HRP Rhyme and Ritual HRP Rhyme and Ritual
Scenario 2: Barker the Dog
Our dog, Barker, is a great dog. He is good tempered, he loves a walk, and he likes to play, but he’s gentle with children. And he makes a very good guard dog – in fact, that’s how he got his name. One night, as we slept upstairs, and Barker was dozing in his basket, burglars got into our house. They broke a window round the back and climbed into the kitchen, but Barker saved the day. Even though he was still only a young dog at the time, he growled his fiercest growl, and the burglars stopped just where they were. Then he barked and barked. He barked his loudest, fiercest bark, and the burglars were too scared to move. They just stood there as if they were rooted to the spot, until my mum and dad woke up and called the police. When the police came they took the burglars away. And the whole time Barker kept guard over them, barking and barking. So that’s how Barker got his name. The funny thing is, Barker hasn’t got a bark at all at the moment. Not even a little growl. We went out for a long walk a couple of weeks ago and we got caught in a real downpour of rain. We all got soaked through, including Barker. The next morning, when we got up, Barker had lost his voice and the following morning Barker started sneezing so we took him to the vet. She said we should keep him warm and she gave him some special medicine. So just for now our dog Barker is a dog without a bark!
Activities
Take turns to pass the noisy toy around the group. Ask each child to describe it with either a descriptive word or phrase. What kind of noise does it make? How many different descriptive words can they think of to describe the noise the toy makes? Take some time to describe the toy itself. How big is it? What does it look like? How does it feel? What colour(s) is it? You may like to record some of these with the children.
Show the children a small collection of objects (these could include some simple instruments if you wish). Ask them to try and make different sounds using the objects - e.g. by tapping, shaking, rubbing or twanging etc. Sort the objects in different ways - things that make a certain kind of sound, or which make sound when particular things are done to them.
Ask the children to tell you the sorts of sounds which different animals make (you may like to read a book like ‘Dear Zoo’ to start you off). Encourage the children to have a go at making the sounds. Think of a sound and ask the children to think of all the animals in that category, for example, how many different animals can the children think of which growl?
Hamilton Reading Project 2000 Hamilton Reading Project 2000