Handout for Rhyming
Learning to rhyme is an important skill that will help your child learn to read. Here are a few suggestions that you can do with your child at home.
- Read nursery rhymes or sing songs with rhyming words. Exaggerate the rhyming words. See if your child can tell you which words rhyme.Vary the above activity by leaving out the rhyming words and letting your child fill in the blanks. For example, say Jack and Jill went up the ____.
Read Dr. Seuss books or other books with a lot of rhyming words. Help your child find the rhyming words.
- Help your child think of words that rhyme with his or her name, names of family members, days of the week, animals, etc. Throw in some nonsense words for extra fun and practice.
Before your child can learn to read, he or she needs to understand the connection between words we say and what is printed. Below are two activities that you can do with your child that will help with this skill.
- When reading a book or story to your child, read a phrase or sentence and help your child clap out the words in the sentence. For example, if you read the phrase, And the cow jumped over the moon, you should clap (with your child) as each word is read.
- Go through some photographs and ask you child for a sentence that describes the photo. Write the sentence down (That's me going down the slide). Together, count the words in the sentence and write the number beside the sentence.
Remember to read to your child and keep it fun!
