Overview
The children will swim away from a shark named Grim and recognize and produce words that rhyme with swim, such as rim, dim, whim, and Grim.
 
Literacy Activities
Puppet storytelling

• Attach the fish puppets (see below) to craft sticks and give them to the children.
• Invite the children to listen for words that rhyme with Tim and Jim as you tell them the Tim, Jim, Kim, and Grim story. 
• Tell the story again, allowing the children to act out the story with their puppets.
• Every time the children hear a word that rhymes with swim, have the children move their fish through the air as if it was swimming.
• As soon as the children hear the name Grim, have them move their puppets through the air fast as if they were swimming away from Grim. 
• Encourage the children to tell their own stories with the puppets using words that rhyme with swim. 

Tim, Jim, Kim, and Grim can swim

• Give the children a fish cutout (see below) and have them cut it out.
• Write the names of the fish and shark on the board or display the puppets so the children can see them.
• Have the children choose a name that rhymes with swim (e.g., Tim, Jim, Kim, Grim) to write on their fish (support as needed).
• Let the children decorate their fish.
• Have the children make their fish swim around the room looking for another fish to meet.
• When a "fish" meets another "fish," have each child say, "Hi, my name is ___ (Tim, Jim, Kim, or Grim), and I like to swim."
• Encourage the children to use many words that rhyme with swim as they meet other "fish" around the room.
• Help the children remember words they heard in the activity that rhyme with swim and repeat them together.

More Practice
Recognize rhyming words in text

• Display the Tim, Jim, Kim, and Grim story large enough for children to easily see. 
• Read the text to the children, pointing to each word. 
• Ask the children which words in the text rhyme with swim and let them take turns underlining the rhyming words. 

Practice rhyming 

• Remind the children of the words they played with that rhyme with swim. 
• Ask each child to think of a word that rhymes with swim (support as needed). 
• Let the children take turns saying their word as they stand up, make their fish swim in a circle, then sit down.
• When all of the children have had a turn, have them swim to a partner and each say their words, then say their words one after the other to hear how they rhyme (e.g., swim, Jim).

Recognize rhyming words 

• Have the children repeat a set of two words (e.g., Kim, swim). 
• Ask the children to put their thumbs up if the words rhyme and their thumbs down if the words do not rhyme. 
• Repeat with other sets of words (e.g., Tim, Jim; Kim, Grim; swim, rim; him, goose; dim, cow).