My daughter and her friends dressed up as 'The Three Little Kittens who lost their mittens' for a Halloween dance last night. This morning, when I asked her how everything went, she said, "Fine, but not many people understood the mittens part. I guess kids these days don't know nursery rhymes."
There is truth in Katelyn's statement. Working with children over the years, I have noticed the same thing. Parents aren't taking time to teach their children nursery rhymes. I guess Mother Goose is not as popular as she once was. Personally, I feel it is important for children to learn nursery rhymes and here is why...
1) Rhyming is a literacy concept that Kindergarten children are tested on.
2) When children hear nursery rhymes, they hear the sounds vowels and consonants make and learn how to put these sounds together to make words.
3) They also practice voice inflection, as well as the rhythm of language.
4) In nursery rhymes, children hear new words that they would not hear in everyday conversing.
5) Nursery rhymes usually tell a story with a beginning, a middle and an end, showing children that events happen in sequence. So, for those of you who may not be familiar with 'The Three Little Kittens', you may want to click here and become acquainted with some early children's literature.
