What Rhymes With This Picture?
Exploring Rhymes Orally and In Writing
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 0: Foundation for LiteracyStage 1: Beginning Literacy
Ages:
3-7
Grade Range:
PreK K 1stFood Groups:
Primary:
Phonemic Awareness, Letter-Sounds & Phonics
Secondary:
Spelling & Word Study
Activity Description
Preparation:
-
Create sets of 1-syllable rhyming words
- For example: cat, bat, sat, hat, mat
- Write these words in clear, lowercase letters on cards
- Underline the rhyming part in a different color (“at” in the words above)
- Find a picture or object to represent each word
Implementation:
-
Review the concept of “rhyming words”
- See Additional Comments for an explicit explanation
- Show a picture of your target word and have the class name the picture
-
Show the word-card that corresponds to that picture
- Have the class read each letter-sound and then read the part that is underlined
- Explain that the underlined part is the part that rhymes
- Introduce your other objects and have the class name each one
-
Invite students up one at a time to choose an object
- Name the object as a class
- Say the name and the target word
- For rhymes: show the word card and emphasize the common part, both orally and in writing
- For non-rhymes: sound out the word card and show that the part from the vowel to the end is not the same
- Review all of your rhyming cards at the end
Adaptations For
English Language Learners/ESL:
- Make sure students have a clear understanding of what a rhyme is
- Use rhyming words that students are familiar with
LD/Reading & Writing Difficulties:
- Carefully emphasize each sound and give students extra practice
Cultural Appropriateness & Diversity:
- Choose objects and pictures that are familiar to all students
Related References
Evidence:
Johnston, F. R. (1999). The timing and teaching of word families. The Reading Teacher, 53, 64-75.
Activity Objective
The goal of What Rhymes With This Picture? Exploring Rhymes Orally and In Writing is to help students practice hearing rhymes and to build a beginning awareness of how rhyme-patterns correspond to written letters.
What You Need
Prep Time:
5-10 minutes
- Create sets of 1-syllable rhyming words written on cards
- Find a picture or object to represent each word
Task Time:
5-10 minutes
- Teacher reviews the concept of rhyme
- Class names a target picture
- Teacher shows the pictured word written and class sounds it out, focusing on the rhyming part
- Class decides if other objects rhyme with the target word
- Students look at written words for each picture and notice the rhyming part
Materials Required:
Teacher:
- Set(s) of 1-syllable rhyming words written on cards
- Pictures or objects to represent each word
What You Do
Teacher Role:
Direct instruction:
- when reviewing the concept of rhyming words
Facilitator:
- when helping students choose words and decide if they rhyme with the target word
Student Grouping:
Whole class:
- throughout activity
Assessment Ideas:
- Make anecdotal notes about which students are able to identify sounds and rhyming parts
- Assess students individually by giving them two words, asking them if they rhyme, and asking how they know
Quick Tips
Activity Extensions:
- Give each student (or some students) their own pictures with the pictured word written below them
a. Have them come up and place them in the rhyming pile or not
- Have students attempt to spell words that belong to the rhyming set you have practiced
a. Their attempts do not have to be real words (for example, could be "lat" or "dat" as well as "chat", "pat", "sat", "vat", "slat")
Additional Comments:
- You may wish to make your explanation of "rhyme" more explicit. Saying that two words "rhyme" because they "sound the same" or even "sound the same at the end" may be confusing, because it is not only the last phoneme that sounds the same when words rhyme. One-syllable words rhyme when they sound the same from the vowel to the end of the word. So "make" and "cake" rhyme because they both say "ake", "shirt" and "hurt" rhyme because they both say "urt".
Other Recipes by this Teacher
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Find That Day!: Using Days of the Week to Practice Initial Letter-Sounds
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Awesome Alliteration: Building Awareness of Initial Letter-Sounds
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Spelling from Pictures: Practicing Spelling by Sounding Out
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Who's That Community Helper?: Building Knowledge, Language, and Early Literacy Skills
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