Begin by having a brief discussion about the participants' favorite childhood rhymes. What do they remember from their own childhood? These may be jumping rope songs, counting-out rhymes, or favorite nursery rhymes. What do they have in common?

The repetitive nature of these rhymes and repeated sound patterns make them easier to memorize. Children benefit from repetition and will often ask to play the same song, read the same book, or repeat the same pattern of the day. Just as participants remember rhythm and rhyme from their childhood, their children will, too.

Examples of childhood rhymes:

• Miss Mary Mack
• Fuzzy Wuzzy
• One Potato, Two Potato
• The Wheels on the Bus
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Ten in a Bed
• One, Toe, Buckle My Shoe
• Yi, er, san, si, wu – Chinese
• A Ram Sam Sam – Arabic, Moroccan
• Los Pollitos Dicen – Latin American
• Chunnu Munnu The Do Bhai – Hindi
• Kye Kye Kule – Ghanaian

Rhyming and rhythmic patterns are a fundamental part of language acquisition and literacy. By the end of this session, you will be able to use you knowledge of language to identify the rhyming patterns and rhythm within A Tree for Me by Nancy Van Laan. In addition, you will be able to explain the importance of rhyme and rhythm in early childhood literacy.

• use knowledge of language to identify rhyming patterns and rhythm from A Tree for Me by Nancy Van Laan; and
• explain the importance of rhythm and rhyme in early childhood literacy.

Distribute a copy of the book, A Tree for Me by Nancy Van Laan, to each of the parents/caregivers. This book is a perfect choice for helping children to listen to the rhythm of speech and to recognize rhyming words.

Invite parents/caregivers to review A Tree for Me silently to themselves.

To help participants understand the rhythm of A Tree for Me, start by reading an excerpt of the book aloud. As you read, emphasize the rhythm of the text by pausing and emphasizing the repeated phrases. Prompt participants to join in and repeat some of the phrases with you as you read.

Once you've established the rhythm of the text, invite participants to practice reading the text aloud to each other in pairs, taking turns during reading: one may read aloud while another taps, drums, or claps. Circulate to listen for the rhythm in their reading.

Nursery rhymes, clapping games, jumping rope, and rhythmic movement (e.g., marching, tapping, bouncing, drumming) help to support language development. Before learning to read words on a page, children learn to identify predictable patterns. Parents/caregivers can help to develop auditory perception through fun songs, nursery rhymes, and rhythmic books/poems.

If there are not enough copies of the book for all participants, the A Tree for Me text handout contains the full text.

Tap your foot or hand while as you read aloud an excerpt from A Tree for Me. Words in bold are to assist in expressive, rhythmic reading:

I look, look, look for a tree for me
Big one, small one, skinny one, tall one,
old one, fat one, I choose that one.
Up I go to the tippy tiptop.
Uh-oh! Oh, no!
Wait a minute. STOP!
I’m mistaken.
This one’s taken

Consider the number of repetitive, rhythmic songs for children:

• B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O and Bingo was his name-o
• We're going on a bear hunt
• If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands
• Old MacDonald had a farm
• The itsy-bitsy spider
• La Vaca Lola – Latin American
• Donguri Korokoro – Japanese
• Frère Jacques - French

Rhythm and rhyme work together to create the framework for poetry, music, and much of children's literature. Rhythm refers to a repeated pattern of movement or sound – the beat of language. Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds, particularly in the final syllables of words.

By creating a predictable pattern, rhythm and rhyme can help early readers to recognize and reproduce patterns in language. Children, like all of us, are more likely to remember a story that is presented in an engaging way.

Rhyme also helps to make reading playful and fun. A repetitive rhyme provides a clue for an upcoming word. When reading to children, pause and provide time for them to guess the next "matching" word. This can also help to develop new vocabulary. Demonstrate this technique by reading the page with the owl in the tree. Point under the print as you read:

One owl nesting,
golly gee!
No room for me
in this ol’ . . .

Model how to prompt children by starting the initial sound of the word. For example, say "t-r-__" and wait for participants to fill in the missing "ee" sound to complete the word "tree." This approach promotes the development of phonological awareness and recognition of the sounds and patterns of language. It also promotes active listening and participation, making the reading experience more engaging and interactive.

Remind parents/caregivers always to praise and affirm their children when they are reading and pointing out rhyming words correctly. Give them examples they can use, such as: “Wow! You read that word!” “Yes, what word did you read?” “Yes, me and tree rhyme.”

An echo reading involves the reading of a short segment of text and encouraging the early reader to echo it back.

Parents/caregivers can support their children's literacy development in a variety of ways. One strategy is to use partial echoic prompting, where they begin to sound out a word and wait for the child to respond (modelled in guided practice).

Parents/caregivers can also write down the word and ask the child to read the written word. This can help reinforce spelling and word recognition.

Parents/caregivers can say the entire word and ask the child to repeat the rhyme sequence for additional practice and reinforcement. This approach can help children develop their phonological awareness and recognize the patterns and sounds of language.

Distribute A Tree for Me text handout and a highlighter. Ask parents/caregivers to highlight the words that rhyme. Be sure to praise their efforts and correct them as needed. After finishing the activity, review the story again, going over the answers and emphasizing the rhythm and rhyme.

Turn to a partner and explain how rhythm and rhyme support early childhood literacy.

During ILA, parents/caregivers will read A Tree for Me to their children in a manner that highlights the rhyme and rhythm of the text.

We applied our understanding of language to identify rhyme and rhythm in A Tree for Me, and discussed how these elements contribute to developing literacy and oral language skills. We've explored various techniques, such as repetition, encouragement, and prompting cues, that support children in building their phonological awareness and confidence in reading and speaking. By incorporating these strategies into our daily interactions with children, we can help them develop a love for language and learning.

• use knowledge of language to identify rhyming patterns and rhythm from A Tree for Me by Nancy Van Laan; and
• explain the importance of rhythm and rhyme in early childhood literacy.

Wordplay activities help emergent readers to read with expression. Expressive reading develops into the internal voice that one hears while reading and aids in comprehension.

Encourage parents/caregivers to play with rhyme in daily activities. Some suggestions:

• Play I Spy: "I spy with my little eye, something that rhymes with ____;"
• Create nonsensical stories together by starting a rhyme and taking turns extending the story: Pat the cat went up to bat and what do you know… there sat a rat… wearing a hat! …And he yelled "scat;"
• Use nonsensical words in conversation like "higgledy-piggeldy," "hocus pocus," or "razzle dazzle;"
• Jumping rope songs: Teddy bear, teddy bear; Miss Mary Mack; Cinderella dressed in yella;
• Tongue twisters: Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear; How much wood could a woodchuck chuck;
• Nursery Rhymes: Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake baker's man; Hickory dickory dock; Hey diddle diddle;
• Raffi's Down by the Bay

Share the Counting-out Rhymes handout. These short rhymes can be used in selecting teams or a person to be "it" in a game.