Rhyming

About half-way through the year I would introduce rhyming to the kindergarten students. I didn't realize how important recognizing beginning, middle and end sounds were until then. (See previous post) Until then, we had been focusing on beginning sounds and when students insisted that "dog" and "dock" rhymed, I knew I had some work to do.
We sang lots of songs. Two of my favorite were "A Hunting We will Go" and "Wiloby Waloby" "Wiloby Waloby" can be chanted or sung. It goes like this:
Wiloby Waloby Woo
An elephant sat on you
Wiloby Waloby Wee
An elephant sat on me.

Wiloby Waloby Wusan
An elephant sat on Susan.
Names of students in the class can be substituted for Susan. (e.g. Wack-Jack and Wam-Sam) Students try to guess the second name. Students love this, the idea of somone they know getting sat on by an elephant.
Another activity we used helped to distinguish beginning middle and end sounds. I lined up a bell, a box of rice and a New Year's Noisemaker. You can use other items as long as they have three distinct sounds. I would have students close their eyes. Then I would mix up the order of the items. After I made the sound of each item, students would have to tell me if the bell sound was at the beginning, middle or end.
We would use other activities such as rhyming Bingo to reinforce the principle. We also sang rhyming songs every day. One song called "A Spider on the Floor" I sing now with my grandchilden. The song is sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It" Those singing the song make a five legged spider out of their hand and put it on the floor. This pretend spider crawls to the corresponding body part with each verse of the song. (Management tip: The rule is that the spider can only crawl on one's self, not on anyone else.)

The words go as follows:

There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.
Who could ask for any more
Than a spider on the floor.
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.

There's a spider on my leg, on my leg.
There's a spider on my leg. on my leg.
Oh, he's really really big.
I've got a spider on my leg,
There's a spider on my leg, on my leg!

There's a spider on my arm, on my arm.
There's a spider on my arm, on my arm.
Should I pull the fire alarm
I've got a spider on my arm.
There's a spider on my arm, on my arm.

There's a spider on my neck, on my neck.
There's a spider on my neck, on my neck
Oh, I'm gonna be a wreck.
I've got a spider on my neck.
There's a spider on my neck, on my neck.

There's a spider on my face, on my face.
There's a spider on my face, on my face.
Oh, its such a big disgrace
I've got a spider on my face.
There's a spider on my face, on my face.

There's a spider on my head, on my head.
There's a spider on my head, on my head.
Oh, I wish that I were dead.
I've got a spider on my head.
There's a spider on my head, on my head.

(spoken: But he jumps off.)

There's a spider on the floor, on the floor...
(Song can be sung again if desired.

What I learned: Children may be able to rhyme but they don't understand what makes a word a rhyming word so often are not conistent.