Article
Art by Mike Deas

Rainy Day

By Kenn Nesbitt
From the May/June 2024 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify and implement rhymes in a poem.

Use the words in the box to finish the rhymes.

Hint: Use one of the words two times.

  • fun     
  • hike   
  • play   
  • frog

Today is such a rainy day,

I have to stay inside to ___________________.

I can’t go out to walk the dog,

I can’t go out to find a ___________________.

I can’t go out to ride my bike.

I can’t go out to take a ___________________.

I can’t go out to skip and run.

I can’t go out, and that’s no __________________.

But wait, the rain has gone away.

Goodbye. I’m going out to ___________________.

Activities (2)
Answer Key (1)
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Answer Key (1)

More About the Article

English Language Arts Focus

Poetry: Craft and structure

Rhyming words

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Implementation

Whole Group

Pairings and Text Connections

  • From the Storyworks archive: “Poetry Kit: Sunshine Smiles” (March/April 2024) 
  • Suggested books: Worm Weather by Jean Taft; Noodles: I Love Rainy Days! by Hans Wilhelm

Suggested Reading Focus

Rhyming words (20 minutes)
  • Before reading, review the concept of rhyming words with students. Have students read the four words in the Word Bank at the top of the poem.
  • Tell students that poets use rhymes to help their poems sound a certain way. Tell students you will read the poem a few times. For the first read, pause at each blank space and have students share what they think belongs there. Have students write the correct rhyming words in their magazines.
  • For the second read, have students follow along in their magazines. Guide them in circling or underlining pairs of rhyming words. 
  • Have students consider the final two lines of the poem. How do those lines change the meaning of the poem?

After-Reading Skills Practice

  • Skills: Writing, phonological awareness (15 minutes)

Extension Activity

Skill: Rhyming (10 minutes)

  • Continue the rhyming practice with this simple activity! First, have children draw a cloud on a piece of paper. Then tell them a word to write in the cloud. (Ensure that the word has many possible rhymes.) Have students make raindrops, each with a word that rhymes with the word inside the cloud (for example: a cloud might say dog, and raindrops might say frog, log, fog, bog).

Text-to-Speech