Rhyme Time Bike Parade
Vocabulary Exploration· 5 min
- barking 73: “Then it began to wag its tail and bark. And bark. And BARK!”
- sniffing 73: “As Amelia Bedelia rode on, dogs started sniffing, wagging, barking, and straining at their leashes”
- wagging 73: “dogs started sniffing, wagging, barking, and straining at their leashes”
- bobbing 74: “She pedaled as fast as she could on her old bike, with her lemon head bobbing wildly.”
- Say each word aloud and clap the rhythm — two beats for each -ing word
- Hunt for other -ing words on the parade pages together
- Students chorus the four target words twice, faster the second time
- barking
- the dogs are barking loud
- sniffing and wagging go together
Fast finishers: find three more -ing words on any page. Quiet kids: clap the rhythm without saying the word aloud first.
Tap knees twice — Reading Time.
Don't let one loud student chorus over the quiet ones — count to three before accepting answers.
Reading in Class· 10 min
- Picture-walk pages 59-76: Amelia Bedelia crashes her bike, decorates it like a lemon tart, then gets chased by every dog in the parade
- Read aloud once at storytelling pace, pausing at the dog-chase pages to let students predict what happens next
- Read again with students chorusing the dog sounds and action words — bark, sniff, wag, pedal
- What sound do the dogs make? 73: “Then it began to wag its tail and bark. And bark. And BARK!”
- What does Amelia Bedelia do when the dogs chase her? 74: “She pedaled as fast as she could on her old bike, with her lemon head bobbing wildly.”
- bark bark bark
- she pedaled really fast
- the dogs wanted her tarts
Struggling readers: follow the pictures and chorus only the dog sounds. Fast finishers: count how many dogs you see across all the pages.
Howl like a dog once — Questions Time.
Don't skip the picture-walk — the heavy reading load needs the visual anchor first.
Questions Time· 7 min
- Which words on this page rhyme with 'tarts'? 73: “Maybe it was triggered by her dad yelling "tart tarts"!”
- Find two words that rhyme on this page — one ends with -ing. 73: “dogs started sniffing, wagging, barking, and straining at their leashes”
Make a sentence using two -ing words from the parade.
74: “She pedaled as fast as she could on her old bike, with her lemon head bobbing wildly.”
What students produce: One sentence with two -ing action words — written or spoken aloud to a partner.
- barking and wagging
- the dogs were running and jumping
- sniffing rhymes with nothing on this page
Quiet kids: draw the two -ing actions first, then say the sentence. Fast finishers: find three rhyming pairs across all the pages.
Clap the rhythm of your sentence — Conclusion Time.
Don't require perfect spelling — accept oral sentences and invented spelling for -ing words.
Conclusion· 3 min
Take-home: Tell someone what Amelia Bedelia's bike looked like in the parade.
- I noticed the dogs were barking really loud
- I noticed her bike had lemon slices on the wheels
- I noticed all the -ing words
Quiet kids: point to the picture of what you noticed instead of saying it aloud. Fast finishers: share two things you noticed.
Don't let the close run long — one noticing per student, then done.