Week 11 Reading Diary : Nursery Rhythms

I chose to read stories the British unit, Nursery Rhythms.  I read some stories by Andrew Lang before and thought these short and fun nursery rhythms would be enjoyable to do and plus I also wanted to switch up the style of readings for this week!

Tuesday Reading Diary 
Since there were many different nursery rhythms in each story / section/ chapter ( whatever you want to call it), I decided I to pick my favorite one out of each.

Tales-  I liked the nursery rhyme of Solomon Grundy because it laid out his life story basically in 8 lines. Although, I wish he didn't die.

Proverbs -  "MARCH winds and April showers, Bring forth May flowers" So true! Maybe some tornados if you're in Oklahoma! 

Songs, Part 1 -  I liked the song London Bridge is Falling Down in this section! I went to the wikipedia page and researched more about the meaning behind the song. The rhythm is actually used in a children's game. The song/ games resembles the bridge that was fracturing and was hard to repair. However, there are alternative theories to the real meaning behind the rhythm such as the Viking Attacks Theory and the Children Sacrifice Theory. Very interesting! 

Songs, Part 2 - This section was my favorite because I recognized some of the famous nursery rhymes from my childhood such as Three Blind Mice and Hot Cross Buns, which I could play very well on the recorder when I was 9. 

Riddles -  I love how there are answers to each riddle included in the reading! My favorite riddle is- 

  I HAVE a little sister, they call her Peep, Peep;

She wades the waters deep, deep, deep;

She climbs the mountains high, high, high;

Poor little creature she has but one eye. 

The answer is a star which I personally think was a stretch but very creative! 

Paradoxes - I liked the following rhythm because I would definitely have a drink if all the trees were bread and cheese! 

IF all the world was apple-pie,

And all the sea was ink,

And all the trees were bread and cheese,

What should we have for drink?

Charms and Lullabies  - Rock-a-bye Baby was definitely a familiar lullaby and definitely and interesting one! I looked up some possible meanings behind the lullaby on the wikepdia page. One being a representation of how mothers gently rock their babies (as in tree tops) and lay them down to go to sleep. Another  suggests that it resembles native-american mothers who actually rocked their babies in cribs made out of tree branches, allowing the wind to slowly sway them to sleep.

Games - So I recognized Jack Be Nimble right away. I again did some more research and found out that it if was used as a sport to test your luck. You had good luck if you cleared the flame. Also, in Don Mclean's song, American Pie, there is a verse that includes the nursery rhyme :

Jack be nimble,

Jack be quick

Jack Flash sat on a candlestick

'Cause fire's the devil's only friend.  

I'm assuming that the last line refers to landing on the flame and receiving bad luck, which is why the devil is also referenced to in the song. It is funny because when I was little, my cousins and I loved this song and could sing it by heart and still can! Here is a link to the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGJqo_bkAuM

Jack Be Nimble

Source: The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).