Rhyming is an important step in developing sounds, understanding language, and building both reading and writing skills. In music, rhyming also assists in processing steady beat and understanding phrasing. In the tradition of Mother Goose nursery rhymes, I often create my own rhymes based around some of the popular tales. “Oh The King” was inspired by “Old King Cole”. My focus was to create a simple rhyme to practice identifying the initial letters of a word. I used a slideshow to visually reinforce the rhyming words and song. After showing the rhyming word “King” on one slide, I only including the first letter of the other rhyming words in that group (s—, and r—.) This helped the student focus on the initial sound of the first letter. After a student learned a couple of the rhyming sets, I would then add more verses to the poem. This helped to reinforce the old rhyming sets while exploring new ones!
Oh the King
He loved to s—
And wear his r—
In the castle.
And his crown
Was chocolate br—.
He never put it d—
In the castle.
(ideas for additional verses)
And the Queen
Was very m—
She never was s—
On her big throne.
And her cat
Was rather f–
He always s–
On her big throne.
Spectrum Press Challenge: Create your own rhyme inspired by a nursery rhyme. Send in your new rhyme and the title of the nursery rhyme that inspired you. Submit a PDF of you own notation if you incorporated a specific melody or chord progression you would like to share!