(lighthearted guitar music) - Oh, hey!

Welcome to Camp Read-A-Lot.

I'm Mrs. Hammack, and I am so excited to have you here at camp.

Camp is a time for learning and having fun.

I know you like to have fun, right?

Me too!

And at Camp Read-A-Lot, we're gonna spend our days reading, and talking, and singing, and learning, and enjoying many other activities together to build our camp community and help us become strong readers.

Great.

I'm so excited you're here.

Hey parents, I just wanna give you a little tip as you're home this summer with your kids, that rhyming games are really, really fun way to practice sound awareness.

We call that phonemic awareness and so you can play rhyming games, riddles, like I see an animal that rhymes with hat and see if they can guess that it's a cat.

You can also play or sing some rhyming songs or read books that have rhyming words and point them out.

That is one of the strategies that you can do at home this summer to help your kids be strong readers.

All right, campers.

You ready for our opening song?

Let's do it.

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

♪ Hello, readers ♪ ♪ Hello, writers ♪ ♪ Hello, campers ♪ ♪ I'm glad you're here today ♪ And I am so glad that you're here today.

Are you ready for our Camp Read-A-Lot clench?

Okay.

Now remember, I'll say it and you repeat after me.

Ready?

Here we go.

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!

Wow.

You are getting so good at that.

You were saying it with me, you didn't even need to repeat.

That's fantastic!

Well, we always need to be thinking about training our ears for sound, right?

And we do that here at camp, too.

And I...

I hate to tell you this but, I think that Scooter has... left our campground.

I don't know where he is, but he said he would be here to help us with our game, and I cannot find him anywhere.

I've been looking high and I've been looking low.

I've looked in the tent, he's not sleeping.

I went down to the fishing hole and he's not there either.

Can you help me find him?

Let's call him, shall we?

Scooter!

Hey, you need to help me.

Say it loud.

Scooter!

Hey Scooter, it's time!

Do you see him anywhere?

I can't find him.

I even checked my backpack, he's not there either.

(exhales sharply) That crazy squirrel.

He's never where he's supposed to be.

Do you see him?

What?

He's in a tree?

A squirrel in a tree?

Hmm.

That makes sense.

Which tree?

Is he over here in this tree?

No.

He's in the big tree?

Alright.

Let's sneak up on him, okay?

Here we go.

Ha-ha!

What are you doing in the tree?

Our campers are here and they're ready to play the sound game.

Oh, he's stuck.

Well, would you like some help?

Okay.

Well, let me reach it here.

[Mrs. Hammack] Oh, oh, goodness.

Oh, wow!

What?

How did you get so stuck?

Oh, my word.

I don't even know.

(grunts) (sighs) Whew.

(sighs) Oh my goodness.

You really need to stay in camp.

What were you doing over here?

Oh, he said he saw some delicious things to eat and nibble on.

He was all out of s'mores, so he thought he would go looking for something else to eat.

I don't know what I'm gonna do with you.

I know.

All right, are you ready?

We're gonna play our game.

We've got to hurry, we've got a story to read.

All right.

This game, I'm going to have you help.

Do it with me.

Are you ready?

Okay.

So, one of the... We're gonna play a sound game where you have to hear the words and one of these words is not like the others.

One of these words is just not the same.

So, you're gonna help me and help the campers figure out which word it is, okay?

All right, great.

All right, here is your first list of words.

Be listening for the one that's different.

Moon.

Lake.

Whale.

Oh, he's thinking.

Do you know which one it is?

Okay, let's see if they got it.

Campers, which one is it?

Moon!

Very good!

Moon, lake, whale.

Mo-o-on, and that one doesn't match la-a-ake and wha-a-ale, does it?

Great listening!

All right, let's try another one.

Are you ready?

Okay.

Soap.

Are you listening?

Tube.

Coat.

He's looking for your help.

Oh.

Yes.

(laughs) It's good.

What did you say?

Tube, good.

Tube has the ooh-ooh-ooh sound.

Very nice.

All right, one last one and then we need to get moving along.

Jeep.

Read.

Cube.

Hmm.

Do you know which one?

You do?

Which one is it?

Oh, Scooter says it's cube.

Did you say cube also?

Je-e-ep and re-e-ead have the same sound in the middle, but cube does not.

Great job.

High five, friend.

Good listening.

All right.

All right.

I have a joke for you!

I'm so excited, this is a good one.

Okay.

I think you're gonna like this one.

Are you ready?

Okay.

All right, here we go.

Why did the chicken cross the playground?

Why did the chicken cross the playground?

You don't know?

To get to the other slide.

(laughs ecstatically) Oh, you liked that one?

He liked that one.

Isn't that good?

Get it?

Slide instead of side.

Okay, well, I'll keep working on it.

All right.

Hey, it's time for our catch of the day.

Yes, we're...

Yes, we're going to read the catch of the day and then we have a story, so you're gonna have to sit quietly in your spot.

Are you ready?

Oh, yes.

You're a good squirrel.

I'm not mad at you, it's okay.

[Mrs. Hammack] All right, come sit down right here.

Good job, that is your spot.

You have a front-row seat to our story.

Today, campers, here is our catch of the day.

The first word is platypus.

Platypus.

That is a strange sounding word.

Do you know what a platypus is?

A platypus is a...

I'm gonna read it so I don't get it wrong.

"A small, brown mammal that swims in the water."

Now these are so interesting looking when we get to that part in the book, I'm gonna show you 'cause it's...

They are...

They look all confused.

All right, let's look at this one.

This one says, mole.

Mole, "A small four-legged animal that is blind," What?

Do you remember what blind means?

Right, they cannot see, "and it lives its whole life underground."

Hmm.

That is interesting.

And our last catch of the day is hyena.

"A hyena is a four-legged animal that is a strong hunter and lives in Africa."

Africa is a continent.

We live in North America, but hyenas live on the continent of Africa, and there's many countries there, and they're probably found in pretty much most of them.

All right, our story today is a really cool one.

It's called what...

I love how the title looks, look.

Look how they did it.

"What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?"

Do you see the tail?

I love how they made the words go around.

Isn't that awesome?

It makes me think, "Hmm.

What is this gonna be about?"

And that makes me curious.

And you know what?

Our story today, we are talking about being curious.

Curiosity.

Curiosity is a strong desire to learn something or know something.

And so, I'm gonna put on my reading tools, my glasses, and I hope that if you have glasses, you have them on.

And it's up.

"Curiosity is connected to the word curious, which means eager or excited to learn or know about something."

Curiosity.

You know why that's important for us, our boys, and girls, and all of our campers?

Because that's what helps us to be lifelong learners.

We need to be learners our whole lifelong because that is how we continue to grow, and be better people, and be smarter.

And so I want you to listen for things that you want to learn more about as we read the story, "What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?"

by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page.

All right, well, we better get going.

Oh, yep.

You're right.

I forgot to show you the title page.

Okay, here we go.

All right, this is gonna be good.

"Animals use their noses, ears, tails, eyes, mouths, and feet in very different ways.

See if you can guess which animal each part belongs to and how it's used.

At the back of the book, you'll find out more about these animals."

I'm excited.

(gasps) "What do you do with a nose like this?"

Oh, my word.

Look at that nose!

Oh, it's kind of creepy.

Do you know what nose that belongs to?

Well, I hope we find out.

Okay before we go, though, to the next page, I wanna ask you something.

Are you using your good detective eyes and ears?

Do you think that this book will be a fiction story?

Meaning, not true.

Or a nonfiction?

Some of my friends said fiction is like fake, not real.

And nonfiction is like not fake, it means it's real.

So, what do you think?

Oh yeah, you're right.

There's illustrations that are not photographs.

Hmm.

Let's keep reading and see if we can figure it out.

(gasps) Look at that.

Okay, let's...

Remember when we read, we start on the left and go to the right, and then to the bottom, and then we switch pages, here we go.

"If you're a platypus, you use your nose to dig in the mud."

Now, remember I told you how mixed up there.

Look at that nose.

He has a nose like a duck.

What?

And look at his feet, he has feet like a seal.

That guy is really confusing.

"If you're a hyena, you find your next meal with your nose.

If you're an elephant, you use your nose to give yourself a bath."

Whew.

I'm glad we don't use our noses to give ourselves baths, that'd be weird.

"And this is a mole.

You use your nose to feel your way underground."

Oh, that makes sense, right?

He's got a feel all around him.

So, he has lots of places to feel.

"And if you're an alligator, you breathe through your nose while hiding underwater."

Ooh, that's scary.

"What do you do with ears like this?

If you're a jackrabbit, you use your ears to keep cool."

That's like their air conditioner.

"And if you're a bat, you see with your ears."

Bats use echolocation.

That means they make noises that bounce around so that they can hear where they are.

"If you're a hippopotamus, you close your ears when you're swimming underwater.

And if you're a cricket, you hear with ears that are on your knees."

Oh my gosh!

Can you imagine if we had ears on our knees?

Oh, that would be crazy.

And, "If you're a humpback whale, you hear sounds hundreds of miles away.

What do you do with a tail like this?"

Do you recognize any of those tails?

Let's see if you're right.

"If you're a giraffe, you brush off pesky flies with your tail.

And if you're a skunk, you lift your tail to warn that a stinky spray is on its way.

If you're a lizard, you break off your tail to get away.

If you you're a scorpion, your tail can give a nasty sting.

And if you're a monkey, you hang from a tree by your tail."

Wow.

I thought all animals use their tails the same way, but they don't.

"What do you do with eyes like..." Ooh, "like these?

If you're an Eagle, you spot tiny animals from high in the air.

And if you're a chameleon, you look two different directions at once."

Ooh, that would make me dizzy.

"If you're a four-eyed fish, you look above and below the water at the same time.

If you're..." Oh, this one's gross.

"If you're a horned lizard, you squirt blood out of your eyes."

Ooh, I don't wanna meet any of those.

"If you're a bush baby, you use your great, big, large eyes to clearly see at night.

What do you do with feet like these?"

Do you recognize any of them?

Let's see.

"If you're a chimpanzee, you feed yourself with your feet."

Oh, I'm glad we don't do that.

"If you're a blue-footed booby, you do a dance."

Look at this crazy bird, has blue feet and it dances.

Isn't that crazy?

"If you're a water strider, you can walk on top of the water.

And if you're a gecko, you use your sticky feet to walk on the ceiling.

If you're a mountain goat, you leap from ledge to ledge.

What do you do with a mouth like this?

If you're a pelican, you use your mouth to scoop fish like a net.

And if you're an egg-eating snake, you use your mouth to swallow eggs larger than your head.

If you're a mosquito, you use your mouth to suck blood.

If you're an anteater, you capture termites with your long tongue."

It's like a straw.

And, "If you're an archerfish," this is so cool, "you catch insects by shooting them down with a stream of water."

Look, he's shooting the water out up into the air to catch insects.

Crazy, right?

Did you hear about some of these amazing animals and the things they do?

Isn't that awesome?

We have so many cool animals and things to learn about.

Wow.

This story has information about each animal.

Every animal in the book that we just read about, we can read something about them.

I'm gonna save that, though.

In case we have time at the end because I wanna get to our reading chart, so we can really think about the animals that we listened to.

Now, go back to the hyena.

Do you remember the hyena?

All right, what is a fact that you heard about the hyena that was using his nose?

Do you remember what it said about the hyena?

"If you're a hyena, you find your next meal with your nose."

That is incredible.

Imagine if you had to use your nose to find your dinner.

So right here, it says hyena, and I'm gonna write, "Use their noses to find dinner."

Awesome.

Now, let me ask you something.

Did we see that in the picture, or did we read it in the words?

Because when we're reading, books tell us things by the pictures and they also tell us things with the words.

Do you remember?

Right, it was with the words.

When we're reading, boys and girls, we need to look at everything because the pictures tell us things too.

All right.

Now, what about the mole?

Moles, they have... Do you remember what their nose looked like?

Right, they have big, pink noses, and they really are pink.

If you've never seen one, they are pretty amazing.

And their noses have those little things that look like fingers.

"Have big, pink noses that look like fingers."

Now, did it say that in the words or did it say it in the picture?

Yes.

It said it in the picture.

You are right.

Good listening.

Fantastic, you're so amazing.

I am really proud of you.

Now, I have some other things that I wrote out, just because I knew that we would be short on time.

So, let's talk about the jackrabbit.

Do you remember what he looks like?

Right.

He's light brown.

Light brown, I'm gonna put that right there.

And we can tell because it shows us in the pictures.

And then they use their... How did they stay cool?

Do you remember?

Right, with those great, big ears.

Those great, big ears are filled with blood vessels.

So when they get really hot, they stand them up straight and the air can cool their ears.

It's pretty awesome.

Their ears are fabulous.

All right, and then we have whales.

Do you remember the humpback whale?

Here, we have humpback whale.

He can hear sounds hundreds of miles away.

What?

That is crazy!

That would be like being in your living room, and being able to hear people at Disneyland.

That is amazing!

Animals are so amazing.

Aren't you glad we live in a place where we can see so many?

Yeah, me too.

And that was told to us that they hear hundreds of miles away in words.

And what could we tell by the pictures?

Do you remember?

What do you think?

Let's take a look really quick.

I wanna make sure that you can see it.

The whale.

Whoo!

Where'd he go?

The whale.

Oh, yes, he swims.

Where does he swim though?

Do you remember where whales swim?

Look what the picture shows us.

Do you see the water up here?

So, what do we say about him?

He swims under the water, that's right.

Now, they do jump out of the water sometimes, but they swim under the water.

And we can tell that by how the illustrator did the pictures, right?

Awesome.

That is fantastic.

Did you like that story, Scooter?

You did?

Great.

Well, if you liked this story, you are going to love my joke because it's about an animal.

Are you ready to hear it?

You are?

All right, come on up here.

All right.

So, here is my joke.

You ready at home, campers?

Okay.

Here it is.

(exhales sharply) Why did the pig go into the kitchen?

Do you know?

Why did the pig go into the kitchen?

Hmm.

No.

No, not because he was hungry.

Can you think of it?

Because he felt like baking the cake.

(laughs ecstatically) Get it?

Bacon, pigs?

(laughs) Oh, I love that.

Did you get the idea?

Baking, bacon, see how they sound the same?

Oh my gosh.

I'd kill myself, that was so funny.

I know, I got a little carried away.

I'm sorry, but that was a good joke.

I liked it.

All right, friends, we are gonna play a game.

Are you ready to play a game?

Yes?

Okay.

So, our game today is move like an animal.

Do you think you can do that?

All right, you stay there, Scooter, 'cause I need to be able to move.

All right, I'm gonna stand up.

So, we're gonna follow directions to play this game called, "Animal Moves."

This is a game that you could play at home with your brothers, and sisters, or friends.

And I'm gonna tell you a sentence and then you are gonna act it out.

Are you ready?

Oh, it's gonna be so fun.

It's kind of like animal charades.

All right, here we go.

Let's say, if you are an elephant, do you remember what it said?

You will use your nose to give yourself a bath.

So how could we make ourselves look like an elephant with a long nose?

Right?

So we're gonna hold out our long nose.

We're gonna swing it around and we're gonna (inhales deeply) suck up some water and then (mimics water splashing) give ourselves a shower.

That would be pretty handy, actually.

All right.

How about a pelican?

If you were a pelican, you would use your beak as a great, big fishing net.

So here's my beak.

I'm gonna swim, and scoop, and catch all the fish.

Did you do it?

Let's do it this way.

Ready?

Swim and scoop.

Great job!

All right, one last one.

If you were a giraffe, you would use your tail to brush off those pesky flies.

You ready?

Where's your tail?

(mimics tail whooshing) Great, you are a perfect giraffe.

Awesome job.

All right, friends.

I want you to be thinking about things that you are curious.

What other things are you curious about and why do you think being curious is important?

Let's talk about that tomorrow.

♪ Skinny Marinky Dinky Dink ♪ ♪ Skinny Marinky Do ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ Skinny Marinky Dinky Dink ♪ ♪ Skinny Marinky Do ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ I love you in the morning ♪ ♪ And in the afternoon ♪ ♪ I love you in the evening ♪ ♪ And underneath the moon ♪ (mimics wolf howling) ♪ Skinny Marinky Dinky Dink ♪ ♪ Skinny Marinky Do ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ And you, and you, and you ♪ I hope you come back to camp tomorrow, and tell me some of the amazing things that you are curious about.

We're gonna read another story about animals and talk more about them, and this time, Scooter, is gonna stay close to camp.

So, he will be right here waiting for you.

Bye-bye!

(bright music)