• Create big books using nursery rhymes. Use poster board cut in half, large paper grocery sacks, tag board, etc. Type the words on a computer and increase the font size. Have children illustrate the text.

• Have a "Nursery Rhyme Party" where children dress up like their favorite nursery rhyme character. Encourage each child to sing or say their rhyme.

• Create a personal NURSERY RHYME BOOK for each child in your class. Each child will need a spiral notebook or composition book. As you introduce each rhyme, run off a copy of the words for each child. (Increase the font size and double space.) Children glue the words on one page and illustrate the rhyme on the opposite page. Children take home their rhyme books each weekend and say the rhyme to their parents. Encourage parents to write their "comments and compliments" in their child's book each week after they listen to them recite the rhyme.

• Write titles of rhymes on a language experience chart and practice saying them when you have a few extra minutes in the day. You can also take a cardboard cube and write the title of a rhyme on each side. Roll the cube, then repeat the rhyme it lands on.

• Let children dramatize nursery rhymes.

• When you come to words children don't know (such as "fetch" or "curds and whey") in the rhymes, model looking up their meaning in a dictionary. Create a class dictionary with these new words.

• Play "Charades" with the nursery rhymes and other songs. Children take turns acting out the rhymes without using words while their friends try and guess who they are.

• Say a nursery rhyme and leave out one or two words. Children listen and supply the missing word.

• Start a "Nursery Rhyme Club." Decorate a poster board with glitter and stickers. Write "Nursery Rhyme Club" at the top. Each child who learns a nursery rhyme or other poem and recites it to the class may sign their name on the poster.

• Add movements as you recite nursery rhymes. You might want to clap, snap, march, patty cake with a friend, etc.
  

Encourage children to track words and rhymes with some of these pointers:

Bugles -Children put them on their finger, then eat when they finish reading.
Magic Pointer -Dip the end of a chop stick in glue, then dip it in glitter. Taa daa!
Wiggly Eye -Glue a wiggly eye to the end of a craft stick. Remind children to "keep their eye" on the words as they read.
Pencils -Collect seasonal pencils or encourage children to bring in novelty pencils. Store them in a cup, then let children choose the one they want when they read.
Witch's Fingernails -These are sold at Halloween and are such fun for pointing!