Phonemic awareness helps the child understand rhyme and lets her both hear and identify sounds. Discuss what rhyming is and that rhymes have the same ending sound. Practice building phonemic awareness skills by saying a pair or group of words. Ask the child to listen for the word that does not rhyme. Make phonemic activities engaging to interest children, but keep the focus on the rhyme.
Words are filled with patterns. The emergent reader begins to recognize these patterns by first working with rhyming word families. After understanding that each letter makes a sound and that putting these sounds together form a word, he must listen for patterns. When a child sees a word written, ask him to replace the first letter to create a new rhyming word. An example of this is cat and hat or mitt and sit. Learning simple patterns is the precursor to later understanding difficult word patterns to increase literacy.
Rhymes introduce new words into a child's vocabulary. Vocabulary is an important component of literacy because it aids with comprehension. When a child learns various words that rhyme with one word, she is building vocabulary. Reading poetry and singing rhyming songs put words into context so the child learns the words quicker.
Children are motivated by rhyming songs and poetry. The sounds and rhyme scheme captures his attention. A child recognizes the beat and rhythm of the rhyme and wants to mimic it. This helps the child learn to read expressively and not in a monotone voice. Use nursery rhymes, games and songs to introduce rhymes and create interest for the student.