair and Kerrigan, Anthony. Mother Goose in Spanish
Scieszka, Jon. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!
Scott, Steve. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Spier, Peter. London Bridge is Falling Down!
Ward, Nick. A Wolf at the Door!
Whatley, Bruce. My First Nursery Rhymes
Wyndham, Robert and Young, Ed. Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes
Yolen, Jane. Street Rhymes Around the World