THREE BLIND MICE

Learning Language Potential

 Poetry for young children is very rhythmic, has a lot of words that rhyme, has a simple form and may tell a simple story. Mainly poetry for young children is words put together in a somewhat meaningful string so the patterns in the sentence will help children develop and remember the oral language. Poetry for young children is meant to be read aloud, sung-along, and repeated often.

 They are, simply put, exercises for the tongue, that later connect to complex patterns of meaning-making in the brain. Children like hearing rhymes and songs repeated often because it is a re-affirmation of their newly learned skills of language and it offers a familiarity with the culture that they identify and find security in.

 Poetry is an effective way to encourage language development because of its simplicity and brevity of thought. We can convey a lot with a few words. It is closest to music and encouraging musical ability in children, especially very young children, is known to encourage complex thinking patterns in the brain.

 In order to scaffold the various sounds in a language and help children make the connection that these sounds actually make meaning, rhymes/poems are helpful. Children learn the form of a language through the rhymes/poems and patterns that they can repeat. Through rhymes/poems they begin to recognize and transfer these meanings into language use in other areas.

THREE BLIND MICE

Three blind mice, three blind mice, See how they run, see how they run, They all ran after the farmer's wife, Who cut off their tails with a carving knife, Did you ever see such a thing in your life, As three blind mice.