Not the Van Halen version
Recently I chose a bunch of fun, recently-published books to share with the preschoolers. One of those was Jump!, by Scott M. Fischer. When I read it silently, to myself, the first time, I heard it as a kind of twangy bluegrassy song. It would be a perfect book to sing rather than read, and the children get to help out with the JUMP! refrain.
Singing in storytime (or anytime), whether you’re singing a book rather than reading it, or sharing an old favorite song, helps young children develop their phonological awareness. Kids become better able to hear the smaller sounds that make up words, which is useful when sounding out words later.
After inventing my own tune for Jump!, I learned that Scott Fischer originally wrote it as a song. Here, he performs it for a group of kids, and, oddly enough, it sounds very close to same song I heard in my head when I first read the book!
I especially love the Australian accent for the croc. After seeing this performance, I think Scott Fischer and I would be good friends. Does anyone else think the cat looks like that little white kitty from the Aristocats?
One tiny quibble, though: on the “Sploosh!” page, if I hold it up so that the whale is at the bottom and the animals are splooshing up out of his blowhole, the word is upside down. The kids have noticed. But if I turn it over so the word is right-side up, it looks like the whale is upside down. Help!
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