Have you seen the new “The Electric Company?” It’s back, and I love the new version.

I found it last week when I flipped on the TV for my 5-year-old son. At first, we didn’t know exactly what we were watching, but it didn’t take long after hearing the catchy songs and the fun skits for me to realize this was the updated version of the show my second grade teacher used to have us watch in the afternoons. (And, I loved it back then too, though I never knew until now that we must have been watching a video-taped version because the original show went off the air in the late 70s.)

Guillermo and I caught up with the program about the time Wyclef Jean started singing “Electric City,” and the beat was infectious, even as the other singer (Nikki Yanofsky?) belted out a hip hop version of “My toe bone is connected to my foot bone, my foot bone is connected to my ankle bone …” I wanted to get up and dance, except I had a sleeping a 2-year-old on my lap.

During another sketch, I asked Guillermo if he liked the music and he replied, “It’s jazz. Papa likes jazz. I like jazz.” Duh.

The music alone is enough to draw me in as a fan. In my view, there is not enough jazz, hip hop or reggae out there for kids, and Guillermo seemed to appreciate it too, but only for a bit. Within about 10 minutes, he was finished. The show is over his head. It’s geared for kids ages 6 to 9, and many of the lessons seemed aimed at readers, or kids who are soon to be readers. Guillermo is not at that stage yet.

I stayed tune though, and enjoyed the scene where one of the characters tells the letter C she doesn’t trust it because sometimes it makes a hard C sound and other times it makes a soft C sound. Later, I found the video “Silent E is a Ninja,” where a caped hero raps and rants about the “silent E.”

“I was hoppin’ mad but he turned my hop into hope, and then he made his escape, but not before he turned my cap into a cape,” the character raps. Guillermo liked that one, but mostly because he says he wants to be a ninja when he is older.

According to information on PBS Parents “The Electric Company” is a group of friends who solve problems by using their literacy superpowers. The program “reaches out to children, primarily second-graders, by exploring the literacy and language skills needed to become solid readers.” Some of the goals of the series are to expand kids’ vocabulary and to teach them strategies that good readers use to understand phrases and sentences.

I hope the show stays on the air long enough for my son to enjoy it, and learn from it. To this day, I still remember some of the songs from the original “The Electric Company.”

Natalie appears Sundays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Natalie at her blog A Day at the Park.