Saturday, May 23, 2009

Iambic Pentameter


Just kidding - I thought it was a funny title for a pre-school lesson. We are not working on Shakespeare yet! The most recent "lesson" to be discovered in our home develops memory retention and rhyming skills.

1. Recite child's favorite nursery rhymes, riddles, or songs to them for some time before they become familiar with them (i.e. Pat a Cake, Hickory Dickory Dock, Baa Baa Black Sheep etc).

2. Once child is familiar with the rhyme, riddle, or song, pause at the end of some of the lines so that child has opportunity to fill in the missing word. (i.e. Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the ____. The clock struck one, the mouse ran down, Hickory Dickory ____.)

Note: Start off by simply giving the child just one opportunity for fill in and gradually increase as child's vocabulary increases and as child's familiarity and enjoyment for the rhyme also increases. This activity builds up over the course of several weeks. For example, when we first started (19 months), Isabella could say the last word of Pat a Cake (....put it in the oven for baby and ME). However, now at 21 months she can say most of the line ending words in Pat a Cake. She seems to enjoy being relied on for her "part". This activity aids memory retention and rhyme by asking the child to make use of such skills to call upon the correct word.

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