Reading + Art:
Illustrating a Famous
Children's Poem
Today's Snack:
Fix a salad with three types of greens - maybe some leaf lettuce, some parsley
and some chives or green onion tips - so your child can imagine being a little
meadow animal nibbling on plants. Add a glass of water as a drink, but tell
your child it's RAIN! :>)
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Supplies:
This poem, printed out
A piece of unlined drawing paper |
thin markers or colored pencil
Here's a classic children's poem from the 1930s that has
strong rhythm and rhyme. Those are very important for developing a child's
"phonemic awareness." (pronounced fo NEE mik uh WARE ness)
Phonemic
awareness refers to how well the child can "hear" the sounds that the alphabet
letters make when spoken aloud. A "phoneme" is a sound - such as the "O" sound
in the first word of the title of this poem. We link together phonemes very
rapidly as we speak, without even thinking of it -- / o / / v /
/ er /
A
child needs to rapidly link together those sounds, mentally, while reading, in
order to actually read. We are guided by the sounds the letters make, and our
minds "decode" words on a page by what sounds the letters in those words would
make. It all happens faster than a blink of an eye. But you can see that the
more aware and confident your child is about sounds in words, the faster and
better your child will be able to read.
The
more familiar a child is with those sounds, the easier it is to transfer over
to becoming an independent reader. So parents should read aloud frequently to
their children, especially poems, and they should sing together with their
children, too.
A fun way to expand on the learning is to read a poem
like this aloud to your child, and then give your child a piece of unlined
paper, and some thin markers or colored pencils, and suggest that the child
draw a picture of what this poem means to him or her. It doesn't have to look
like the real scene - but if YOUR child drew it, it will be BEAUTIFUL!
OVER IN THE MEADOW
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Over in the meadow in the sand in the sun
Lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle
one.
Dig said the mother.
We dig said the one.
So they dug all day in the sand in the sun.
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|
Over in the meadow where the stream runs blue
Lived an old mother fish and her little fishes
two.
Swim said the mother.
We swim said the two.
So they swam all day where the stream runs blue.
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|
Over in the meadow in a hole in a tree
Lived an old mother owl and her little owls
three.
Tu-whoo said the mother.
Tu-whoo said the three.
So they tu-whooed all day in a hole in a tree.
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|
Over in the meadow by the old barn door
Lived an old mother rat and her little ratties
four.
Gnaw said the mother.
We gnaw said the four.
So they gnawed all day by the old barn door.
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|
Over in the meadow in a snug beehive
Lived an old mother bee and her little bees
five.
Buzz said the mother.
We buzz said the five.
So they buzzed all day in a snug beehive.
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|
Over in the meadow in a nest built of sticks
Lived an old mother crow and her little crows
six.
Caw said the mother.
We caw said the six.
So they cawed all day in a nest built of sticks.
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|
Over in the meadow where the green grass grows
so even
Lived an old mother frog and her little froggies
seven.
Jump said the mother.
We jump said the seven.
So they jumped all day where the green grass
grows so even.
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|
Over in the meadow by the old mossy gate
Lived an old mother lizard and her little
lizzards eight.
Bask said the mother.
We bask said the eight.
So they basked all day by the old mossy gate.
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Over in the meadow by the old scotch pine
Lived an old mother duck and her little ducks
nine.
Quack said the mother.
We quack said the nine.
So they quacked all day by the old scotch pine.
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Over in the meadow in a cozy wee den
Lived an old mother beaver and her little
beavers ten.
Beave said the mother.
We beave said the ten.
So they beaved all day in the cozy wee den.
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