More Jazz Music and Books

We just finished learning about the state of Louisiana.  During our studies, we spent some time learning about jazz music.  I wrote a post about some of the jazz books we read a few weeks ago, but we came across a few more that I have to share.  We also listened to a lot of jazz music.

We listened to two collections of jazz music from Putamayo Kids.  If you are not familiar with Putamayo Kids World Music Adventures, you should check your library for their fantastic CDs.  We own a few of them, but we borrowed Jazz Playground and New Orleans Playground from the library.  The Jazz Playground CD features jazz music from all over the world, including the USA, France, Israel, Japan, and more.  We all enjoyed the music, and C was thrilled to hear the jazzy rendition of the Spider-Man song.  New Orleans Playground features great music from New Orleans, and this CD is a fantastic way to immerse yourself in the culture.  I love love love Putamayo kids, and I strongly recommend their collections of music to learn about different countries or parts of our own country.

When I wrote my last post about jazz books, the Mom from What Do We Do All Day recommended Bebop Express by H.L. Panahi.  This is a fun rhythmic read that celebrates jazz from New York to New Orleans.  As the jazzy train makes its way across the country, each stop along the way features a different type of jazz musician - sax player  in New York, drummer in Philly, bass player in Chicago, jazz singer in St. Louis, and the whole jazz band in New Orleans.  This is a fun book to use for geography studies too.  C and I really enjoyed the book, but R didn't care for it.

Our final jazz selection is Jazz by Walter Dean Myers.  This book uses poetry and paintings to explore jazz.  I have to admit that we didn't read the entire book; we just read selections from it.  This book is probably better for older elementary aged children.  We enjoyed what we read though.

If you are studying the state of Louisiana, don't forget to watch The Princess and the Frog!

For more great reads, check out What My Child is Reading at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns and for more geography inspired posts, head over to Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn.