How Many Rhymes? - Lesson Plans

Book Summary
How Many Rhymes? is a rhyming, repetitive book containing an assortment of silly, fun rhymes. Readers are asked to count the rhymes as they read. Whimsical illustrations support the text.

Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students to tell silly rhymes they know. Ask them tell what they know about rhyme and rhyming words. Invite them to share why they think an author might choose to write a story using rhyme.

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask what they might read about in a book called How Many Rhymes? (Accept any answers students can justify.)
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
Read page 4 to students. Explain that these words repeat throughout the book. Have students practice reading the page with you.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Self-monitor

Explain to students that good readers need to listen to their reading carefully to notice when something doesn't make sense or sound right. Tell them that correcting mistakes while reading helps readers better understand the story.
Turn to page 3 in the book. Incorrectly read the first sentence of the book: I had a little dog, and it had no mane. Model how to self-monitor.
Think-aloud: Sometimes when I'm reading, I read a word that sounds strange and doesn't make sense. This happened when I read the word mane. I know that lions have manes, but not dogs. I knew I had to go back and reread. When I looked more closely at the word, I saw that it started with the letter n and not the letter m. I think the word is name. When I use this word in the sentence, it makes sense. I did all of this thinking quickly in my head so I could continue reading.
As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Vocabulary

As you preview the book, ask students to talk about what they see in the illustrations and use the vocabulary they will encounter in the text. For example, on page 3, you might say: It looks like the little girl's pony is hurt. Its leg is lame.
Model using a known word to read an unknown word. For example, point to the word bog on page 4. Say: I can read this word by thinking of a word I already know that looks like this word. I know that the word dog has the same spelling at the end of the word: og. This ending stands for the /og/ sound. The first letter of this new word makes the /b/ sound. When I put the beginning and ending together, I can say the whole word: bog. When I look at the picture, I see that the dog is in a swamp. I know that bog is another way of saying swamp.
For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read the story. Remind them to listen to themselves as they read to decide whether or not what they are reading is making sense.

During Reading

Student Reading

Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a volunteer point to the first word on page 3. Read the word together (I). Point out where to begin reading on each page. Remind students to read words from left to right. Point to each word as you read it aloud while students follow along in their own book.
Ask students to place a finger on the page number in the bottom corner of the page. Have them read to the end of page 6, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
When they have finished reading, ask students which words they had difficulty reading. Ask them to share how they monitored their reading.
Think-aloud: On page 5, I read I had a runny book. This didn't make sense to me. A book can't be runny. I looked at the sentence. I noticed that the word before book started with the /f/ sound. The word might be funny. When I reread the sentence using the word funny, it made sense. When I noticed that something didn't make sense while reading, I was self-monitoring.
Have students read the remainder of the story. Remind them to listen to their reading to check whether or not what they read makes sense.

Have students make a small question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

After Reading

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how to read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
Think-aloud: When I read page 7, I read I had a little cat, and it lived in the city. Even though this makes sense, I remembered that pairs of sentences rhyme in this book. The word cat does not rhyme with the word city. When I looked at the sentence again, I realized that the word was kitty.
Invite students to share other examples of their self-monitoring. Ask students to tell which strategies they used to help them self-monitor as they read (a known word, familiar part of the word, pictures, and so on).
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Reality and fantasy

Discussion: Invite students to share what they think is the silliest part of the story and why.
Introduce and model the skill: Review or explain that some books contain characters, objects, and events that are real, and some contain those that are fantasy, or make-believe. Discuss examples of reality (a person reading a book) and fantasy (a cow reading a book). Tell students that some of the parts of this rhyming story were realistic while some were fantasy.
Think-aloud: On page 3, the little girl has a pretty pony that was lame. Since horses sometimes go lame, this could really happen and is not fantasy. On page 5, I read about a pig in a wig and a dog in a bog. Pigs do not wear wigs, so this part of the story is fantasy. However, a dog could be in a bog. This part of the sentence is real.
Check for understanding: Have students circle one sentence in the story that tells about something real, and circle one sentence in the story that tells something make-believe. Invite them to share their responses.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the reality and fantasy worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Produce rhyme

Say the words flag and bag and ask students what is the same about the words. (They rhyme. They have the same ending.) Ask students to name other words that rhyme with flag and bag (gag, lag, nag, rag, tag, wag).
Say the following words to students: wig, bog, day, bad, dream. Pause after saying each word and have students say other words that rhyme with each word.

Phonics: Open vowel y

Write the word many on the board. Have students find the word in the title on the cover or title page and read it together.
Ask students what vowel sound they hear at the end of the word (long /e/). Circle the letter y at the end of the word many. Point out that the letter y at the end of a word can sometimes stand for the long /e/ sound.
Have students look on pages 2, 5, 7, 9 to find other words that end with y as a vowel (pretty, pony, funny, kitty, city, fancy, eighty). Write these words on the board. Read the list of examples together as a group.
Ask students to name other words that end with y as the long /e/ vowel sound. Write these words on the board, leaving off the ending letter y. Have volunteers come to the board and complete the words.

Grammar and Mechanics: Adjectives

Review or explain that there are words that are used to describe a person, place, or thing. Explain that these words are called adjectives. Tell students that adjectives help the reader visualize the text more clearly.
Point to the word little on page 3 and explain that it is an adjective that describes the dog. Have students read the next sentence. Ask them to identify the adjective that describes the pony (pretty).
Have students turn to page 5. Ask students to identify the adjectives on this page (funny, brown).
Have students reread page 7. Ask students to find the adjectives that describe the kitty and bike (little, fancy). Explain that sometimes you can add other adjectives without changing the meaning or message of the sentence. Ask students what other adjectives could be used in place of little or fancy on page 7. Have students use the new adjectives in the sentence.

Have students circle the adjectives in the book.

Word Work: Alphabetical order

Write the words nag and bog on the board. Underline the first letter in each word. Ask students what letter comes first in the alphabet: n or b.
Review or explain that words are sometimes placed in a list by ABC, or alphabetical order. Words are placed in alphabetical order by looking first at the initial letter in each word and deciding which letter comes first in the alphabet. Explain that bog would come first in an alphabetical list.
Write the words nag and pony on the board. Underline the first letter in each word. Ask students what letter comes first in the alphabet: n or p. Explain that nag would come first in an alphabetical list.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the alphabetical order worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Extend the Reading

Writing or Art Connection
Brainstorm rhyming words with students. Write these words on the board. Have students write a rhyming sentence. Have them illustrate their rhyme. Invite them to share their rhyme and tell whether it describes something realistic or make-believe.

Math Connection
Write the word dozen on the board. Ask students to share what they know about the meaning of this word. Explain that the word dozen names a group of twelve of something. Have students draw a picture of twelve items and label their picture by completing the following phrase: This is a dozen ________. Invite students to share their sentence and picture. Combine the pages into a class book.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

consistently self-monitor while reading
correctly identify characters, objects, and/or events in the book and on a worksheet that are fantasy and reality
correctly identify and name words that rhyme during discussion
recognize that y may be used as a vowel in some words; identify examples of words from the story where y is used as a vowel during discussion
correctly identify describing words in the story during discussion
accurately alphabetize words during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

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