Understanding songs, rhymes and

chants for primary

Glossary
Chant
Chants have no music and may or may not have rhyming lines. They have a strong beat.

Rhyme
A rhyme is repetition of a similar sound in two or more words and is most often used in poetry
and songs. The word ‘rhyme’ may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or
other brief rhyming poem, such as nursery rhymes.

Rhymes need words at the end of the lines which rhyme with each other, e.g. ‘Five little
monkeys sitting in a tree, teasing Mr Crocodile, “You can't catch me”.’ The rhyme may also be
inside a line, e.g. ‘Hank, Hank, walk to the bank’.

Rhythm
This is the pattern of beats in speech, line or verse.

Song
A short musical composition with words.

Stress timing
A stress-timed language is a language where the stressed syllables are said at approximately
regular intervals, and unstressed syllables shortened to fit this rhythm. Stress-timed languages
can be compared with syllable-timed ones, where each syllable takes roughly the same amount
of time.

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References and further reading
The following links and resources explore the areas discussed in this module in more detail:

Birdsall, M. and Preece, J., 1998. Kids only: Start with a song. Mary Glasgow Magazines.

Fergusson, R., 2007. Penguin rhyming dictionary. Penguin.

Graham, C., 1983. Jazz chants for children. Oxford University Press.

Graham, C., 2006. Creating chants and songs. Oxford University Press.

Hughes, A., 2002. JET songs and rhymes. Scholastic.

King, K. and Beck, I., 2006. Oranges and lemons. Oxford University Press.

Myles, J., 1997–2001. Kids only: Songs, chants and action rhymes (Packs 1–5). Mary Glasgow
Magazines.

Paterson, A. and Willis, J., 2008. English through music (Oxford Basics for Children). Oxford
University Press.

Paul, D., 1997. Songs and games for children. Macmillan.

Puchta, H., Devitt, M., Gerngross, G. and Holzman, C., 2012. Grammar songs and raps.
Cambridge University Press.

Will, S. and Reed, S., 2010. Primary music box. Cambridge University Press.

An article on using different song types

A video of a teacher using songs

Tips on using music and songs

Tips on using poetry in the classroom

Jazz chants with audio and scripts

Rhyming dictionary for kids

An article on how and why to use songs in the classroom

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An article about English sentence stress

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