“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!
Category Archives: Michigan Author
“The Pout-Pout Fish”
I can’t help but smile whenever I read the New York Times Bestseller “The Pout-Pout Fish” written by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Hanna. I can’t keep my listeners from grinning, either, or from chiming in on the refrain with this dreary-weary, permanently-pouting fish: “Blub. Blub. Blub.” With a little help from an unexpected friend, Mr. Fish does find a way to turn that frown upside-down. This rhyming story is great for building phonological awareness, and I love the finger rhyme that Debbie Diesen came up with to go with the book:
“Five little pouty fish swimming ’round the bed,
One blub-blubbed his grumpy head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
‘Read a good book and he’ll smile instead!'”
For more fun activities and free reproducibles, go to her website: deborahdiesen.com and be sure to check out “The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark”.