Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Washington, DC

Why is it that so many childrens' books rhyme?

No, it isn't just to drive us crazy! Early rhyming through books assist children with the knowledge of phonics and letter sounds. Later the ability to rhyme helps young children with their because rhyming words follow a pattern. Children can use their knowledge of rhyming and phonics to change the initial sound of a word to make a rhyme. Rhyming assists with spelling because students use patterns in the words to spell other words.

When I taught, first graders in my class learned common rhyme patterns through word families. Examples of word families are ones ending in ???at, -ack, -ed, -ick, and ???ug.
Some words in the ???at family include: cat, hat, mat, fat, sat, rat, that, flat, gnat, pat, and vat. Examples of words in the ???ick family include: hick, kick, lick, pick, quick, flick, sick, tick, and wick.

Why is this important?

Word families teach children to learn to spell through patterns. When I was teaching first grade, each week my students received a list of spelling words based on a word family. The spelling lists were differentiated according to a child's ability to read and decode words. Some children received spelling lists that only required them to change the first letter that accompanied the word family to make new words. More advanced students used blends of two letters or more to create new words within the same word family.

Regardless of a child's ability, the knowledge of rhyming helps a child spell and read words that are part of word families. So keep reading all of those Dr. Seuss books that leave you tongue tied (like Fox in Socks!) and know that you are helping your child learn an important skill that will foster their ability to read.

Come back tomorrow where I list my favorite rhyming books!