7th May Jumper Weather

Sweater Day is on February 4, because in America, people are getting ready to snuggle into their warmest sweaters in the depth of winter. The World Wildlife Fund (W.W.F.) established Sweater Day and advocates it every year. The circle of life means human depletion of natural resources negatively impacts animal wellbeing and their habitats. Consumption of fuel pollutes the environment and water, endangering the lives of animals. Changing our little habits can make a difference.

I'm not sure we have an equivalent, like Jumper Day in Australia, but as I walked this week in Orange with my sister and today, with a friend in Sydney, it most definitely was a jumper or sweater day! A couple of weeks ago we were basking in warm sunshine sans jumper.

Why so many names for what is a  type of knitted garment that is worn over the upper body? Americans call them 'sweaters'. As you might have guessed, sweater comes from sweat—the earliest sweaters were worn by rowers, and were intended "to produce sweating and reduce weight."

Australians and Brits call them 'jumpers'. The word is derived from an old French word, “jupe" which was a type of short coat. At some point in time the word in English became “jump" and then eventually “jumper".

Of course there are other names for various versions of overgarment designed to keep us warm. There is jersey, cardigan, sloppy joe ...

Sadly there is no gazetted Jumper Day. There is however a Christmas Jumper Day in Britain on 8th December, once again in the Northern Hemisphere's winter. It was instigated by the Save the Children Fund in 2012 to raise money.

At school during Autumn it is fun to watch the leaves on the trees outside the library windows change colour. We often do a display of Autumn books and as it gets colder and the trees are bare we begin to think about a display linked to knitting and making things indoors.

There are some good 'jumper' picture books that I have enjoyed reading.

Look for:

• Jack's Jumper by Sara Acton

• The Huey's in the New Jumper by Oliver Jeffers

• Where's My Jumper  by Nicola Slater    

• Sheep to Jumper by Fiona MacDonald

• The Bush Jumper by Jean Chapman and Ali Beck

• The Best Jumper by Lynne Garner

• Little Bear's Big Jumper by David Bedford and Caroline Pedler

• Extra Yarn  by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen 

• Otto Goes North  by Ulrika Kestere

• Unravelled by Leanne Hatch

• Woolly Jumper: The Story of Wool by Meredith Hooper

• Brrr! Where Did the Dinosaurs Really Go? by Kes Gray and Nick East

• Lester's Dreadful Sweaters  by K.G. Campbell

• Squirrel's Sweater  by Laura Renauld

• Sweater Weather by Matt Phelan

• From Sheep to Sweater  by Robin Nelson

My two favourites to read aloud to preschool classes:

And the newest:

There's a fun activity for this book on Sara's webpage.

And if you want to read about penguins wearing jumpers , not because they're cold but rather affected by an oil spill, read these:

• Flipper and Finnegan : the true story of how tiny jumpers saved little penguins  by Sophie Cunningham and Anil Tortop

• Penguins Don't Wear Sweaters by Marrika Tamura and Daniel Rieley