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(Pat-A-Cake (2019) Hazel Quintanilla.

This story is wonderful for helping children to foster their phonological awareness. This nursery rhyme is full of long sing-song sounds and letters that help children recognize the words that are being spoken. Such as when the book says "roll it", it is typically held out and done with a motion to catch the children's attention. It is also a very simple song with repetition and movements. This makes it easier for children to practice the words and recognize them as words and not just sounds. Phonological awareness is a critical part of a child's language development, and simple songs that can be sung with movements and even pictures are great for helping children recognize sounds and words.

Personally when I sing this with the children I work with, I like to make it more personal and use their name instead of "baby". For example if the child's name was Lucy, I would sing "mark it with an L, and put it in the oven for Lucy and me". I think this not only helps children work on putting sounds to words and letter, but it also helps them to start to recognize their own name and the way it sounds compared to other words. I love little simple songs like this that are often sang with movements because it keeps the children engaged and focused.

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The Itsy Bitsy Spider (1993) by Iza Trapani

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This beautiful watercolor illustrated book takes an old favorite rhyme and gives it new life with new adventures for the spider. Through the rhythm and repetition, the short, memorable verses found in this book prepare young children for the foundational skills needed for reading and language development. Repetition of the story's title throughout the book helps children practice the formation of sounds and pronunciation, not to mention that the rhyming trains the child's ear to recognize similar word patterns throughout the story.

This classic nursery rhyme is brought to life with hand motions. Almost all children who come to me by age 3-4 have sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" with a parent or grandparent doing finger and hand movements to tell the story. Introducing this story to them is great because it takes what they already knew and elevates it. They can sing along in the beginning, doing the hand motions, and then are captivated by the sing-songy rhythm of the rest of the story. I love stories or songs that create space for movement because it holds their attention longer than just reading to them, and this book/ nursery rhyme does just that.

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For pre-kindergarteners, nursery rhyme books are an excellent choice because they foster early literacy, phonological awareness, and language development. Children are drawn in by the nursery rhymes' rhyming lyrics, repeated patterns, and captivating images. Children acquire a solid foundation for future reading comprehension and literary pleasure by learning about rhythm, sounds, and language structure through the reading of the nursery rhymes aloud. Additionally, these books offer opportunities for participatory exercises, such as singing, enacting the rhymes, and recognizing them. For children, it enhances and adds enjoyment to the educational process.

In this particular nursery rhyme, Hickory Dickory Dock, children's phonological awareness is fostered in several ways. When children sing the rhyme, they are exposed to a variety of word sounds, such as the short 'i' in "Hickory" and the hard 'c' in "clock." This can help them hear and distinguish individual phonemes, which is important for later reading and spelling skills. The rhyme's repetitive sounds and rhyming patterns (e.g., "dock," "clock") also help children recognize and manipulate the sounds of language.

Not only is this book cute and very well illustrated with eye-catching pages that are full of color, but the children also learn about their numbers, counting, telling time on a clock, and about the animals included in the book and the things they do (e.g., the chickens pecked the clock, the horse bucked). You can include snapping or clapping in reading this book to keep a tempo set while reading in the sing-song voice it is intended to be read in. This is a simple nursery rhyme that I enjoy sharing with my children, which keeps them engaged and interested.

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Mary Had a Little Lamb (1830; modern illustrated editions, e.g. Flora Waycott, 2019)

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I like this rhyme because it’s timeless, but I especially appreciate newer illustrated editions that bring the rhyme to life with inclusive and modern artwork. When the pictures show diverse classrooms or caring teacher-student relationships, it feels more relatable for today’s children. I also find nursery rhymes powerful in group settings like circle time, and literacy groups, kids light up when they recognize a rhyme and can join in together. It creates a sense of belonging and shared joy. For me, as a future kindergarten teacher, I can see using this rhyme as a transition activity (e.g., singing it while lining up or moving to the rug) because the rhythm keeps kids focused and engaged.

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Nursery rhyme's foster children's phonological awareness through their repetitive, and rhythmic structure. Repeating the verses strengthens their auditory memory. This nursery rhyme repeats specific sounds such as "swish swish swish" of the wipers, and "beep beep beep" of the horn". This helps children focus on individual sounds within the words. This rhyme also has gestures paired with it. Such as making swishing motion for wipers or the beep of the horn. Pairing actions with the words allows younger children extra support to participate and understand the song.

This nursery rhyme is my 16 month old sons favorite. It keeps him entertained, and he can even do the movements with me while I sing the song.

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This is a classic nursery rhyme and not only is it a classic but it also helps children with their phonological awareness. This is a repetitive song which helps children remember the words or sounds that they are doing. When they repeat the animal sound for each animal. It is helping them remember the word for that animal and that animal sound. The repetition helps strengthens the memory for sounds. Then this helps reinforce the links between words and their sounds. Also, while reading this or singing it the teacher can have the children pick a different animal each time. This will help the young child's creative mind start thinking and then repeating the sound it will help them remember this word. This will be a book I Have in the classroom to help with phonological awareness. Thr rhymes in this also help children understand rhymes and sounds that sound similar. In conclusion Old MacDonald helps children with phonological awareness by combining repetition,rhymes, sound play, rhythm, and interaction with the children. This is all important skills to help children learn.

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Baa Baa Black Sheep has become one of my personal favorite nursery rhymes to do with children over the years. One way that I believe this nursery rhyme can help with phonological awareness is singing the song with children and having them clap along with me. By doing this simple task they are learning about how many syllables a word has. I also emphasize how the words sound while pointing to the words if I’m using a physical copy of the nursery rhyme so children can see and hear how different letters have different sounds.

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"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" by Jane Cabrera (2024) 

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"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" by Jane Cabrera (2024) 

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One could use this book to foster a child’s phonological awareness because whether you are reading or singing this song children are about to sound out each phoneme of a word to further understanding that each letter has a different sound. For instance, “Ee-I-Eee-I-O.” Another way in which one could use this book to foster a child’s phonological awareness is that specific sounds are repeated in turn helping children focus on the individual sounds of the words. For example, “moo, moo,” “baa, baa,” “oink, oink,” “quack, quack,” “neigh, neigh.” This genre of literacy is especially important to me as I remember reading this book all the time with my parents while growing up and fostering my love for reading. I always go bac to this classic when I am babysitting children or when I am planning a literacy activity for my students in my preschool classroom.

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The three little pigs is one of my favorite nursery rhymes. The little pigs have decided to leave home. the mother and dad tell them to watch out for the big bad wolf. The first little pig builds his house out of straw. The second little pig builds his house of sticks or wood. The third little pig built his house out of brick. Then a long came the wolf and he told the first little pig that he would huff and puff and blow his house down. So the wolf blew his house down. The second pig built his out of sticks and the wolf came along. He would huff and puff and blow his house down. So the wolf blew his house down. The third pig built the house out of brick. Along came the wolf and said the same thing again. I think that it teaches the children that it really matters what they do. The children need to know that their work really means something.

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Row, Row, Row Your Boat (2015) Jane Cabrera 

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Jane Cabreras 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' puts a fun spin on the well known nursery rhyme. Each page is beautifully illustrated with seemingly hand painted illustrations that match each rhyme on the pages. The children are drawn in by the fun pictures, silly themes, and fun rhymes. This book supports phonological awareness by encouraging rhyming, promoting sound recognition through repeated exposure to both initial sounds and ending rhyming sounds. The rhythm and repetition also help to promote fluency by working with the auditory memory of the reader/listener!

To me, books like row row row your boat are very effective and very enjoyable tools to help support early emerging literacy skills, especially phonological awareness. What stands out to me is how naturally this book invites the reader/listener to be silly and to play with sounds. This is a fun one where many things can be incorporated including physical body movements or actions like clapping, dancing, etc, fun sounds, instruments, etc.

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Wheels on the Bus by Kim Mitzo Thompson and Karen Mitzo Hilderbrand. Illustrated by Sharon Lane Holm

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There are several ways that the book/nursery rhyme The Wheels on the Bus can support phonological awareness in several ways. The repetition of sounds helps children to practice pronouncing parts of speech such as "sh" and describing directions such as "up" and "down" helps to associate those words with their proper meanings. The catchy tune that the book can be sang to children in can also help children to practice the recognition of those sounds and their meanings in impromptu moments even if the teacher is not directly leading a related activity.

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I think personally, this is one of the best examples of a phonological nursery rhyme for many reasons. The first reason is because of the sounds of e-i-e-i-o. I think showing kids these letter sounds and making it easy to hear and understand makes a big difference in this development. The main reason I think this helps phonologically is the animal sounds. The main story of this rhyme has certain original animal sounds that make it easy for children to remember through song. You can also aid the children in learning animal sounds via adding different animals that may not be the traditional "farm" animals. I think teaching these animal sounds helps them become more knowledgeable in a fun way that is engaging for the students.

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One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (2013) by: Melissa Everett

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I believe this story is so fun, bright and simple in helping children foster children's phonological awareness. This nursery rhyme helps children understand rhyming recognition, syllables, sound play and word awareness. The fun rhyme can be just read or be sung, which can make it even more fun and engaging. It can help children learn to count as well as well as recognize how the words rhyme together. Such as (One, Two, Buckle my Shoe). This book can also be used to encourage children to do the same actions as in the story such as buckling their shoe or knocking on a door. Allowing them to make connections and remember the words and story.

I love this book, it reminds me of my childhood, and I still remember this rhyme and taught it to my own children. Except the end of my rhyme was "nine, ten a big fat hen". I would probably read this to my students but also turn it into a song as well. Where we would sing the rhyme but also clap with the rhyme to notice the syllables. I also love just how simple the book is and because it is so simple I feel children remember it, especially when they are starting to count. I know it helped me and my own children when learning to read and count. A win win! :)

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Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (1989) by Eileen Christelow

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Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed is a great nursery rhyme for children’s phonological development. The story’s rhyming words, repetitive structure, and catchy rhythm help children differentiate speech sounds. To build phonological awareness, children need exposure and explanation. They need to listen to and sing songs that rhyme. When reading the book, I would point out that “bed” and “head” are rhyming words (“Five little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head...”). Another rhyme is “head” and “said” (“One fell off and bumped his head, mama called the doctor and the doctor said…”). When reading the story, it’s important to exaggerate the rhyme. The story’s simple, predictable structure and rhythm make it easy for children to learn the words. When children sing along, they can learn new vocabulary and practice pronunciation. The story’s repetitive structure also supports basic math skills. Children learn to count backwards from 5 to 1, (“Five little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head… Four little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head…”).

I loved this nursery rhyme when I was little. I could relate to it, because I have so many siblings (I’m the youngest of 7). We always did the opposite of what our mom told us to do, just like in the story. The mama says, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” None of them listened to her, because they all fell off the bed and got hurt.

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I chose this book because my 2-year-old class loves this nursery rhyme, and I’ve noticed how excited and engaged they become when we sing it together. The repetition in the song is very helpful for developing phonological awareness, as children can quickly learn the words and recognize patterns in language. I also like how the hand movements and gestures make the activity interactive and keep children engaged. This nursery rhyme also encourages group participation which helps children build social skills and cooperation. The book and song support vocabulary development, as the repeated words give children exposure to new vocabulary terms in a fun and memorable way. I also think this nursery rhyme strengthens listening skills and auditory processing, since children must listen carefully to the directions and match the hand motions to the words. Overall, this nursery rhyme is not only a classroom favorite but also a valuable tool for fostering phonological awareness and vocabulary skills in young children.

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The nursery rhyme I'm a Little Teapot provides many opportunities to build children's phonological awareness. This rhyme has clear rhyming pairs, such as spout and shout, which you could draw attention to by pausing before the final word and encouraging the children to predict it. The rhyming words also draw attention to the ending sounds. The rhyme's predictable pattern gives children the opportunity to hear the beats and syllables such as "tea-pot" and "han-dle". This nursery rhyme is great because it has actions that pair with the words, which helps the children connect and understand the words better. Personally, in order to help build children's phonological awareness, I would read the book with lots of expression and emphasizing the rhyming words and sounds. I'd also have the children stand up and act out the actions that go along with the story, and make it into a fun activity. For example, after we read "here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up, hear me...", I would pause and let them yell "shout"!

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I chose this book because it is relatable to every child. It is connecting the child with their body and expressing a message of love, acceptance. and self awareness. The illustrations are colorful and eye catching. The phonological awareness that this book uses is the rhythmic language that connects the rhyming words to their sounds this allows the child to identify and connect patterns in specific words. The book also prompts participation as they point out the body parts, this engages the child to also connect with the one reading the book as they will also make a connection that they have for example a nose. Children tend to point to their nose and also the nose of the reader. This builds the child's confidence and awareness of spoken language.

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You Are My Sunshine (2011) by Carolina Jayne Church

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“You are my Sunshine” is my favorite nursery rhyme, and a great Nursery Rhyme to help build Phonological awareness. Children tend to be drawn in by the familiar tune, the comforting rhythm, and the repeated lines that can be quickly learned to say or sing along with. I believe this book supports phonological awareness in many ways. The rhyming words help children hear how sounds go together and remember the patterns in the rhyme. The repetition of lines encourages children to join in, which can help build their confidence in sound awareness and speaking. The book can also be used to point out beginning sounds in words, like the “s” in sunshine, or to pause and let children fill in a missing rhyming word. We can also clap out the syllables to help children recognize the beats in the words or hand movements to remember what sound comes next. “You are my Sunshine” is such a heartwarming and engaging Nursery Rhyme that not only brings comfort but also helps foster children’s phonological awareness.

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Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989) By: Bill Martin Jr. 

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I chose this book because my twin boys loved this when they were younger. They would get so excited when I would read this to them as they were learning the alphabet. When reading this book, they began to recognize letter recognition which soon helped them spell their name. I love sharing this book with my preschool class because it has rhythm and the bright colors which captures their attention. The story line in this book makes it a memorable moment for children as the lowercase letters race to the top of the tree which becomes heavy and they start to fall and get hurt then the uppercase letters come to help who get hurt from the fall. Not only does the rhythm repeat, it also helps children learn to identify uppercase and lowercase which will potentially help them as they begin to learn how to write their name. This book is is engaging and a helpful tool when teaching the children the alphabet.

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There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly (1997) Simms Taback 

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There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

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There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

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There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is one of my favorite nursery rhymes from my childhood! Nursery rhymes / rhyming books are crucial to developing children's language and phonological development, as well as building on cognitive functions like recalling from memory and sequencing. There are many different ways this story has been illustrated and written in the past. This version of the story includes pop - outs and cut - outs, inviting children to play with the pages and be even more engaged in the book.

Nursery rhymes include conventions like sequencing (listing, ordering, etc.), rhymes, and repetition. These functions of nursery rhymes engage the reader and audience by giving them sentences or phrases to repeat (There was an old lady who swallowed a fly). Repetition supports language and cognitive development by giving children phrases they can remember, they can repeat, and they can anticipate. The next is sequencing. Sequencing is one of the drivers for this book. After the old lady swallows a fly, she swallows other animals to eat the last in her stomach. For example, the old lady swallowed a cat to eat the spider, she swallowed a spider to eat the fly, I don't know why we swallowed the fly, etc. The story follows this sequencing and allows children to jump into the silliest and tag along in the story!

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Molly Barnette- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

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Molly Barnette- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

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The nursery rhyme that I chose to look over and use is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by Eric Carle. The song/rhyme is wonderful for children developing phonetic awareness. It includes rhyme and repetition, rhythm and syllable awareness, alliteration and sound play, memorability, and oral language development. Children learn to identify rhyme patterns, a crucial phonological ability, by repeating end sounds with this nursery rhyme. Children may more easily hear syllables and stress patterns in words because of the consistent rhythm and predictable structure. Phrases such as "Twinkle Twinkle" expose children to repeated first sounds, which helps them develop phonemic awareness. The brief duration and straightforward melody facilitate memorization, practice, and repetition for children, hence enhancing their future sound letter correspondences. Chanting/singing nursery rhymes like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star enhances vocabulary, articulation, and listening comprehension.

I loved this nursery rhyme because I remember singing it with my grandma, growing up. It is more of a comfort rhyme than anything. It also provides beautiful visuals. I can't help but think of the night sky and being with her when I hear it.

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Fiddle-I-Fee by Will Hillenbrand is based on a traditional folk song. The song builds on repetition and the words of the story flow with rhythm. Both of these would help foster phonological awareness skills. The story’s repetition is cumulative-each animal’s sound is added and reviewed as the book goes along. This encourages the children to predict as they are read to. This would be a great book to read multiple times so that students can predict and repeat which strengthens their memories and sound sequencing. In our Pre-K classroom, the favorite book is The Very Impatient Caterpillar. We have read it several times and now the students can  fill in the blank when the teacher pauses while reading so that they are “reading” with the teacher.

There is also a lot of rhyming and rhythm in Fiddle-I-Fee since it was based on a song. The lyrical pose of the book supports the children’s awareness of rhyming words especially if a teacher points them out and has the children repeat them back. You could even potentially “sing” the book and have the children act as a choral to echo the lines back to you. This would help improve the children’s phonological memory as well as pronunciation and fluency.

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Once I read this nursery rhyme, I knew that if I was 5 years old, I would know what the letter "b" sounded like.Nursery Rhymes

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Once I read this nursery rhyme, I knew that if I was 5 years old, I would know what the letter "b" sounded like.Nursery Rhymes

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Once I read this nursery rhyme, I knew that if I was 5 years old, I would know what the letter "b" sounded like. The word, "bitter" is considered a Tier 2 word. This nursery rhyme is part of the Mother Goose Collection. Identifying and producing words that begin with the same sound - Alliteration. It's part of Phonological Awareness. Alliteration is fun for me. I've always enjoyed it when I see it and the fact that teachers can make catchy melodies when it comes to nursery rhymes that use alliteration is even better. Learning should be fun for children. I could see myself singing and dancing to this nursery rhyme. That would foster my student's Phonological awareness because they would see me having fun singing all of the "b" words. It would get branded in their heads, for sure! :)

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poem The Butter Betty Bought by Carolyn Wells

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You are My Sunshine Sandra Magsamen 2018

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You can clap out the words as you sing the nursery rhyme to help break down the words. I loved this nursery rhyme growing up; my mom would sing it to me as a child, and it holds a very special place in my heart!

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I chose Bad Day, Good Day for this part of the Children Lit Review assignment because a family I babysit for frequently has this book in their home and read it with their toddler often. I have honestly really loved this nursery rhyme book! It is a musical book, and by that I mean that one every page there is a little button that plays a short song that usually talks about feelings and emotions and the overall theme of the book is that it is okay and good to take time to feel our emotions and learn more about them and ourselves, good AND bad! When thinking about fostering children's phonological awareness, you could use this book to work on rhyming awareness, by hearing and identifying the words in the book that rhyme. For example, when reading you could choose to emphasize the rhyming words/phrases. You could also use this book to work on syllables, and that would be age-appropriate because all the words are small and short. These are just a few ways that come to mind. And again, this is a WONDERFUL nursery rhyme book that I will always choose to incorporate.

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This book was fun to read. This is a great book to use when fostering children's phonological awareness because of the rhyme and repetition in the story. Ways to do so is pausing before a rhyming word and allowing the children to finish it. You can also emphasize sounds, for example, potatO-O.

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The book I chose for this part of the Children's Lit Reviews Assignment is Pat-A-Cake by Annie Kubler. It is a classic nursery rhyme that many young children can already recognize. The entire book follows the short rhyme, which uses repetition and rhythm to make it easy to remember. Because the language is simple and predictable, children are able to follow along and even say parts of the rhyme themselves. This makes it a good example of a nursery rhyme that tells a quick story through actions! I really like this book because it gets kids involved instead of just sitting and listening. Again, I feel as if most children already know the Pat-a-Cake rhyme, so it helps them feel confident participating. I could easily see myself using this book during circle time or as a fun transition activity where children clap along and say the words together. I also like how it naturally combines movement with language, which helps keep young children engaged.

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Old McDonald Had a Farm was written and illustrated by Salina Yoon and published in 2008. This book has many different skills of fostering phonological awareness because of the repetitive structure and the song of this nursery rhyme. This book emphasizes each animal sound and allows children to imitate the sounds and words they are hearing from the person reading it. Noticing repetition, repeating sounds, or singing or clapping along to the beat are all foundational early literacy skills. I remember this song having a place throughout my childhood, through books, play, and songs. I think that reading this book can really engage young readers, repetition like this encourages them to chime in and interact where they might not have felt comfortable enough to before.

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Mary Had a Little Lamb

I chose “Mary Had a little lamb” because the rhyme in the nursery has a strong rhythm as well as repetition, and it has a predictable sound pattern that allows children to hear how language sounds. To help children, I would help them clap the syllables of “Mary”, “little”, and “lamb”. As well as have them listen for words that rhyme and have them join in.