A Traditional Literature Theme: Nursery Rhymes & Fables

March is a month filled with inspiration for themes for learning in your homeschool. This month many people will be taking advantage of St. Patrick’s Day. Perhaps you don’t want to read all about Irish history and culture, but you can twist that theme and read traditional literature instead – myths, folktales, fairy tales, fables, and legends.

My Favorite Author is using this theme this month, too. Stop by that blog for interviews with authors and reviews of books related to this theme. “What can you do with a traditional literature theme?” you ask. It is one of my favorite literature studies because it is truly a rich topic. Today I am sharing a few ways to engage your children in this study with Nursery Rhymes and Fables:

Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes are very short, funny, poetic stories. They are often historically and politically significant.

• Your little ones can participate in this study by reading Nursery Rhymes. These funny rhymes build phonemic awareness and are easily
  memorized. Have your little ones choose a few to commit to memory.
• Make and Break words from the rhymes. Use words such as Jill/hill, down/crown. Use the onsets and rimes to build new words (spill, fill, mill, bill).
• You can have your children illustrate several Nursery Rhymes and bind them into a book. Those illustrations are a great way to teach visualization, and they help you see if your child comprehends the text.
• Teens can research the political and historical significance to each of the rhymes. Then they can write their own Nursery Rhymes that have political and historical messages cleverly hidden in them.

Fables

Fables are short stories that have a moral or a lesson at the end.

• Since fables are so short, you can use them to practice oral reading. Have your children read them aloud with the goal of making the reading “sound like talking”.
• You can focus on memorization skills with Fables. Choose shorter ones that your older children can memorize and have the younger children memorize the moral.
• The lesson can spark an interesting discussion about morals. Ask your children what they think is the right choice in each situation.
• Fables can help you gauge your children’s comprehension because they are short and have a moral. Did your child predict the outcome based on the clues in the text? Did your child make connections to other stories or situations?

Look for more posts about using folklore in your homeschool.

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