Phonological Awareness – Rhyming Lesson Plan - GSSD Blogs

Phonological Awareness ‐ Rhyming
Developing a child's phonological awareness is an important part of developing a reader. Young children's
ability to identify rhyme units is an important component of phonological awareness. Research shows that
students benefit from direct instruction on rhyme recognition paired with fun activities that target this skill
(Reading Rockets) Recognition of rhyme is one of the first ways that a child demonstrates phonological
awareness (an important part of literacy development). It helps the child begin to understand that while
a particular word such as “cake” means something sweet that you eat for dessert, if you play with
sounds in the word, it actually sounds like other words such as “lake, rake, snake.” Rhyming also
contributes to a child’s finesse with reading and spelling as they begin to recognize that some
sounds and sound combinations have common sequences of letters. Using the above example, this
means that if you can read “lake” you more easily can read “rake and snake” because of the
common sound and letter sequences. Rhyming is a basic step in recognizing the smaller components
of words and facilitates reading.
Teaching Rhyme:
Talk about what a rhyme is. Teach using multimodalities to address different learning needs. The
end of the word stays the same – it sounds the same (auditory), it looks the same (visual) ‐both in
terms of mouth position and printed words [sometimes] and it feels (kinesthetic/tactile) the same
when you make it.
Demonstrate (visual, auditory, tactile) using:
eeeee: me, be, see, tea, tree, he etc.
ooooo: moo, boo, Sue, too, true, who etc.
at: cat, hat, fat, rat, sat etc.
ache: cake, lake, rake etc.
Demonstrate using puppets or “friend” pictures (two people holding hands and a third one joins
them changing the meaning of the word, but the ending is the same). It is also fun to use children in
the class.
Activity: Children – pick 2, hold hands – they always say “at” add “b,c,h,m,p,r,s”
Materials:
Down by The Bay – iTunes App by Pretext
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Down by the Bay – Book and/or App
Down by the Bay Template for book
Transportation items or Cards
Rhyming cards to sort by transportation category
Hand holding and single child cards
Rhyming Dominoes

Transportion Name Game (adapted from link: http://www.succeedtoread.com/rhyme.html)
How to Play: Begin by modeling how to rhyme. Point to a vehicle, while saying a word that
rhymes with it. Your child should say the real name of the vehicle. This puts rhyming into his/her
ears with a visual cue (pointing). If you point to a car and say star, he/she will automatically say
car.
1. Tell your child, "We are going to play a rhyming game. Rhyming words have the same
sound endings. I'm going to point to one of these vehicles. You're going to say the word
that rhymes with what I say that tell us the real name of the vehicle. Okay?"
2. Give him/her two examples: "I'm pointing to a train, and I say crane. You say train. I'm
pointing a boat. I say coat, and you say boat.
Here are some examples:
boat – coat van – man bike – Mike
train – rain
car – star
jet – pet
ship – chip
Time to Sing/Chant – Down By the Bay (Raffi version or iTunes app by Pretext)
Encourage participation in the song
Emphasize /s/ sounds as you encounter them. Use visual hand sign
as you say the /s/ in words and encourage the children to use it
too (if you have an additional adult or student volunteer available).
Book Sharing – Down By the Bay by Raffi; illustrated by Nadine Westcott
o Encourage participation in the book
o Emphasize the rhyme as you encounter them
o Probe for recognition of the rhymes. Read a sentence and ask them to fill in the missing
rhyming word.
Class Activity:
Sorting Rhymes:
o Each student is given a picture card illustrating a word that rhymes with one of the
transportation items. Each card is going on a trip but can only get there via the mode
of transportation that rhymes with them (e.g. the “coat” cannot travel in the ship,
train or jet; it must travel in the “boat”)
o The class is given time to card in the right mode of transportation (the one that
rhymes with it)
Down by the Bay Book – Stations are set up near the transportation object (e.g. “ship”). A book page
template of “Down by the Bay” is placed there with a picture of a ship and various pictures that
rhyme with ship. The student then cuts out and glues on appropriate pictures to make a rhyme (e.g.
“Did you ever see a “lip” sailing in a “ship?” Down by the bay.” They can go to as many stations as
there is time for. To increase the difficulty of this task, you may wish to include “foils” which do not
rhyme.

Environment/Extension Activities:
Rhyming
Picture Sorts and Matching
o Use pictures to reinforce rhyming words. Have children match rhyming words
Songs, Books, Nursery Rhymes
o Read poetry, nursery rhymes, and explore songs that rhyme. Emphasize rhyming words
will reading and singing.
o Pause before a rhyming word to allow your student to fill in the missing word.
o Silly reading day: create your own activity using a book. Using a familiar story, change
words within the story to a word that rhymes with the target word (e.g. “Once upon a time
there were three “pears.”)
Rhyming Bingo
o Students must match pictures on their bingo card that rhyme with the word the bingo
caller calls out
Art
o Make rhyming chains; or write rhyming words on construction paper and build a house for
the rhyming family to live in; make a rhyme collage
Fishing
o Attach magnets to picture cards, and attach a magnet to a string on the end of a pole. Fish
for rhymes, or produce rhymes to match the card you pull.
One of these Words Doesn’t Belong
o Have a series of four pictures, three of which rhyme and one which does not (word families
lend themselves to this activity if you take the “word” away). Have the student select which
word does not belong. It is generally easier if the first word is one that belongs in the rhyming
family.
I Spy a Rhyming Word
o Play a game of I Spy, where your students find something in the classroom that rhymes with
a word they are given. Some of the words you provide will be nonsense words, but the
word/item they are looking for must be a real word. Don’t forget to use some of the
students’ names.
Super Duper Fun Deck: Rhyming Words in Sentences
Websites:
Rhyming:
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/rhyming_games/
http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/patti/k‐1/activities/rhyming.html
http://phonologicalawareness.org/4.html