The use of rhymes in a reading program can result in improved listening skills, increased vocabulary, improved spelling, and greater proficiency in comprehension. A rhyme can be improvised and/or adapted for every skill in the reading hierarchy. In order to make knowledge about rhyming words useful for improving reading skills, the teacher must relate the oral activity of rhyming to the visual activity of focusing the students' attention on the part of the word that is the rhyming part--the phonogram. In the matter of the mechanics of reading, the discovery of the rhyming lines through thinking that is self-initiated or stimulated by the teacher makes it easier for children to identify words that rhyme but do not look alike--do and blue, for example. Rhymes also provide a sense of order and harmony of sound. In addition to contributing to children's learning to read and write, rhymes offer some "fringe benefits" actually related to learning. For example, the collection of rhymes found in a book by W. Coley entitled "I'm Mad at You" can help children deal with varying degrees of anger. Children's deep-seated interest in rhymes challenges teachers to use rhymes as a part of their total reading program. (HOD)