Smart Kids: Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum...Rhyming Books Linky

Today's picture book linky is about rhyming books. I'm about to pop just to get this idea posted about the book Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum by Lisa Wheeler.

This movement and drama idea is actually a repeat of one of my most popular posts from my first blog— ABCs of Reading: Integrating the ARTS with BOOKS to teach COMPREHENSION Strategies.

Just when you need a book to liven things up, along comes a book with ooey-chewy words and an icky-sticky story to get stuck on! In Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, a variety of animals get stuck one by one in bubble gum melting in the road. They must survive encounters with a big blue truck and a burly black bear. For this idea, you'll need to visit the dollar store and get a pink, plastic tablecloth. Cut it into a gum-splat shape. (See the photos and the book cover.) After reading the story aloud, I introduced my group to a choral reading of the text. I can’t post the whole chant, but here’s a sneak peak to help you get the idea. (If you drop me an email, I’ll send you the entire choral reading. Just title your message “Bubble Gum” and send to jaynestamp@cox.net.)

Teacher:

Bubble gum, bubble gum,

Chewy-gooey bubble gum,

Icky-sticky bubble gum

Melting in the road.

Group 1:

Along comes a toad...

A fine, fat toad,

A fine, fat, wild

Splat!

Wart-backed toad.

All:

Ew! Yuck! The toad got stuck!

Reading this rhyme is kind of like chewing gum, the more you read, the smoother it gets. For even more fun, try this drama extension. Place the shape on the floor of an open area. Select volunteers to be the toad, shrew, goose, bee, crow, black bear and hen. Ask these students to visualize how the animals would move before and after getting stuck in the mud. Read aloud the story as the students pretend to be stuck in the “gum.” When you read the part where the animals blow the bubble, have the students lift the tablecloth in the air as they would a parachute. “Bubble gum, bubble gum, light and lifty bubble gum!”