Pre-reading Activity: Rhyme-in-Time/Rhymin' Time!

1. Introduce this game by explaining to your students that they are each "word detectives." A word detective is anyone who notices interesting things about words. If Alice, for example, notices that a lot of words in a book begin with the letter "G," she is being a word detective. If Mark notices that the words THE, THAT, and THEN all begin with the letters TH, he is being a word detective.
2. In this activity, the whole class will focus on detecting rhymes. Split your class into groups of five students each. One group member will be the "scribe" and will record all the data for that group. Each group will have only one list per round. (This game can have numerous rounds, so the role can be rotated within a group.) After each group has chosen a scribe, the team should come up with a team name. For example, the teams could be called "The Dream Team" or "The Rhyme Monsters."
3. Write each team's name in a row along the top of the whiteboard or blackboard. Leave plenty of room underneath to record points. Explain that all teams will get one minute (teacher-timed) to record as many words as possible that fit a particular rhyming pattern.
4. Do a practice, untimed round. Give a rhyming pattern and ask for students to share possible words to fit that pattern. For example, words that rhyme with CAT. As students respond, help them to notice the elements of the words that fit the pattern. Write a few of their responses on the board. Ask the class, "What do all these words have in common?" Some students may respond that they all rhyme with CAT. Ask if there is anything else students notice. If no one points out that all words end in the letters A and T, underline the spelling pattern in the words and ask the students, "Now what do you notice?" Go on to explain that many rhyming words have similar spelling patterns.
5. Tell students that their team will get points only for words that other teams have not used. So if the rhyming sound is -AT, and TEAM ONE has the word ACROBAT and no one else does, TEAM ONE will get a point. If TEAM TWO, however, also has the word ACROBAT on its list, no one gets the point. It is important during the brainstorming minute that teams work somewhat quietly so that other teams don't overhear ideas.
6. Play Round One. Tell students the rhyming pattern. "You can begin recording words for that pattern when I say 'Go!'" Look at the clock and have the class begin. Tell the class when they have 30 seconds, 15 seconds, and 5 seconds remaining. Then tell them to stop writing.
7. Choose one team to read their list aloud. As they read each word from the list, the other teams each say whether or not they have that word. If another team has the word, they should announce that they have it. Then they should draw a line through it so they don't repeat it when it is their turn to read their list. (This crossing out is the only writing that should be done during list-reading.)
8. As a team gets a point, make a tally mark under the appropriate team name. Allow the points to be cumulative as you play more rounds. Play a few rounds using different spelling/rhyming patterns.
9. Once the game is completed, make a word list on a sheet of chart paper for each of the rhyming patterns used in the game. For example, if you played using -ET words, write all the words students came up with on a piece of chart paper with the heading "-ET Words." Have a separate list for each pattern.
10. Hang them on the wall around the classroom. As other words with the same spelling patterns come up in class, encourage students to recognize the pattern in the words and add them to the appropriate list. The lists then can grow throughout the year.

Read Together

1. Read "The Case of the Missing Diary" from Marty Frye, Private Eye. (If there is time and you feel it is necessary, you might want to go over what a chapter book is with the class. Explain that in some chapter books, it is important to read all chapters in the order they are written. In other chapter books, each chapter is like a short story and you don't have to read each one in order to understand the story. Marty Frye, Private Eye is a mixture of both those types of books. It is a book of short stories with chapters in each story.)
2. Have your class be prepared to be word detectives in the book. Explain some of the premise of the book. "Marty is a poet. Sometimes poems rhyme and Marty loves rhymes. He loves them so much that he likes to speak in rhymes. Let's see if we can find all the rhymes that Marty uses in this story. I wonder if any of the other characters will make rhymes too."
3. The word detectives can also be on the lookout for words to add to the word lists from the pre-reading activity.

[If you want to do a mini-lesson on verbs, you could also cover-up the verbs on each page instead of the last word.]

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Can Word Detectives Solve These Rhyming Mysteries?

1. Ask the class what a mystery is. Ask what a crime is. Discuss whether Marty solved mysteries or crimes. (Marty has a tendency to accuse people of "crimes" when in fact no crime has been committed.)
2. Explain that by using rhymes as clues, students are going to solve a mystery. For example, the chalk is misplaced, and it is important that it be found. The only clue is an index card with an incomplete message.
3. Separate class into two groups. Each group should have its own clues and its own mystery to solve. Give each team the name of their mystery. Team 1: Mystery A; The Case of the Missing Chalk Team 2: Mystery B: The Case of the Missing Dice
4. Beforehand prepare a trail of clues. Each mystery has three clues. Print out these reproducible clues: clues1, clues2, cut them, and affix them to index cards. Hide the missing item as well as Clue Card #2 and Clue Card #3. Give each team the appropriate Clue Card #1. [The answers to reproducible clues1 (Mystery A) are: Clue #1: White, Clue #2: Glue, Clue #3: Paper and the answers to reproducible clues2 (Mystery B) are: Clue #1: Chair, Clue #2: Map, Clue #3: Clock ]
5. You can also create your own rhyming clues. Whatever your message, the missing word should rhyme with another word in the message. (Write that word out either in a different color marker, or underline it so that the students are sure to know what the missing word is going to rhyme with.)
6. Lead the students to more index cards, each with a clue to help them solve the mystery.
7. The last card should lead them directly to the missing object.

Follow-up Activity: Create a Class Poem

1. Assemble the class into a group. Point out all the experience they have had with rhymes through the pre-reading activities, the book and the mysteries they solved. Ask if any students can tell what type of writing sometimes includes rhymes. (Try to avoid saying "always" or even "often" as students may then believe that all poetry must rhyme.)
2. As a class make a List Poem. Choose a theme — like Mysteries. Ask students to raise their hand to contribute one word that would describe that theme. Write student contributions down in the order they are provided.
3. Examine the poem with students. Ask for observations. "What do you notice about this poem?" Student responses might include: it doesn't rhyme, each line is one word, each line is short, etc.,
4. With students seated at their desks, explain that students are going to write two rhyming lines each. These are called "rhyming couplets."
5. To help students recognize and identify rhyming couplets, read some examples of rhyming couplets from Marty Frye. Include some examples of lines that are not rhyming couplets. Ask class to tell you if the examples are rhyming couplets or not.
6. Using the same theme as the list poem, ask each student to write at least one rhyming couplet. If this is difficult, give students a piece of paper that has sentence starters written in. They should then complete the sentences:
   "Mysteries make me feel _____________.
   They are sometimes funny and sometimes _________________."
7. When students have completed the assignment, ask each student to contribute one rhyming couplet to a class poem.
8. Assemble these, as the List Poem, in the order they are contributed.
9. Post the Class List Poem and the Class Rhyming Poem in the classroom.
10. Print out this Venn Diagram reproducible and ask students to tell what the two poems have in common, and how they are unique.
11. Post the Venn Diagram on the same wall as the poems.