Rhymes

For those of us using the "One World, Many Stories" theme for our summer reading programs, and for anyone interested in learning songs and rhymes in new languages or with multilingual service populations, this new site from the Burnaby Public Library is SO useful.

A researcher at Ben-Gurion University in Israel has discovered that performing hand-clapping rhymes and songs helps children develop improved writing, spelling, and cognitive abilities, among other results. We know that clapping out syllables helps very young children develop phonological awareness. This study, however, looked at children in first, second and third grades, so it seems continuing this simple activity beyond kindergarten produces even more benefits.
 

As we know, sharing rhyming books is a great way to promote phonological awareness, or, the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in a word.  Younger children may especially enjoy reciting favorite nursery rhymes, and for storytimes with older preschoolers, ask them to fill in the rhyming word (or make up a sill