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AUTHOR Danielson, Elaine

TITLE The Importance of Nursery Rhymes.
PUB DATE 2000-00-00
NOTE 12p.
PUB TYPE Opinion Papers (120)
EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS Early Childhood Education; *Literacy; *Nursery Rhymes;
*Prereading Experience; *Reading Aloud to Others; *Reading
Readiness; *Reading Skills
IDENTIFIERS Reading Behavior

ABSTRACT
This paper examines the benefit of nursery rhymes in
literacy acquisition. It begins by discussing the history and attribution of
various rhymes and the linkage of nursery rhymes with Mother Goose. It then
suggests literacy advantages of children who know nursery rhymes over
children who do not, which include the abilities to: (1) learn the intonation
patterns of a language; (2) learn new words and concepts; (3) understand the
basis of learning to read and write; and (4) appreciate poetry. The paper
concludes that exploring rhymes in games, poetry and songs are enjoyable ways
to provide knowledge and skills that can later help children become
successful readers and writers. (Contains 16 references.) (EF)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

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 N

The Importance of Nursery Rhymes.

by Elaine Danielson

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 The Importance of Nursery Rhymes

By Dr. Elaine Danielson

Introduction.
Because he does not read for enjoyment as much as I wish he would or think he

should, Thomas, my youngest son, claims that it is because I didn't read to him when he

was growing up. I, of course, deny this. However, his older brother, James, has Down's

Syndrome and since James didn't walk until he was 26 months old, we spent many hours

sitting, reading picture books and reciting nursery rhymes. I could have "burned out"

when Thomas came along five years later because he claims that, for one thing, he did

not know many nursery rhymes when he entered kindergarten. That is NOT good since

research seems to suggest that one of the best indicators of how well children will learn to

read is their ability to recite nursery rhymes when they walk into kindergarten

(Cunningham, 1991). Both boys did learn to read and write, but I always felt remiss

about depriving Thomas of his nursery rhyme heritage. So, the purpose of this article is

to determine what makes nursery rhymes so beneficial in literacy acquisition.

History of Nursery Rhymes.

First a bit about the history of nursery rhymes. Nursery rhymes are verses customarily

told or sung to small children. The oral tradition of nursery rhymes is ancient, but new

verses have steadily been added through the years. A French poem, numbering the days

of the month similar to "Thirty days hath September," was recorded in the 13th century;

but such late comers as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"(1806) and "Mary Had a Little
Lamb" (1830) seem to be just as important and highly valued as the earlier ones. Most

nursery rhymes date from the 16th, 17th and most frequently, the 18th centuries

(Britannica.com Inc. 1999-2000). Apparently, most were originally composed for adult

entertainment and were popular ballads and songs. This is hard to believe because

nursery rhymes are often nonsensical. However, many of these songs and rhymes were

sung in taverns and often in rounds, so when the men had too much to drink, their words

became nonsense. (Vander Meer, 1999). There are always exceptions. For example, "Oh

where, oh where ish mine little dog gone" did not come out of a tavern, but was a

popular song written in 1864 by the Philadelphia composer, Septimus Winner

(Britannica.com Inc.1999-2000). At any rate, nursery rhymes have come under attack

many times through the years, As early as the seventeenth century, our stern forefathers

considered many of these verses unfit for childish ears. Their adult perceptions saw

brutality, dishonesty, and irresponsibility rather than silliness and nonsensical fun. In

more recent years, harsh criticism has been leveled at the apparent sexism in the verses

(Cullinan, 1989) like "The frog who would a wooing go" which first appeared in 1580.

Although many theories have been advanced attributing hidden political significance

to nursery rhymes, there is no reason to suppose they were any different than the popular

songs of the day. Some were inspired by personalities of the time. For example, "Little

Jack Horner" (recorded 1725) was associated with a Thomas Horner, a steward to the

Abbot of Glastonbury, during the reign of King Henry VIII. According to legend, the

4
king wanted more land and the Abbot, hoping to appease the king, sent him a special gift:

a pie containing 12 deeds to manor houses in Glastonbury. On his way to London, the

not-so- loyal courier, Homer, stuck his thumb into the pie and extracted the deed for

Me lls Manor, a plum piece of real estate, where his descendants live to this day

(Chalmers, 1989). The earliest known published English collection of nursery rhymes

was Tommy Thumb's Song Book (London, 1744). It included "Little Tom Tucker,"

"Sing a Song of Sixpence," and "Who Killed Cock Robin?" The most influential book

was Mother's Goose's Melody: or Sonnets for the Cradle published by the firm of John

Newbery in 1781. Among its 51 rhymes were "Jack and Jill," "Ding Dong Bell" and

Hush a -bye-Baby on the tree top." An edition was reprinted in the United States in 1785

by Isaiah Thomas. Its popularity is attested to by the fact that they are still called Mother

Goose rhymes today (Britannica.com. Inc. 1999-2000).

Mother Goose Rhymes

Who is Mother Goose, anyway? Mother Goose was a fictitious old woman, reputed to

be the source of the body of traditional children's songs and verses known as nursery

rhymes. The term has been traced to a book, La Muse Historique (1650), written by

Loret, a Frenchman, in which the sentence "like a Mother Goose story" appeared

(Delamar, 1987). In 1697, Charles Perrault used the phrase in a published a collection of

eight fairy tales. Although the book was titled Histories and Tales of Long ago, with

Morals, the title page showed an old woman spinning and telling stories which bore the

5
words, "Tales of My Mother the Goose." Perrault, consequently, set the stage for the

name to become a household word (Delamar, 1987). Mother Goose is often pictured as a

beak-nosed, sharp-chinned, elderly woman riding on the back of a flying gander. The

persistent legend that she was an actual Boston woman, Elizabeth Goose, whose grave in

Old Granary Burying Grounds is still a tourist attraction, is false. No evidence of the

book of rhymes she supposedly wrote in 1719 has ever been found. According to

Delamar (1987), author of Mother Goose: From Nursery to Literature, a Mother Goose

rhyme is given that label if it meets various criteria. Some say it's the subject matter.

Others say it is the patter and rhythm of the verse. Some even say it's the length of the

piece. Some insist that the author must be unknown. These arguments are not applied to

nursery rhymes in generalonly to the traditional verses that commonly are now

classified as Mother Goose. From this, it's obvious that there is still confusion about

what really constitutes a Mother Goose rhyme and sets them apart from other nursery

rhymes. To clarify, Delamar (1987) writes that a nursery rhyme is not necessarily a

"Mother Goose" rhyme, but a "Mother Goose" rhyme is a nursery rhyme. Iona and Peter

Opie, authors of two definitive works, The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book and The Oxford

Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes have said this about their origin.

Much ingenuity has been exercised to show that certain nursery rhymes
Have had greater significance than is now apparent.
They have been vested with mystic symbolism, linked with
social and political events, and numerous attempts
have been made to identify the nursery characters with real persons.

6
 It should be stated straightway that the bulk of these speculations
are worthless. Fortunately, the theories are so numerous they
tend to cancel each other out (Opie and Opie, 1951).

Reasons for Reading and Reciting Nursery Rhymes.

What reasons are there for reading and reciting nursery rhymes to young children? It

has been found that children who know nursery rhymes have an advantage over those

who do not (Myers, 1994). Why is this the case? They appear to help children: (a) learn

the intonation patterns of a language (b) learn new words and concepts, (c) understand

the basis of learning to read and write, and (d) gain appreciation of poetry.

The rhythm of the language, the compact structure of the narratives, and the engaging

characters all combine to produce the perfect model for young children to develop an ear

for the music of words, phrases and sentences (Cullinan, 1991). The rhymes help convey

the characteristic speech rhythms of the language. There are phrases to chant, nonsense

words to mimic and alliterative repetitions to practice. The beat, stress, sound and

intonation patterns that establish themselves in memory contribute to mastering the

suprasegmental phonemes of a languagepitches, stresses and juncturesthat are an

important part of being able to communicate effectively.

Some nursery rhymes may have been composed to teach children to count, to learn the

alphabet, learn new words, expand their imaginations or to say their prayers. Written text

places high demands on vocabulary knowledge. And nursery rhymes can help develop

this knowledge because there is much to be gained from the language of the verses. The

7 C. PY VAL LE
nursery verses not only help to reinforce children's knowledge of speech patterns but also

to learn new and vivid words. But they do it in a "fun" way rather than as lessons. This

enjoyment helps develop communication and rapport between reader/teller and child.

Plus there can be an instant common bond between home and school when familiar

nursery rhymes are read or recited by the teacher on the first day of school.

Rhymes repetition can also sensitize children to the individual units of sounds known

as phonemes which make up words. An individual's awareness that spoken words consist

of sound segments smaller than the syllable is referred to as phonological awareness.

That individuals have the ability to rhyme to match beginning sounds are among the ways

phonological awareness traditionally has been determined. The ability to break words

that are spoken down into sound parts and/or blend the sounds parts into words is

necessary to acquire the alphabetic principle. The alphabetic principle means knowing

that sound parts are represented by written letters. This enables children to employ a

sound-based strategy called phonics (among other reading strategies) when they are

attempting to read or write words that they do not know (Cecil, 1999). Children who

have difficulty with understanding letter-sound correspondences often have difficulty in

reading. Therefore, it is important to work with phonological awareness early so that later

the ability to decode may be less difficult. Many aspects of language development are

spontaneous and natural, but phonological awareness is not necessarily like that. Many

children cannot understand that words are made up of sounds. They may have speech
discrimination, but phonological awareness is not the same as speech discrimination.

Speech discrimination is the ability to discriminate the sounds of language, such as being

able to tell the difference between bat and hat or time and tame. Students having

adequate speech discrimination may have difficulty with phonological awareness.

Speech discrimination is natural and automatic and does not require abstracting sounds,

whereas phonological awareness does (Snow, Burns, and Griffin, 1998).

So, because longer units are easier to perceive than individual speech sounds, a good

place to begin to develop phonological awareness is through rhymes which are the easier

of the phonological awareness tasks (Yopp, 1988). Reading nursery rhymes and other

rhyming tasks help children develop the ability to detect rhyme. In a study conducted in

Great Britain, children who knew nursery rhymes were better at detecting rhyme and also

did better in early reading than those who had no such knowledge (Maclean, Bryant &

Bradley, 1987). At first just reading nursery rhymes so that children enjoy them is

enough. Then they can memorize them later if they want to (Gunning, 2000).

Of course, reading and writing depends upon knowledge of print. The use of nursery

rhymes can aid in developing concepts of print and can help children become aware of

the speech to print match. By reciting a favorite rhyme a few times, followed by printing

the rhyme on a chart and rereading it while pointing to each word to preserve the sense of

rhyme, reading it together and then having the child read the rhyme helps to make that

connection between spoken and written language. Obviously, children are more

9
successful learning to read if the words of the text are familiar. They are especially

motivated to learn if the words are popular and fun like those in nursery rhymes. Kids

are aware fairly early that the same set of sounds can have different meanings, but when

they begin to read, they can see that different words may be spelled differently. For

example,

"My captain went to sea, sea, sea

To see what he could see, see, see."

This may seem like a small thing, but children are learning more about literacy than they

realize when they are exposed to print in this informal way. It is true that "things that

people think are trivial are just the things that are worth taking seriously" (Myers, 1994).

Cumulative experiences in hearing nursery rhymes are helpful in improving reading

comprehension, as well, and in listening to stories, poems and rhymes, children can

develop a positive disposition toward books.

Another thing that nursery rhymes can do is form a legitimate basis upon which to

build an appreciation of poetry. Nursery rhymes are among the best-known literature in

America and are the first form of poetry that most children experience. Godden (1988)

maintains that children should be introduced to poetry through nursery rhymes because

nursery rhymes are true poems, poetry, with all its gifts of language rhythm and

unexpectedness" ( p. 309). Poet Walter De la Mare attests to their importance. Mother

Goose rhymes, he declares,

10
 Free the fancy, charm the tongue and ear, delight the inward eye
And many of them are tiny masterpieces of word craftsmanship....Last
but not least, they are not only crammed with vivid little scenes and
objects and living creatures, but, however fantastic and nonsensical they
may be, they are a direct short cut into poetry itself (De la Mare, 1983).

An appreciation for Mother Goose rhymes can also form a basis for the writing of one's

own poetry (Myers, 1994).

Nursery rhymes have come up in the world. There is now a recognized Mother Goose

Day celebrated on May lst in the United States, It was founded by Gloria Delamar in

1987 in tandem with the publication of her book, Mother Goose: From Nursery to

Literature. Exploring rhymes in games, poetry and songs is an enjoyable way to provide

knowledge and skills that can later help children become successful readers and writers.

Nursery rhymes provide a means for children to read words effortlessly and accurately

they have heard and seen many times. What a powerful and fun way to begin a literacy

quest.

References

Ball, Eileen Wynne (May 1997). " Phonological Awareness: Implications for Whole
Language and Emergent Literacy Programs." Topics in Language Disorders. 17, pp. 14-
26.

Cecil, Nancy (1999). Striking a Balance Positive Practices for Early Literacy.
Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathaway.

Chalmers, Irena (1989). . The Great American Baby Almanac. Viking Studio Books.

Cullinan, Bernice (1989). Literature and the Child. New York; Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich College Publishers.

BESTCOPYAVAILABLE
Cunningham. Patricia (1991). Phonics They Use. New York: Harper Collins.

Delamar, Gloria T. (1987). Mother Goose: From Nursery to Literature. North Carolina:
McFarland & Company, Inc.

Godden, Rumer (1988)."Shining Popocatapetl: Poetry for Children." The Horn Book
May/June, pp. 305-314.

Gunning, Thomas (2000). Creating Literacy Instruction for All Children. Boston: Allyn
and Bacon.

De la Mare, Walter (1983). Molly Whuppie. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.

Opie, Iona and Peter (1951). The Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (London: Oxford
University Press.

Maclean, M., Bryant, L. and Bradley, L. (May/June 1987). "Rhymes, Nursery Rhymes ,
Reading and Early Childhood: Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33, pp. 255-281.

Marino, Jane. " B is for Baby, B is for Books." School Library Journal, 43, pp. 110-111.

Myers, Greg (April, 1994). "Playground Poetry," English Today, 10. Pp. 36-40.

Snow, C.E., Burns, M. S. & Griffin, P. (1998) Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young
Children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Van der Meer, Antonia (February 1999). "Why Toddlers Need Nursery Rhymes,"
Parents 74, pp. 115-116.

Yopp, H. K. "The Validity and Reliability of Phonemic Awareness." Reading Research

Quarterly,. 23, pp. 159-199.

12
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