Children will meet one less obstacle to making the transition from spoken to written fluency in language if, during the transition period, they experience written language that corresponds structurally to their spoken language patterns. Familiar children's folksongs, because they contain some of the structure of children's oral language, provide structural redundancy, and allow simultaneous seeing and reading, are a useful vehicle for aiding in this transition process. Several songs--"Had a Little Rooster,""Go Tell Aunt Rhodie,""Buckeye Jim," and so on--exhibit correspondences to the oral language patterns of children as defined by Ruth G. Strickland and can form the basis for an effective instructional program for beginning readers. (KS)