Time to Rhyme pt. 2
If you think nursery rhymes are only for nursery age, I urge you to reconsider! I have found that older children can benefit from using something they already know in a new context. Children have a much easier time creating their own moves to nursery rhymes they have been comfortable with since pre-k than they do creating movement to a new song or new rhyme.
I use this "Tell A Story Nursery Rhyme Kit" from Lakeshore Learning. For my youngest students it can be a fun memory game, but for the older kiddies I generally just use the small boards on which the nursery rhymes are typed. You could easily make these at home! Just grab some thick paper and print out any and every rhyme you can think of. You know me, always looking for a way to save money in my classroom! The people at Pre-Kinder have some great free printables here.
Kindergarten - 4th grade:
Verbs and Movement exercise:
It's best to know where your children are in their English classes before beginning this exercise. For instance, for my first graders, we will read or recite the nursery rhyme all together, and I will help each group figure out their "Action words" (verbs), Character names, and adjectives (if your kids are old enough) . For second, third and fourth grades, sometimes they can do this all on their own, other times they need help. It really just depends on their individual reading level confidence, try not to let the reading part discourage your students.
Split up your class into a few groups and give each group a Nursery Rhyme card. Depending on the age of your groups, help or have them discover the Action Words (verbs) in their rhyme.
After the Action Words have been discovered, have the groups decide on movement to accompany each Action Word/character name/adjective. This will require teamwork and you can stay out of it, let them figure it out together and remind them to practice a few times.
Now it's time to perform! Let each group perform their rhymes, I will usually encourage the audience to speak the rhyme along with the performers, especially if they're nervous.
Once everyone has performed, repeat the entire process. Trust your instincts when it comes to changing the group members, and keep in mind there are students who are more adept to choreographing or directing, and they may need to be reminded that other kids have good ideas too! Always remind them in a positive way, without putting any fault on their natural born leader instincts.
Charades!
I shouldn't have to go into much detail about this game! I will say it does help to have the nursery rhymes written out, so that the student picks the rhyme they will "charade" instead of the pressure of thinking up one.
This works for littler ones too if you demonstrate and help them out along the way.
It helps to have done the Verbs and Movement excercise from above before playing nursery rhyme charades, as children will have a greater understanding of the text and what words to act out.
Parent Performance for the non-musical:
I have used Nursery Rhymes during my theater classes end of the semester performance because the familiarity always helps to ease any nerves that come with performing, and the students in that class are not always comfortable with performing songs or scenes. With the students help we will choreograph movements to a few of their favorite rhymes with lots of big, fun gestures. I usually use this up to 3rd grade, any older and they should be able to learn something a little more difficult, plus they tend to "grow out" of nursery rhymes around that age and may be embarrassed at performing them.
-KB
