Not so scary holiday; Halloween helps kindergartners learn nursery rhymes
November 4, 2009
By Laura Geggel
Hickory, dickory dock, hey diddle diddle and hot cross buns? In yesteryear, parents taught children nursery rhymes, making the ditties common knowledge.
But now, North Bend Elementary School kindergarten teacher Mary-Lee Johnson finds herself teaching rhymes to students who have never heard of Old Mother Hubbard or Wee Willie Winkie.
“Many of the kids don’t have nursery rhymes read to them any more,” Johnson said.
North Bend Elementary School teacher Mary-Lee Johnson sings ‘Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater’ to her students Annie Haney (left), Grace Ethington, Kelsey Bergquist and Ethan Salvaladena. Photo by Laura Geggel
Every October, Johnson and NBE kindergarten teacher Andrea Stein sing nursery rhymes to their students. On Halloween, the kindergartners dress as nursery rhyme or storybook characters, grinning like crazy until their giggling classmates can figure out their costume and say the rhyme that goes with it.
“Every year, that’s how we celebrate our nursery rhyme and rhyming unit,” Johnson said. “It gives us a reason to dress up and to have fun at the same time.”
The kindergartners could barely wait to showcase their costumes in Johnson’s classroom Oct. 30. The group sat in a circle on the floor and stood up, one by one, to present their costumes.
Johnson started the event by twirling around in her pumpkin outfit, a getup with orange and black striped stockings, a pumpkin shirt and an orange cap. The children waved their hands high in the air, waiting for Johnson to call on them so they could guess her costume.
Was she a pumpkin or a jack-o-lantern?
No, she wasn’t either.
“I live in a pumpkin,” Johnson said, leading the children in the nursery rhyme “Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater.”
“I’m Peter’s wife,” Johnson said.
Kindergartner Saylor Kunesh wore a headband with mouse ears, prompting the class to chant about the mouse that ran up the clock. The students were stumped by one of their classmate’s costume.
“Look at those beautiful ruby shoes,” Johnson said. “Can we guess who she is?”
Makaylee Jensen tried Jack and Jill ran up the hill and another classmate thought she was a witch. But Rachel Walker was none other than Dorothy, making it fitting that kindergartner Calvin Chapman was the Tin Man, although later he admitted he was going as a Star Wars storm trooper for Halloween.
Of course, a few students costumed themselves as more modern characters. Indiana Jones made an appearance, as did Harry Potter with his Hogwarts robe and painted on lightning-bolt scar. Gavin Marston was a bright red crab, Sierra Ahner dressed as a chef with a white hat and Corra Haussler was a witch from Scooby-Doo.
Johnson said the nursery rhyme unit helps children learn about the alphabet and word families.
“We had a letter of the week,” Johnson said. “And in the nursery rhyme they may be looking for the letter ‘t’ or ‘m.’”
Many nursery rhymes also have words ending in the same way, which helps kindergartners learn about rhyming and word families, like the –ing ending in ‘sing’ and ‘ring’ in “Hush Little Baby.”
“They love to make up silly rhymes, too,” Johnson said.
After all of the kindergartners had presented their costumes, they returned to their desks and discussed their favorite part about Halloween.
Besides dressing up, “my favorite part is when you go get candy,” Jensen said.
Comments
One Response to “Not so scary holiday; Halloween helps kindergartners learn nursery rhymes”
Got something to say?
Before you comment, please note:
- These comments are moderated.
- Comments should be relevant to the topic at hand and contribute to its discussion.
- Personal attacks and/or excessive profanity will not be tolerated and such comments will not be approved.
- This is not your personal chat room or forum, so please stay on topic.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Snuphaluphagus, avn. avn said: Not so scary holiday; Halloween helps kindergartners learn nursery rhymes http://bit.ly/1oIQ3 [...]