Rhyme Time

Scripture: Genesis 31-33

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will review how Samson’s pride and lack of self-control led to poor decisions.
  • Students will learn what makes words rhyme.
  • Students will play a ball bouncing game with peers to practice making rhyming words.

Guiding Question: What makes words rhyme and how can we make our own rhymes?

Materials: bouncy playground balls

Procedure: Review the story of Samson emphasizing how his pride was evident by the riddles that he told. Sometimes pride can cause us to make our own decisions regardless of God, which has bad consequences.

Samson used a lot of rhymes. Explain that rhymes are used a lot in riddles and poems because they flow together and help create a rhythm. Give students a list of words and ask them which ones rhyme. Ex: pat, pull, game, mitt, sat, mat.

Read aloud Samson’s first riddle and ask them to find the rhyming words in it (sweet and eat). Emphasize that in order for words to rhyme the end of the word has to sound the same, not the beginning. Practice giving students a word and having them tell you rhymes for it.

Level 1:
Place students in groups of 2-5 (depending on how many balls you have). Students then bounce the ball to each other by allowing it to bounce on the floor only once and land in the receiver’s hands (like in Four Square). When students bounce the ball, they have to say a word that rhymes with a given word. Continue until students run out of words. For this level, they can use nonsense words such as “yat” to rhyme with “cat”. The idea is that they understand the concept of how rhyming works more than if they create a real word.

Level 2:
Play the same as Level 1, but students must use real words. When students run out of words, the teacher or a designated “student coach” can give the new word. The “student coach” or teacher can act as the judge to make sure that only real words are used.

Level 3:
Students play Four Square and each time they bounce the ball, they have to say a word that rhymes with the given word. The King decides what the word is for each round.

Examples of good words to rhyme with: bat, cake, kite, ball,

Note: practice with the words before assigning them to students so that you can prevent accidental “bad language”.

Additional Questions:

  • Does the ending part of the word have to be spelled the same for the words to rhyme? (If students say yes, give them the example: pie and my)

Supplemental Activities:

  • Share examples of rhyming poetry and have students jump up when they hear words that rhyme.
  • More advanced students can write their own rhyming poetry. Have them brainstorm a list of words that rhyme to get them started. Then have them write phrases. You may want to clap a poetic rhythm to help them get a flow for their rhyme. (Iambic is probably the easiest, but kids do not need to know this term.)

Written by: Savannah Negas

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