5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Lynn Putnam, Lindsey Harding, & Julia Sansom

Grade Level: Kindergarten
Common Core Standard:
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). [RF.K.2]
1. Recognize and produce rhyming words. [RF.K.2a]
Phoneme Activity:
Students will learn to identify rhyming words while listening to a read aloud of
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. The teacher will have already read through the
book once with the puppets (glove with monkeys on each finger, putting one finger down
when a monkey falls off the bed in the story) so children are familiar with the text.
Teacher will write each rhyming word from the text on the board and then ask students
questions about common sounds in each of the words. After the class has reviewed and
discussed what rhyming is and what words to look for in the reading, the teacher will
read the book aloud to the class again. This time each student will have a manipulative (a
bed, speech bubble, or a head on a Popsicle stick) and will use that to demonstrate
recognition of the rhyming words that are read aloud. As the teacher reads, the students
should raise their manipulative when they hear the word head, said, and bed.

Enhancement of Language:
Oral Language is spoken form of communication and strongly relates to
childrens early reading success and in predicting their ability to comprehend what they
read (Reutzel & Cooter, 31). This oral language activity is beneficial for students because
it is both expressive and receptive. It allows the students to observe the teacher modeling

correct accuracy, prosody, and rate as well as challenge students to listen and recognize
the rhyming words that this activity emphasizes. Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher
Makes the Difference states, Children must have experiences with quality literature,
extended discussions about important topics in their reading, and opportunities to write
and respond to literature for reading success. Dr. Mary E. Dahlgren extended this
principle in her article Oral Language and Vocabulary Development. Dr. Dahlgren states
that listening comprehension plus decoding equals reading comprehension (Dahlgren,
2008). The end goal is reading comprehension, even though this activity is not primarily
centered toward that, it is priming students to be able to take on the complex task of
learning to read. Oral language development through activities such as these all help
support and build up to that end goal. Oral language is the foundation and allowing
students to listen and respond is beneficial in developing successful readers.
The childrens book, Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed by Eileen
Christelow, is a rhyming book that supports students development of rhyming words,
and therefore is the prime resource of our oral language activity. Rhyming is important
because it helps children learn about word families. It allows them to break words into
smaller parts and recognize those smaller parts in words (Shanahan, 2015). Timothy
Shanahan also states in his article, Is Rhyming Ability to Reading? that knowing and
recognizing rhyming words are predictive to reading achievement and discerning
similarities between words.
Learning should be interactive and engaging to the students. This activity does
that through reading Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed aloud, using puppets to

demonstrate the story, and having manipulatives for the students to use as they listen and
respond to the reading. These components contribute to oral language development.

Citations:
The Essentials of Teacher Children to Read; The Teacher Makes a Difference, Reutzel &
Cooter
Conference, 2008 Reading First National, Tn Nashville, Dr. Mary E. Dahlgren,
Kindergarten & First Grade What Is Oral Language Development?
"Is Rhyming Ability Important in Reading?" Timothy Shanahan, Reading Rockets. Nov.
2015.