Hickory Dickory Dock

1. Narrative Skills

• Set out colored pencils and paper and ask your child to draw something about the mouse in the story. Once they have completed the drawing, invite them to tell you about it. Write down their exact words on the drawings. It is critical not to correct their grammar. This is an excellent way for them to begin to see the connection between thoughts and symbols represented by the picture and their words.

2. Print Awareness

• Print the words Hickory, Dickory, Dock and place on refrigerator or wall. Point to the words and say “Hickory, Dickory, Dock.” Then, ask your child to say the words as you point to them.

3. Letter Knowledge

• Purchase some foam letters and print off a picture of a mouse. Sort out two sets of the word “mouse.” Attach one set to a white piece of paper along with the picture of the mouse (it is important to always have a symbol of the word you are wanting them to learn). Place the second set in a basket and invite your child to pull out the letters and match it to the letter on the paper. When done, point to the letter “m” and say the word “mouse”.
• Invite your child to sign their name on the picture they completed under the Narrative Skills activity. At this stage of a child’s development, it is important to let the child write their name as best they can and not to correct their spelling or formation of letters. We refer to this as their pre-school writing.

4. Vocabulary

• Watch the video again and talk about what is happening in the story.
• Add adjectives to enrich how they described the book. For example, if they say the “Mouse ran up the clock,” you can say “The little, brown, mouse ran up the tall, black, clock”.

5. Print Motivation

• Provide the child with a stuffed animal of a mouse or one of the other characters in the story (bird, snake, re, bee, hen, pig, billy goat, porcupine, horse) while reading or viewing the story.

6. Phonological Awareness

• Ask if the following words rhyme: “Hickory, dickory, dock”; “three” and “key”; “six” and “chicks.” (I added some words that do not rhyme to help them hear the difference).