(lighthearted guitar music) - Oh, these tiny needles are going to make me... Oh.

Hey!

Hi!

Welcome to Camp Read-A-Lot.

I'm Mrs. Hammack and I am so excited that you're here today.

You know, at Camp Read-A-Lot, it's a great place to learn.

We're gonna read books, we're gonna talk about them, we're gonna sing, we have lots of activities to help grow your brain to be strong readers.

So, I'm very happy you're here today.

Hey, parents.

I want you to encourage your children to read outside of books.

So, some examples might be maybe as you're riding or traveling in the car, you can have them read the store signs or the street signs to you.

Or if you're at the grocery store, have them read your shopping list to you.

Or if you're cooking together, have them help you read the recipe.

All of those are great examples of reading in everyday life and we wanna encourage our kids to be readers for their whole long life.

So that's one idea for you that you might try with your kids this summer.

I think you'll have fun with it.

I'm so happy to be sharing your reading adventure with you.

All right, campers.

Are you ready to sing our "Hello" song?

Let's do it.

♪ Hello readers ♪ ♪ Hello writers ♪ ♪ Hello campers ♪ ♪ I'm glad you're here today ♪ ♪ Hello readers ♪ ♪ Hello writers ♪ ♪ Hello campers ♪ ♪ I'm glad you're here today ♪ Let's do our Camp Read-A-Lot pledge.

Are you ready?

All right, get your scout fingers ready.

On my honor, I will try my best to be kind to everyone, to have a, that's right, smile on my face and a song in my heart.

Great job.

I hope you're trying really hard to be kind to everyone and to have a smile on your face.

Smiles are friendly and it tells people that you're a great, kind person.

So, use your smile.

It's a strong tool.

Well, here we are at Camp Read-A-Lot in our beautiful camp, ready to train our ears for sound and all the beautiful sounds at camp and to train our ears for sound so that we can be great readers.

And I'm missing my partner again.

That little squirrel, he is everywhere.

He's very squirrely.

Can you help me find him?

Let's call him.

Scooter!

Oh, Scooter!

Where are you?

Scooter?

You think he's in... Oh, let me check my backpack.

Sometimes, he takes a nap in the backpack and he can't hear me.

So, let me just go check.

Nope, just my fishing pole.

(exhales) Scooter, where are you?

Do you see him?

What?

He's in a life jacket?

What?

[Mrs. Hammack] Oh my word.

Scooter!

What are you doing over there?

My goodness.

How did you get up here?

You're gonna fall down.

You... What?

Oh, okay.

Okay, hold on.

Oh, I think you're stuck.

(Mrs. Hammack grunting) Oh my goodness.

You're gonna knock over our fishing poles.

How did you get up there?

What?

Oh my word.

Well, you're not supposed to be over by the lake without a grownup.

You know that, you can't be in the water or by the water without somebody there to look after you.

Okay.

Do you promise you won't do that again?

Ooh.

That scared me.

You need to be with a grownup at all times and boys and girls, that's for you too.

You should not be near the water without a grownup so that they can keep an eye on you.

Water is really fun to play in, but it can be dangerous.

And so even if you are a great swimmer, I want you to make sure you always have a grownup with you.

When you're around water, swimming pools, lakes, whatever kind of water it might be, okay?

All right, Scooter.

Thank you for that.

All right.

Are you ready?

You are?

Great.

Okay.

Today, I thought it would be fun to play a rhyming game.

Oh.

But this time we're going to see if they could come up with their own rhyme.

So, friends, I'm going to tell you two words and I want you to tell us a word that rhymes.

You think you can do it?

We're going to generate rhyme.

That means you're going to come up with a rhyme.

Okay.

So I worked really hard on this.

Let's see if you can do it.

What?

No, no, no.

They can do it, they can.

You can help if they get stuck.

Okay, here we go.

Said.

Bed.

What do you think rhymes with said and bed?

Do you have an idea?

Shout it out!

Red!

Great job!

See?

I told you they could do it.

Very nice.

Okay, let's do another one.

Are you ready?

Wag?

Yes, like wagging your tail.

Wag.

Bag.

Can you think of a word that rhymes with wag and bag?

Oh, you're right.

It's one of Scooter's favorite games.

Tag!

Good job.

Very nice.

Wag.

Bag.

Tag.

They all say 'ag.

Good job.

All right, let's do one last one.

Are you ready?

Okay.

Dot.

Caught.

Dot.

Caught.

Right?

Yeah.

That's a good one.

Are you having trouble?

What did you come up with?

Hot!

Yes, it has been very hot.

Great job.

Dot.

Caught.

Hot.

They all say 'ot.

Great.

Hey, hey, hey!

I have a joke.

I have a joke for you.

Oh no, no, no.

Come on, I tell funny jokes.

Yes, I do.

Yes, I do.

Okay, this is a good one.

You're gonna like it.

Okay.

Why did the music teacher need a ladder?

Do you know?

Why did the music teacher need a ladder?

♪ To reach the high notes ♪ (Mrs. Hammack laughing ecstatically) That was a good one!

He said to try again.

You're not very encouraging.

I know, but you have to...

I think he should come up with some jokes next.

Don't you?

Yeah, me too.

All right, Scooter.

It's time for us to look at our catch of the day words and you're gonna have a seat, so that you can be ready for the story, okay?

All right.

Say goodbye.

All right.

Come down here.

Oh, all right.

You ready?

Okay, sit still now.

No wandering.

No wandering off.

All right, friends, today, we have a beautiful story called "Suki's Kimono," and it's all about a Japanese family and a beautiful kimono.

And you're gonna see what that is in a few minutes, but let's take a look.

We only have two words today for our story.

So we have approve.

Approve.

And approve means to agree with or to be favorable.

Okay?

And the last one is obachan, and that is Japanese for grandmother.

Wow.

Obachan.

Isn't that pretty?

It sounds nice, doesn't it?

All right.

So today, friends, we are listening to a story, but we're working on the strength of... confidence.

Confidence.

Do you know what confidence is?

I haven't myself...

I wrote myself a little note here so I could make sure.

"Confidence is the feeling that you have when you feel really good about yourself and that you believe in yourself."

Like, I have the confidence that I can read this story.

Confidence is that feeling you get when you really know you can do something or you really believe in yourself.

And so today, as we read our story about Suki I want you to be thinking, what times in the story do you see examples of confidence?

Because this story is pretty awesome.

And I think that we could use her example to practice confidence in our life.

All right.

So this story... Let me get my reading tools.

Remember we always have to have the right tools for the job.

And that's my glasses.

The story is called "Suki's Kimono" by Chieri Uegaki and Stephane Jorisch.

"Suki's Kimono" is a fiction story, but it tells us a lot of true things about Japanese culture.

So, even though it's a make-believe story, there are some things about the Japanese culture that are true.

And... look at how she looks.

Does she look scared, or afraid, or does she look confident?

Right?

She has confidence, doesn't she?

By the way that she's standing up straight and holding her head up.

And so we're gonna find out more about her.

Remember, this is the front cover of the book and the back cover.

Here, we have the spine and we have the title page.

The title page tells us the name of the story again.

And I love the illustrations.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Let's get into our story and find out about Suki.

You ready?

"Suki's Kimono."

"On the first day of school, Suki wanted to wear her Kimono.

Her sisters did not approve.

'You can't wear that,' said Mari, 'People will think you're weird.

You can't wear that,' said Yumi.

'Everyone will laugh and no one will play with you.

You need something new, Suki.

You need something cool.'"

You see her Kimono?

Yeah, it's kind of like a gown.

Isn't it?

"But Suki shook her head.

She didn't care for new.

She didn't care for cool.

She wanted to wear her favorite thing.

Her favorite thing was her Kimono.

Suki's obachan had given her the kimono.

The first time Suki wore it, her obachan took her to a street festival where they slurped bowls of slippery, cold, somen noodles and shared a cone of crunchy, shaved ice topped with sweet red bean sauce."

Do you see Suki?

Does she look like a confident character in our story?

Yeah, I think so too.

How do you know?

Right?

Look at how she's walking down the stairs.

She's very proud, isn't she?

Of her kimono.

"Under strings of paper lanterns, Suki joined her obachan in a circle dance.

She followed her and copied her movements, trying to be as light and as graceful.

She watched the other women and children who danced, especially those who were dressed in cotton kimonos like hers."

Look at beautiful... Look at all of the paper lanterns.

That looks like a fun place to visit, doesn't it?

"Later, Suki sets so close to the stage that when the Taiko drums performed, bom, bom, bom, bom, she felt like she'd swallowed a ball of thunder and her whole insides quaked and quivered.

Before they left the festival, Suki and her obachan stopped at a souvenir stand.

There were many things to choose from but her obachan found the prettiest thing of all, a handkerchief of pale pink linen decorated with tiny maple leaves and cherry blossoms.

When she gave it to Suki, she said, 'This will help you remember our day.'"

So what did her grandma give her?

Right.

A beautiful handkerchief.

"Now it was time for school.

Mother checked Suki's obi one last time and took a picture of Mari, Yumi, and Suki together by the front steps.

Then, as she watched, the three sisters made their way down the block to the school.

Mari and Yumi stayed several paces ahead of Suki and they pretended not to know her, but Suki didn't mind.

She turned and waved to her mother before she clipped-clapped along in her shiny, red geta feeling very pleased in her fan-patterned blue kimono.

Once in a while, Suki would lift her arms and let the butterfly sleeves flutter in the breeze.

It made her feel like she'd grown her own set of wings."

Do you see the other kid here?

Here she is.

Do you see the other kids?

What are they doing?

How do they feel about her kimono?

Yeah.

They're kind of giggling behind her back, aren't they?

Do you think they're pointing and making fun of her?

Hmm.

It looks like it.

What could they do to show kindness, instead?

Hmm.

Off to see.

"When they reached the school, Mari and Yumi hurried across the yard to a group of friends.

Suki stopped and looked around.

Some of the children turned and stared at her, and others giggled and pointed at her kimono.

But Suki just ignored them.

She took a seat on a swing to wait for the bell and a girl dressed in overalls, just like a pair that Suki had at home, sat on the swing beside her.

'Hi, Suki,' said the girl.

'Hi, Penny,' said Suki.

'How come your dressed so funny?'

Penny asked, 'Where did you get those shoes?'

Suki lifted her feet off the sand and wiggled her toes.

'I'm not dressed funny,' she said, 'My grandma gave me these shoes.'

Suki started pumping her legs.

After a moment, Penny did the same and they soon were both swinging as fast and as high as they could.

Swoosh, swoosh, up and up."

Do you think Penny's question, "Why are you dressed so funny?"

Do you think that made Suki feel bad?

You don't think so?

How do you know?

Right, she just said, "I'm not dressed funny."

"When the bell rang, Suki and Penny jumped off their swings and ran to the gym for the first day assembly.

Once they were finally taken to their new classrooms, Suki chose a desk near the window and Penny chose a desk near Suki.

As they waited for everyone to find a seat, two boys in front of Suki turned and snickered behind their hands.

One of the boys reached over and snatched at Suki's sleeve.

'Look at this,' he said, 'She's a bat!'

Suki felt her cheeks burn, but she didn't respond.

Instead, she concentrated on sitting up tall and straight, the way her obachan always did.

It was easy to do that with an obi wrapped snug around your middle.

Her obi was golden yellow and in its folds, Suki had tucked away her pale pink handkerchief.

'Welcome to first grade,' said the teacher.

'My name is Mrs.

Paggio.'

She smiled.

'Let's introduce ourselves and tell everyone what we did this summer.'

When it was her turn to speak, Suki stood up and told her teachers her name.

'Hello, Suki,' said, Mrs. Paggio.

'What did you do this summer?'

'My grandma visited us,' she said, straightening her sleeves.

'She brought me my kimono and my geta,' and she raised her foot to show her teacher her red, shiny wooden clogs.

Somewhere in the classroom, someone laughed, but Suki took a deep breath and continued.

'The best thing was that she took me to a festival and there were dancing girls dressed like me and they danced like this.'

And she took a few steps and swayed her arms sideways.

'Look, now she's dancing,' someone said, but Suki didn't hear.

She hummed to the music that she remembered hearing at the festival.

And she remembered how it felt to dance barefoot in the open air, on the fresh-cut grass that tickled her toes.

She tried to picture the other dancers and how they moved forward in a circle with the rhythm of the music, how they stamped their feet, first right, then left, swung their arms, first up, then down, how they stepped back, and back, and back, then clapped.

When Suki couldn't remember the next step, she made it up, just to keep dancing.

One-two, one-two, one-two, stop.

When she finished, the room seemed very quiet.

Everyone was watching her.

Suki sat down, wondering if she was in trouble.

But Mrs. Paggio said, "That was wonderful, Suki.'

And she started to clap.

Then so did Penny.

And after a moment, so did the entire class."

I can see their class community supporting Suki.

Can you see that?

That's pretty awesome.

"After school, as the three sisters walked home together, Mari and Yumi grumbled about their first day.

'No one even noticed my new sweater,' said Mari.

'No one even noticed my cool shoes,' said Yumi.

But Suki just smiled.

As she clip-clopped along behind them, Suki pulled out the pale pink handkerchief from her obi and held it over her head to catch the wind and in her blue cotton kimono and in her red, shiny geta, Suki danced all the way home."

Great.

What a great story.

In the end, how did Suki's confidence help her at school?

Right.

Because she felt good about herself, she didn't need anybody else to tell her that it was pretty or that it was good.

She already knew it.

So when we have confidence in ourselves, then it doesn't matter what other people think because we know what is true.

And so, Suki definitely had confidence.

Do you?

I think she probably even got more confidence after she danced for her class and they all clapped for her.

Don't you?

Right.

The teacher helped them to see something that maybe they didn't see the first time.

I love that story.

So, let's talk a minute about some of the details of Suki's character.

So let's think about Suki and her confidence.

What did you notice about her?

Right.

She did not even care what her sisters thought.

Right?

She did not care.

So I'm gonna write that she did not care what her sisters thought.

If she had cared about what her sisters thought, she might've changed her clothes, right?

Right, but she didn't care because she had confidence in who she is.

Yeah, I love that.

All right.

Confidence can sometimes be tricky and sometimes we have it, and then somebody says something that's not kind and maybe takes a little bit of our confidence away but don't let that happen to you.

Let's think about some things we learned about the Japanese culture.

What did you notice or what did you... Did you hear about some special foods?

Right.

They had something called somen noodles.

Good.

And we heard that they had shaved ice, but they had theirs with something that I've never tried before.

And it sounds interesting.

Red bean sauce.

Hmm.

I might have to try that.

Did you also notice the kimono?

Right.

There were... She had on a kimono, just to make sure I spelled it right.

And her clogs were called geta.

Those were wooden shoes.

Isn't that cool?

Wow.

I love stories where we can learn new things about new adventures that we don't know about.

Today, we are going to make a beautiful paper lantern just like from the story.

So head on over to the craft table with me so that we can do our beautiful lantern.

I'm gonna show you how to do it, and maybe you can do one at home, okay?

Come on Scooter, come with me.

I want you to see this so that you can make me a lantern.

So here is how our lantern looks when it's all finished.

And then I'm gonna show you what to do.

It's really not that hard.

First, you need a piece of construction paper and it can be any kind and it really can be any size.

And then you're going to fold it like this.

We call this the hot dog way, right?

'Cause it's long, like a hot dog.

All right.

Now, here's the tricky part.

You are going to cut some strips, not all the way though.

Just a little snip.

You're gonna snip, snip, snip all the way like that It doesn't matter... We don't want them too skinny because that might not work exactly right.

All right, then, when we open it up, we can turn it and fold it like this to make a lantern and then you can bend it a little.

Now, just because I'm in a hurry and I want to make sure that I can show you this, I'm gonna use a stapler.

But if I were at home, I would use glue.

But a stapler works too.

It's kind of fast.

Now.

Then you can put on the handle.

You can also, like I did here, you can wrap some...

It doesn't have to be black, it could be any color.

You can make it as colorful as you'd like.

Isn't that pretty?

So I hope you'll give that a try today.

You can make some paper lanterns.

Wouldn't it be fun to have a whole bunch of them in different colors and you can hang them all over the house or in your backyard?

That would be beautiful.

I love that.

I hope that you enjoyed our story today.

I want you to help others feel more confident.

Think about how you can do that.

♪ 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) I love you, and I hope to see you back here tomorrow.

Bye-bye!

(lighthearted guitar music)