A New Look at Nursery Rhymes

It’s time for the Wednesday Website suggestion!! For two years, I was the Technology Specialist at a school in Georgia. During that time, I amassed a large collection of websites that I use with my students. You can download my E-Book of Websites for the Elementary Classroom for free from Teachers Pay Teachers or Smashwords, or, you can check back here each week for the Wednesday Website suggestion.

My school does a school wide nursery rhyme each week.  (Here is a further explanation of our nursery rhyme program – LINK.)  While the younger students are working on rhyming words and sequencing, our older students work on story elements, reading comprehension strategies and the story “behind” the rhyme.  We use websites like Nursery Rhyme Lyrics, Origins and History and The YouTube Channel – Nursery Rhyme Time Cool School to help our students think deeper about these rhymes.  Check out this Cool School version of Jack and Jill:

 

Isn’t that great?  Did you ever think about the fact that a well shouldn’t be on a hill?  I didn’t, so this video gave me a great talking point to help my students look deeper at a common nursery rhyme.

 

Why do we teach nursery rhymes at all age levels at the International School of Morocco?  Here are a few reasons:

- It builds a common knowledge and culture base.

- It increases vocabulary.

- It increases rhythm and reading fluency.

- It leads to great historical discussions.

Do you use nursery rhymes with older students?  If you’d like to, feel free to download these 3 free sheets, which can be used to further dissect nursery rhymes with older students.