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1st Grade · Reading · RF.1.2

Rhyming Words Lesson Plan for 1st Grade

A ready-to-teach rhyming words lesson for 1st Grade, built around matching, finding and writing rhyming words, word family endings and rhymes in a poem. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 47 minutes

Learning objective

  • Hear and match words that rhyme
  • Find the word that does not rhyme
  • Write rhyming words and find rhymes in a poem

Materials

Lesson steps

  1. 1. Build the background (5 min)

    Say it before you show it. Give three spoken examples of rhyming words and have students repeat, then one that does not belong.

  2. 2. Read aloud and think aloud (I do) (10 min)

    Write two examples of rhyming words while sounding them out slowly. Point to each part as you say it so the sound and the letters stay connected.

  3. 3. Guided practice (we do) (12 min)

    Read a second passage together. This time students find the evidence and you record it. Push every answer back to the text with "what words told you that?"

  4. 4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)

    Hand out "Match Rhyming Pictures". Students read and answer on their own. Circulate and ask individuals to point to the line in the text that supports their answer.

  5. 5. Share and close (5 min)

    Two or three students share an answer and the evidence behind it. Restate rhyming words one final time in the students' own words, not yours.

Check for understanding

Ask each student to point to the evidence in the text for one of their answers. A student who has the right answer but cannot find the line has not yet learned rhyming words.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild rhyming words with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own rhyming words problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand rhyming words.

Skills covered in this lesson

Rhyming words practice

Practice pages for this lesson

6 items, 6 printable pages that match the independent-practice step.

Questions teachers ask about teaching rhyming words

What makes two words rhyme?
Two words rhyme when they end with the same sound, like pig and wig or cake and snake. The start of the word can be different.
Is rhyming still important in 1st grade?
Yes. Rhyming helps children see word families, so knowing cat helps them read and spell hat and flat. It also helps with reading poems aloud.
Do rhyming words always end with the same letters?
Often, but not always. Bear and chair rhyme but are spelled differently, which is why some pages ask children to listen as well as look.
Is there an answer key for each worksheet?
Yes. Each of the six rhyming pages has an answer key.

More reading lesson plans for 1st Grade

Looking for printables rather than a plan? Browse all rhyming words worksheets for 1st Grade.