This is a simple rhyming sound. I like how it repeats the rhyme 3 times to allow the child to hear it over and over. We sing this little tune when we find words that rhyme during everyday life.

Hat....Cat....These words rhyme
Hat....Cat....These words rhyme
Hat....Cat....These words rhyme
So rhyme along with me

More rhymes:

bed/red
hat/cat/bat/rat/sat/mat
duck/truck/stuck
shoe/blue
hand/sand
frog/log
dad/sad
brother/mother

We find all sorts of simple words and go from there....sometimes when we take a walk the children will find things that rhyme and bust out in the song...I am so proud when that happens! I also do not discourage the nonsense words, as they are still rhyming; for example, Brooke always wants to rhyme the word tongue....so we just make up some non-sense words that rhyme with tongue.

More rhyming

Play a guessing game to introduce the concept of rhyming words. Have your child close her eyes and try to think of the animal that you’re describing. Give her several hints, ending with a word that the animal’s name rhymes with.

For example, you might say, “I’m thinking of an animal with whiskers and a long tail. This animal likes to catch mice. Its name rhymes with the word ‘pat'." Have your child say the animal name then stress the rhyming word: "That is right. 'cat' rhymes with 'pat'. cat...pat"

Another example would be, “I’m thinking of an animal who sleeps through the long winter. This animal is very large, and sometimes it likes to eat honey. Its name rhymes with the word ‘hair'." Have your child say the animal name then stress the rhyming word: "That is right. bear' rhymes with 'hair'. bear...hair"

Try this: " I am an animal who is a pet. It has four legs, a wagging tail, and likes to chew on a bone. Its name rhymes with 'log'." Have your child say the animal name and then stress the rhyming word.

Or: "I'm thinking of an animal that is an insect. It flies through the air and travels from flower to flower to collect nectar. It has a stinger so be careful. Its name rhymes with 'tree'.

Or these pairs:
fox-socks
mouse-house
bat-sat
frog-hog
cow-wow
snail-pail
bug-slug
whale-scale
fish-dish
snake-lake



Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/early-childhood/articles/42631.aspx#ixzz1ZeoLZPkK

Rhyming

Brooke is having a very difficult time grasping the concepts of rhyming. We have tried playing lots of rhyming games but the idea of rhyming is too complicated for her.
I decided to try this game to help her get the simple concept of rhyming so she will feel really successful.

Tell your child, "We are going to play a rhyming game. Rhyming words have the same sound endings. I'm going to point to something on my body, and say a word. You're going to say the body part that rhymes. Okay?"


Give her two examples: Point to my leg and say "This is my beg. You say no this is your leg."
Pointing to my nose I say "This is my rose and you say no this is your nose."


Here's a list of body parts and rhyming words:

deer-ear
pail-nail
sack-back go-toe
gum-thumb
put-foot bye-eye
deck-neck
see-knee bear-hair
fin-chin
band-hand peek-cheek
farm-arm
feel-heel

Kindergarten Sight Words

I started a new blog to catalog and share the different ways we practice our kindergarten sight words. Check it out here if you are interested!

try a whisper

If Brooke seems to be "tuning me out" during one of our lessons or while listening to a book as I read, I try whispering the same thing. The change in my tone and volume usually attracts her attention and helps to refocus her listening.

Auditory Memory

This week Brooke and I are working on auditory memory. Auditory memory is the ability to remember words, numbers, phrases that you hear. Using the game Cariboo as an incentive, I gave Brooke a series of random words for her to listen and repeat.

This is how we do it:
1. I will give Brooke 4 words that she knows such as elephant, umbrella, hat, shoe. Once she repeats them to me in the correct order, she can pick a card and use the key to open the door in the game.
2. We started with 5 words (which I thought she could do) but she was really struggling with it. Since I want her to feel successful, I dropped down to 4 words.

3. Here are a few other lists:

football, tree, orange, ice cream

bee, truck, boat, soccer

rainbow, sun, mailman, fox

book, flower, duck, apple

4. You can play this with any game you like. Before your child's turn, just ask her to repeat a list of words.

Listening and Coloring

I printed a coloring sheet from the 4-H cloverbuds activity I gave Brooke some directions with 3-4 critical elements for coloring the sheet such as:

1. Color the man's hat red. (Brooke started to color the boy's hat so I had to stop her and we talked about the man and the boy)

2. Color the boy's hat yellow

3. Color the canoe green with orange polka dots. (Brooke needed help with "What is a canoe?"

4. Color the car's headlights yellow

5. Color the pool toy on the top of the pile purple.

6. Make a little smoke coming out of the back of the car (I didn't think she would get this one but she pleasantly surprised me)