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Year 1

'Hickory Dickory Dock'

I can listen to and learn 'Hickory Dickory Dock'.

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New
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Year 1

'Hickory Dickory Dock'

I can listen to and learn 'Hickory Dickory Dock'.

Download all resources
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Share activities with pupils
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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Nursery rhymes are a good way to introduce us to rhythms of language, new vocabulary and sentence structures.
  2. 'Hickory Dickory Dock' has some rhyming words, such as 'clock', 'tick-tock' and 'Dock'.
  3. Knowing the tune, words, rhythm and actions of a Nursery Rhyme make it entertaining for whoever is watching.
  4. 'Hickory Dickory Dock' and 'Little Bo Peep' are similar because they both include animals.
  5. Personal responses are a way of sharing your own thoughts, feelings, and opinions about a poem.

Keywords

  • Rhyme - words that have the same or similar ending sounds often used in poetry

  • Poem - a piece of writing that uses creative and rhythmic language to express thoughts, feelings, or ideas, often with a specific structure or pattern.

  • Compare - to note what is the same and what is different

  • Same - something that is identical or similar

  • Difference - not the same as something

Common misconception

Pupils may struggle to think of actions for certain lines of the rhyme.

Demonstrate lots of examples of actions or movements you could do and ask other pupils to perform their ideas to the group.


To help you plan your year 1 english lesson on: 'Hickory Dickory Dock', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Ensure that pupils understand all the vocabulary within a nursery rhyme. You could share a video of a grandfather clock striking on the hour and talk about the word 'struck' to secure their understanding of the events in 'Hickory Dickory Dock'.
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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What makes nursery rhymes easy to learn?
Correct answer: They have words that are repeated.
They have lots of long words in them.
Correct answer: They are sung in a tune like a song.
They are very old.
Q2.
Match the rhyming words.
Correct Answer:tick,pick
tick

pick

Correct Answer:song,long
tick

long

Correct Answer:cake,lake
tick

lake

Correct Answer:girl,curl
tick

curl

Q3.
Select the words that rhyme with each other.
sunny
Correct answer: sky
Correct answer: high
house
Q4.
Which of these is a nursery rhyme?
Correct answer: Little Bo Peep
Cinderella
The Billy Goats Gruff
Q5.
Identify the features of a nursery rhyme.
They are long stories about magical creatures.
Correct answer: They are sung in a tune like a song.
Correct answer: They often have rhyming words.
They are always about real people.
Q6.
Complete the following sentence: 'When we perform a nursery rhyme, our voice should be __________ and __________.'
quiet
Correct answer: loud
angry
Correct answer: clear

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Select the words from ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’ that rhyme with each other.
Correct answer: Dock
mouse
ran
Correct answer: clock
Q2.
Rhyming words always …
have the same letters at the end.
Correct answer: have the same sound at the end.
start with a capital letter.
finish with the letter ‘s’.
Q3.
Which animal runs up the clock in ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’?
an ant
Correct answer: a mouse
a fox
a sheep
Q4.
Nursery rhymes are a type of ...
word.
letter.
story.
Correct answer: poem.
Q5.
We can use __________ to make a performance more interesting to watch.
shouting
animals
Correct answer: actions
videos
Q6.
‘Hickory Dickory Dock’ and ‘Little Bo Peep’ are similar because …
Correct answer: they are both about animals.
they are both about a grandfather clock.
both the events take place outside.
Correct answer: they both have rhyming words.