Historic Nursery Rhymes: Advancing Every Student's Language

These rhymes are a mixture of poetry specifically meant to teach young children lessons related to behavior, morals, and knowledge, combined with political satire which was often directed to both children and adults about the joys and dangers of the world. These Nursery Rhymes are likely to be recited playfully to young children in homes of high-level literacy, but may not be told or recited in poorer homes or in homes where English is not a first language. These rhymes are placed in different categories to develop different "skills" in preparation for the variety of beginning reading tasks that challenge young students. Following this organization are lessons and activities that prepare the students in lively, joyful ways to encounter unique characters, high-level vocabulary, simple and complex stories, direct and inferential meanings, and the history of an earlier time related to the English language.