“Brother’s hands tap.
Sister’s hands snap.
Itty-bitty Baby’s hands clap-clap-clap!”
I don’t think it’s possible to read Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler and R. Gregory Christie aloud without bouncing a bit. This book, which earned the Geisel Honor Award, works on so many levels. Your Music Smart kids will be pulled into the the rhythm of the rhyme (and no one does rhyme as well as Lisa Wheeler). Your Body Smart kids can snap or tap along as you read. With all the “doo-wop-doo”s and “bop-bop-bop”s, this is a perfect springboard to introduce onomatopoeia. Brainstorm a list of sound words with your kids and have them find objects in the room (a pencil against an old coffee can) that make those sounds. Put on a jazz cd and let them experiment with keeping the beat. Take photos of your students making the sounds, print them off, and have the kids write the corresponding sound words to make a “Jazz Kids” class book. Cool, daddio!
Guess Who Is Out of the Den?
