(gentle upbeat music) - Oh, yeah, that's gonna be good.

Oh, hey, welcome back campers.

I am so excited to see you.

I'm Mrs. Hammack.

Welcome to Camp Read-a-Lot.

We are going to have so much fun.

Camp is a time for learning and having fun.

And at Camp Read-a-Lot, we're gonna spend our days reading and talking and singing.

And learning all kinds of activities that are gonna help us to grow our brains and become strong readers.

Parents, don't forget, your kiddos need to read six books this summer.

If you make sure your kids are reading just six books, they will not lose any of the reading, learning that they have acquired this school year.

That's all it takes to stay on track.

We can do that, six books is easy, right?

So check those books out on Sora or at your County public library, so that you have a big variety of things to read.

I know this is gonna be a great summer.

So glad you're here with me at camp.

Let's sing our good morning song, are you ready?

♪ Hello readers ♪ ♪ Hello writers ♪ ♪ Hello campers ♪ ♪ I'm glad you're here today ♪ Sing it with me.

♪ Hello readers ♪ ♪ Hello writers ♪ ♪ Hello campers ♪ ♪ I'm glad you're here today ♪ All right, it's time for our camp pledge.

Ready for our Camp Read-a-Lot pledge?

Get your scout ready.

On my honor.

I will try my best, to be kind to everyone.

To have a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

Great job campers.

Terrific.

All right, now, even though we're still at camp and we've come a long way, we've got our tent and all the beautiful trees.

Don't forget how important it is that we continue to train our ears for sound.

That's right, there are all kinds of amazing sounds out here in the woods.

And there are amazing sounds that we can listen to when we practice training our ears, so that we can be excellent readers.

Now, you know, I have a helper, but I can't seem to locate him.

He must have run off to find some pine cones or something.

Do you see him anywhere?

Scooter!

Oh Scooter, it's time.

What?

He's in my chair.

Hey, how did you get there so quick?

Oh my goodness, you crazy little squirrel.

How are you today?

Are you being a good boy?

Oh, I'm so glad.

Well, I, the boys and girls are here today to practice training their ears.

Are you ready to help them?

He says, he's ready.

Do you have a game lined up for us?

Do you know what we're gonna do?

Oh, really?

Oh, I love that game, okay.

Campers, this game is called same sound.

So we're gonna give you three words.

Your job is to tell us which two words have the same vowel sound.

Do you think you can?

All right, let me get in our cozy chair here.

Alright, here we go.

Oh, okay, that's a good one.

All right, you ready?

Here we go.

Name, sale, rose.

Name, sale, rose.

Do you hear two that are the same?

Oh you.

Yeah I know you do, silly.

You gave me the words.

Right, N-A-M-E and S-A-L-E, great job.

Those both have the, 'a' sound, but R-O-S-E does not, no.

Okay, are you ready for the next set of words?

Okay, get those ears turned up, so you're ready.

Do you have your words?

Okay, let me hear.

Oh, okay.

Good idea.

All right, are you ready?

Home, need, phone.

What do you think?

Home, need, phone.

What do you think?

What?

Oh yeah, they're gonna get it.

Right, home and phone.

Both have the 'O' sound good job.

And N-E-E-D does not.

All right, one last set, because then we need to get moving on the rest of our fun activities today.

Okay, that's good.

All right, hug, man, cat.

Hug, man, cat.

What do you think?

Do you know?

Hug and cat, both have the, 'ah' sound good job.

M-A-N does not have the same sound.

Great job.

All right, I have a joke, I have a joke.

I'm super excited.

Okay, I think you're gonna like this one.

I've been practicing in the mirror, so I can make sure I deliver the joke correctly.

Are you ready?

Okay, here we go.

Okay, why did the bee go to the barber?

Why did the bee go to the barber?

You don't know.

He wants to know if you know.

No.

Because he wanted a buzz cut.

(laughs) Oh, that kills me.

What did you like it?

He says it was okay.

I'm getting better though, right?

Yeah, okay.

Well, I'll keep trying.

It's time for us.

Scooter, we're gonna show the kids the catch of the day.

So that means, you know what that means for you, right?

Yeah, okay.

So you're gonna come sit right here and be ready for the story later.

You got it?

Okay.

Perfect.

Boys and girls, we have our catch of the day.

These are our words for our story today, that I would like to share with you.

Now, remember these words just are here to help us so that you can understand the story.

These are words from our story.

This one is Memory, memory.

Do you know what a memory is?

Right, It's something that took place in the past that you can think about and remember.

It's a memory, good job.

All right, let's see.

This one is tractor, tractor.

Do you know what a tractor is?

You might not see this if you live in the city, but out in the country and even sometimes over near our university, then you can find a tractor.

It's a big farm machine with big wheels and they use them to help them on the farm, for planting things and digging up the ground.

They're pretty awesome.

Okay, let's see.

This says stable, stable.

Now a stable is, well it can be a few things, but for this story, a stable is a place where horses live.

Right, so they live in a stable, all right.

And our last word is well, well.

Again, if you live out in the country, you probably know what a well is.

A well is a great, big, deep hole in the ground where you get water.

And so lots of places out in the country have a well.

They look a little different than they do in this story, but it's still the same idea.

All right, that's our catch of the day for our story.

And our story today is a really cool one.

It's called "Bigmama's".

"Bigmama's" by Donald Crews.

Oh, I know.

(chuckles) I know, that sounds funny, right?

We're gonna find out what that means, "Bigmama's".

All right.

Let's remember about books, right?

This is the front cover of our book.

And we have the back cover of our book.

Do you remember what this part is, that sticks out of the shelf?

Right, that's the spine.

Just like you have a spine back here, right?

It holds you up and this spine holds up the book, pretty cool.

And then when we open the book, almost all books have a title page.

And on the title page, it just tells you the name of the story again, but it also tells us the name of the author and the illustrator.

And guess what?

Are you ready for this?

Donald Crews is our author and our illustrator.

Did you know that that is a job that you can have.

You might decide to grow up and be an author and write the words to a story.

Or you might be an artist and you wanna be an illustrator for a book.

What a great idea.

Keep drawing and practicing and keep writing, 'cause I wanna read your books.

Let's get started in our story.

Now I wanna remind you before I start, that this yesterday we read a story about belonging.

Do you remember that one?

"The Library Lion", he belonged in the library community.

And we talked about belonging means a sense of being loved.

And fitting in, right?

So this story is about belonging also.

And so as I'm reading, I want you to think about, how that sense of feeling and being connected.

How that belonging feeling fits with this story and see if you can find some ideas and be ready to share with me, okay?

All right.

Oh, I almost forgot an important thing.

Remember, we all need different tools to be successful, and my eyes need glasses.

The glasses are my tool for success.

Some people need other kinds of tools and that is okay.

Here we go.

"Did you see her?

Did you see Bigmama?"

We called our grandma, Bigmama.

Not that she was big, but she was Mama's Mama.

Every summer we went to see her.

Mama, my sisters, my brothers and me.

Daddy had to work, he'd come later.

It took three days and two nights on the train.

And now we were nearly there.

"Cottondale.

Cottondale.

Next station stop, Cottondale," yelled the conductor to the nearly empty train.

"Don't leave no babies on this train."

He made the same joke every year.

My Uncle Slank came but for us by car.

We always hoped that he would come with the horse and wagon, but he never did.

I have a question for you.

Who's telling the story?

Who do you think it is?

Right, it's the little boy.

And I'm gonna tell you a secret.

It's the author of the story.

And you can tell that right here.

because he says we always hoped.

And I, he uses the word I, and we that's a clue, that the character is telling the story in the story.

We call that a narrator.

He's narrating or telling his own story.

Pretty cool, right?

I bet you'd be a great narrator.

We crossed back over the train tracks, a turn or two along the red dirt road.

And, on to the lane in front of Bigmama's house.

Bigmama and Bigpapa were waiting for us on the porch.

There were hugs and kisses and "Oh, how you've grown!"

And "How tall are you, is that you?"

Is that what your grownups do when you haven't seen them in awhile, aunties and uncles and grandmas and grandpas?

Then off with our shoes and socks, we wouldn't be needing them much for a few weeks.

Now to see that nothing had changed.

In the hall, the sewing machine that you had to pedal like a bicycle.

The big clock over the fireplace.

The wind-up record player.

The kerosene lamps and the Sears and Roebuck catalogs.

Our room, my brother's and mine and Uncle Slank's.

And across the hall was the room for my sisters and my mama, where they slept.

Next to it, Bigmama and Bigpapa's room.

Then out to the back porch.

Off the porch, there were three rooms.

The tiny extra room, no bigger than the bed that was in it.

None of us wanted to sleep there alone.

The dining room with the big round table and chairs.

And next to it, the kitchen.

On the porch was a wash stand where we washed our hands, faces and feet.

At the end of the porch was the well.

"Don't fall in," we were told every year.

No one ever did.

You think they live in the city?

Probably not, right?

We stood on tiptoe to watch the bucket go down and fill with water, so that we could have a drink from the dipper that was nearby.

Everything was just the same.

Did you hear how he said everything was just the same?

How long do you think he's been coming to big mama's house?

Yeah, a lot of times, right?

Every summer.

In the backyard was the chicken coop, where Sundays dinners' chicken spent its last days.

Oh my gosh.

Behind the shed full of old stuff was the outhouse.

Okay now, but scary in the dark.

We stopped for a drink at the pump and we ran past the pear tree where the turkeys roosted at night.

You see the turkeys here.

They have a lot of things on their farm, don't they?

Under the tractor in front of the toolshed was a good place to look for nests with eggs in them.

Next to the toolshed was a huge empty pot for making a syrup from the sugar cane juice.

I dug some worms from the big pile of cane pulp.

Wigglers where the best kind for fishing.

And I chose a pole.

The barn was another place to look for eggs.

On to the stable and to see Nancy and Maude.

Maude was friendly, but Nancy was a biter.

Down the path, past the cow pen and the pig pen to the pond.

The flat-bottomed boat was still there.

Plenty of water for fishing and swimming this year.

Everything was just as it should be.

"A fish, a fish!

I got one, I got one!"

I yelled.

(yelling) Now we heard the train whistle.

It was dinnertime.

Everybody sitting around the table that filled- Everybody sitting around the table that filled the room.

Bigmama, Bigpapa, Uncle Slank, our cousins from down the road, and all of us.

We talked about what we did last year.

We talked about what we were going to do this year.

We talked so much, we hardly had time to eat.

What can you tell about this family?

Right, they missed each other, didn't they?

The night was jet black except for a million stars.

We could hardly sleep thinking about the things to come.

What do you think they're thinking about?

Right, all the adventures they're gonna have with their cousins, and all the fun they're gonna have in the summer.

That's exciting.

Some nights even now, I think that I might wake up in the morning and be at Bigmama's with the whole summer still ahead of me.

Let's read the ending one more time.

And I want you to think about it, 'cause I have some questions for you.

Yeah, some nights even now, I think that I might wake up in the morning and be at Bigmama's with the whole summer still ahead of me.

You see he's all grown up here.

Yeah.

So who was telling this story about Bigmama's?

Right, it was our author.

And what did we learn on the last page?

What do you think?

Right, he's still remembering, right?

He has a memory of being a child, out at his grandma's house and the fun that he used to have in the summer.

That's exciting.

Do you have a special place that you like to go, where you feel like you belong?

I hope you do.

I hope you know you belong here, in our Camp Read-a-Lot community.

Because you are loved and you belong here.

And I know you belong to a whole bunch of other fun communities too.

So now we're gonna take a look at our reading power chart.

And we're gonna think about this story and all the things that we learned about Bigmama's.

And we're gonna remind ourselves, who's the narrator.

Now remember a narrator is the person that's telling the story.

Sometimes when we read stories, the narrator is not part of the story.

They're just telling the story.

And then other parts like, or other stories like today, the narrator is part of the story.

He's telling you about his experience.

And so our narrator is the author, Donald Crews.

He's telling about a memory he has, about being at his grandma's house.

And what do we know about the narrator?

What is something we know?

Right, he's the author that's one thing.

He has a large family.

Good.

Where does he, right.

Did you notice that he lives in a city now?

He lives in a big city now.

Can you think of something else?

Right, he visited his grandma and grandpa when he was a boy.

So when he was a boy, he would go with his family on the train to visit his grandma for the summer.

Isn't that awesome.

I hope you like that story about Donald Crews.

He has a lot of other great stories too, that you might look for on Sora or at your County public library.

He's a fantastic author.

And his stories, the pictures are really bright and beautiful.

I think you're gonna like them.

I have a little activity that we're gonna do to kind of bring the story to life.

It's called a triorama.

Have you ever heard of that?

No.

Well, come on scooter, I want you to see this too.

'cause I don't want you to miss it.

We're gonna move over here to our craft table.

Scooter, you sit right here so you can keep an eye on things.

And I'm gonna show you something that you could do for any book, really?

For any book that you'd like.

All you need is a square piece of paper.

Now it does have to be a square, which means all the sides are the same length.

That's gonna be really important, okay?

And then what you're gonna do, is you're gonna take that square and you're gonna fold it.

You're gonna make this corner touch this corner like this.

Okay?

We're gonna fold it.

And then you're gonna make this corner touch this corner, like this.

And then when you open it up, you should see the lines.

Do you see my lines there?

Then you're gonna cut one of those lines, just like I did.

Right up to the center and then watch what happens.

Oh, look at that.

Now I'm gonna need to use a little bit of my glue.

Now remember a glue stick, you're gonna just twist it up a teensy bit.

A little dab will do ya, you don't need a bunch.

All right, now I'm gonna leave the lid off for a minute, because we're gonna use it.

Now I have a triorama look, try like in triangle.

Do you see the triangle shape?

Yeah, now here's what you can do.

You can make your own pictures or you can copy some pictures if your grownups have a printer.

And you can make the setting of the story or put the characters in the story.

So I want you to see this.

I made a little copy of Bigmama's house, so that I could put it here.

And then I thought it would be fun.

I chose a rooster.

So now watch what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna fold it, so there's a little tiny edge.

I'm gonna put some glue on it.

And I'm gonna stick it just like that.

Now look, because I just folded that little edge.

It stands up.

Isn't that cool?

Yeah, and I did a dog too.

'Cause I thought the dog was super cute.

Now you could do this with any story and you could create your own setting for your story.

Isn't that awesome?

I wanna see what you're doing.

I hope you'll make one and send it to me here at camp.

I would love to see it.

You know what boys and girls, it's time for us to get ready to go.

Will you sing with me?

You will?

I love it.

♪ Skin and marinca dinka dink ♪ ♪ Skin and marinca do ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ Come back to camp tomorrow and we'll do some more fun things, okay?

Bye-bye.