(playful music) - Yes, right, and then we can, yes, that's a great idea.

Oh, hey, hi!

Welcome to Camp Read-A-Lot!

I'm Mrs. Hammack, here's Scooter, and we are so excited to have you here at camp with us.

Camp is a fun place for learning, and at Camp Read-A-Lot, we're going to spend our days reading, and talking, and singing, and learning, and doing all kinds of fun activities to help you grow your strong reading brain.

I'm so excited you're here!

Parents, I hope that you will encourage your kids to read outside of a book.

And here's what I mean by that.

When you're traveling in the car, encourage them to look for signs, the stores, or the street signs, anything that they can find, and encourage them to read those signs to you.

Or at the grocery store, maybe make them a grocery list, and as you're going through the store, have them read the grocery list for you.

And you could also cook together, having them look at the recipe and read the recipe to you.

Those are all great everyday life skills that we want our boys and girls to know, those are the ways we learn to read.

We read because we need to be reading our whole long lives.

So those are just some ideas for you.

And I hope that that will help you encourage your kids to read.

Because reading just isn't only found in a book.

We can read outside of a book too.

All right, are you ready for our song?

Oh okay, let's do it.

♪ Hello readers ♪ ♪ Hello writers ♪ ♪ Hello campers ♪ ♪ I'm glad you're here today ♪ ♪ Hello readers ♪ ♪ Hello writers ♪ ♪ Hello campers ♪ ♪ We're glad you're here today ♪ - We are glad, aren't we?

Yeah, what?

No, you can have s'mores later, not right now.

Ugh, he's always wanting s'mores!

We're going to have to do that with the boys and girls so that they know what a s'more is.

Are you ready to do our sound training, training our ears for sound?

Are you ready?

You are.

Today, we're going to play the blending game.

What?

Oh, you're so right!

We forgot to do our camp pledge!

Are you ready?

Okay, get your scout fingers ready.

On my honor, let me hear you, 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!

Thank you Scooter, for reminding me.

Can't do that, can't miss our pledge!

All right, it's time for us to play our sound game.

We are going to do the blending game, so let's sit down.

Scooter, you can help me.

Did you think of some words?

That was your homework, you had to think.

Okay, he says he's ready.

All right, so I'm going to tell you the sounds one at a time, and then you are going to blend them together and tell us what our new word is.

Are you ready?

Okay, you're ready to tell me?

Ooh, okay, here we go.

All right, the first sound, N-A-P. N-A-P, do you know the word?

Nap, great job!

They did a good job!

All right, what's the next one?

Okay, here we go.

You ready?

First sound, N-O-SE.

N-O-SE, do you know that word?

Nose!

Nose, good job!

Right on the nose, good job!

All right, what?

Oh, okay, all right.

Let's see if I have enough acorns for that.

Here we go!

First sound, F. Oops, let's do this one.

F-I-SH.

F-I-SH.

What's my sound?

Blend it together.

Fish!

Fish, great job!

All right, you did that so well.

So we had N-A-P, nap, we had N-O-SE, nose, and F-I-SH, fish!

Great listening!

You're getting really good at blending sounds to make words.

That's going to help you when you read and when you write!

That is awesome.

Okay, I have a joke, are you ready?

Okay, this is a good one, you're going to like it.

All right, why did Nose, I thought I'd use nose since that was our word, why did Nose not want to go to school?

Hmm, why did Nose not want to go to school?

Did you figure it out?

He was tired of getting picked on!

(Mrs. Hammack laughing) Get it?

Pick nose, pick your nose?

No, oh, no.

(Mrs. Hammack giggling) I thought that was a good one.

All right, well, what do you get when you throw a bunch of books in the ocean?

Do you know that one?

What do you get?

A title wave!

(Mrs. Hammack laughing) Get it?

Title wave?

Titles, like books?

(Mrs. Hammack laughing) You guys, you are cracking me up.

That was a good joke!

All right, hey, it's time for us to do our catch of the day.

So you're going to sit down and get ready for our story, okay?

Okay, all right, come down here.

All right, oh, goodness!

You are getting heavy, too many s'mores!

All right, my friends, today we're going to be reading a story called Unicorn.

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great.

Can you believe that?

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great.

But I have some words that we need to know first.

This word is sensitive, sensitive.

If you're sensitive, it means you feel things very deeply, like things really get to you.

All right, this one says smeared, smeared.

That's like when you spread something all around, okay?

And this one is justice.

Justice means fairness, okay?

So be looking and listening for these words as we share the story today, Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great.

Oh, my catch of the day, I'll just stick them over there.

All right, I'm going to get my reading tools.

Those are my glasses for my eyes.

If you wear glasses for your eyes, you should have confidence, because they help your eyes do their job.

So have confidence.

Remember confidence is that feeling you have when you believe in yourself, and it's a great feeling, so don't let anybody steal your confidence, okay?

Our story today is called Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great, by Bob Shea.

Now this was a new story to me.

Scooter, scoot back there.

All right, there you go.

This is a new one for me, but I love it, and I think you're going to like it too.

Remember here's our front cover, and our back cover, and our title page.

Look, this one, ooh, look at how cute those little, I think they're cupcakes.

Oh, they are, they're cupcakes!

And here is the title page again, and it tells us the author's name.

Let's take a look at that.

What do you notice about this first page?

Right, there's a character here and it's raining on him.

What about this character?

Nope, there's no rain.

So we have a goat and a unicorn.

We better get into this story and find out what's going on.

Here we go.

Oh, here's a page we've never had before.

This is called a dedication page.

It says, "For Ryan and his magical mom."

That means the author has dedicated this book to somebody that he cares about.

That's pretty cool.

Maybe when you become an author, you will want to have a dedication page.

"Things are a lot different around here "since that unicorn moved in.

"I thought I was pretty cool "when I rode my bike to school, "until that show-off went flying by.

"Or the time I made marshmallow squares "that almost came out right."

You see the show-off flying by?

Look at him, look at his face.

Oh, he doesn't look very confident, does he?

How about now, does he look confident?

Yeah, now he has some confidence.

"Until he made it rain cupcakes."

Oh, wow.

Oh no, look, he's throwing the marshmallow squares in the trash!

"Then at the big talent show, "I was dropping my signature dance moves "when he steps up with some serious prancing "and wins first prize.

"That's not all, it gets much, much worse!

"Check out this great magic trick that I totally invented.

"Okay, close your eyes, keep your eyes closed, ta da!

"While your eyes were closed, "I pulled this quarter out from behind your ear!"

Nice, right?

Did he really do a magic trick?

No, look, do you see him digging around, trying to find it?

It's not really a magic trick, is it?

"Well, when I get to school to try out, "he's turning stuff into gold!

"I can't follow that!"

So how's he feeling about his magic trick now?

Not very good, is he?

He doesn't feel very confident, does he?

How about Unicorn?

Yeah, look, he turned the cat gold, he turned the backpack gold.

He's feeling very confident.

"Dopey Unicorn thinks he's so great.

"How can anyone be friends with that guy?

"Look at me, I'm a unicorn!

"I think I'm so cool, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

Look, he put a plunger on his head to be like the unicorn.

"Chomp, chomp.

"Well, this goat's not buying it!

"Oh great, here he comes."

"What is that heavenly smell?

"Goat cheese pizza, I'm a goat."

"What, goats have cheese?

"Unicorns don't have cheese.

"May I try?

"This cheese is fantastic, so creamy and delicious!"

"It's also good smeared on tin can "or sprinkled on some garbage," said the goat.

"Lucky, I can only glitter and rainbows.

"Darn sensitive stomach!"

You see him?

Are you looking at their faces?

Unicorn gives the goat a compliment on the goat cheese pizza, and how does it make him feel?

How does it feel when someone compliments you?

He's looking a little better, isn't he?

"Whoa, what's up with those hooves?

"Those things are out of control!"

"Oh, these?

"These bad boys are cloven.

"It means they're split at the end.

"They let me stand on steep hills "or climb on tops of mountains."

"Oh man, I can't stand there or climb those!

"Stupid regular hooves!"

What do you notice?

"Don't be so hard on yourself!

"Just look at your fantastic horn, that thing's nuts!"

"Eh, It's just for show.

"All it's good for is pointing.

"Oh, I'll have that one.

"I can't play soccer.

"One headbutt and the game's over!

"Pain in the neck horn.

"Not you, though.

"I bet those awesome horns are perfect for soccer!"

"I have an idea!

"With your magic and my awesomeness, "we'd be an unstoppable team!

"Trouble at the bank?

"Taste my cloven justice!"

"You've been unicorned!"

Look how they're working together.

"Nice, right?"

"Sure, or we could go to the park and play."

"You know something, Unicorn?

"I had a feeling we'd be friends."

(Mrs. Hammack giggles) So what did Goat learn about confidence?

What do you think?

I think he learned that it's okay to be different.

You can still have confidence in yourself, even if somebody else has other things they can do that are different than yours.

We're all different, and we all are special and have unique qualities and things that we can do that no one else can.

And so I think he learned that it's okay, it's all right to be different.

It doesn't mean that you aren't as good as someone else, it's just that we're all different.

Think how boring it would be if we were all exactly the same!

That would be so boring.

That's the nice thing about us, we aren't all the same.

We don't look all the same, we don't know how to do all the same things, and that is what makes us great, because we can teach each other different things.

Isn't that fun?

They had a lot of differences, didn't they?

Were they able to overcome their differences to be friends?

They were, right!

How did that happen, do you remember?

Right, it happened because Unicorn started the conversation.

He gave Goat a compliment, and that kind of changed Goat's thoughts about Unicorn, right?

Unicorn, our Goat thought he was just a show-off, but then he learned a little more about him.

That can be true for people too, sometimes.

All right, let's think about some things that they had that were the same and different.

So this is called a Venn diagram.

And on this side of this circle, we're going to write the things that are true about Unicorn, and on this side, we're going to write things that are true about Goat.

But see how the circles overlap?

Because in the middle, that's where we're going to put things that are true about both of them.

You ready to try it?

Okay, let's think about Unicorn.

He had one pointy horn, right?

Remember, he was complaining about it because he couldn't play soccer?

He could only use it to point to things.

What does he eat?

Do you remember what he said he eats?

Glitter, yeah, and rainbows.

I'm sure you already knew that.

All right, and let's think about Goat for a minute.

What did he have?

Yeah, two horns, right, good.

Two horns.

And what did he eat, do you remember?

Right!

He eats, it was cheese, goat cheese, right?

Goat cheese on, he did eat it on a pizza, you're right.

But do you remember what he told Unicorn it's really good on?

Yes, tin cans!

What, tin cans?

Ugh, that sounds terrible.

All right, I'm gonna put a little dot there, that just helps us know that's another idea.

All right, let's think about what they had that was the same.

Can you think of something that was the same?

Right, they both think the other one is better in some ways, right?

So Unicorn thought Goat was better because he had, remember, cloven hooves, right, that could help him climb things and stand on mountains?

And Unicorn thought Goat was better because he could eat cheese on tin cans.

Do you remember why Goat thought Unicorn was better?

Right, because he had, oh, let's write that down, he turns things into gold, right?

So Goat thought Unicorn was better because he turned things into gold, and he also made it rain cupcakes.

Wow, I wish I had a friend like that.

All right, they both had hooves though, didn't they?

They both had hooves, even though they were different, they both had hooves, and they both liked pizza.

Wow!

So do you see how that Unicorn and Goat were different?

They definitely were, but they did have some things that were the same, and because of those things that were the same, that helped them to become friends, right?

So, in the story at the beginning, Unicorn was very confident, but Goat was feeling jealous, wasn't he?

He was feeling upset, not very confident.

But then Unicorn did something very kind.

He gave Goat a compliment, and that is all he needed to have some confidence come back.

And he started to feel proud about himself and believe in himself again.

You see how friends can do that?

Even before they were friends, Unicorn did something kind and friendly to help boost his new friend's confidence.

Today, I want you to think about how you can help a friend build their confidence doing something.

It could be something simple.

Look for ways that you can help other people feel confident about themselves.

Maybe practice giving a compliment, something nice that you notice about them, or something that they do really well.

That will help them to grow in confidence.

Today, we're going to talk a little bit about the feelings that they shared.

Come on, Scooter, we're going to scoot on over here to our craft table.

And today, instead of making something, we're going to talk about some of the feelings that we saw in the story.

It's going to be awesome.

So at the beginning of the story, we saw that Goat was feeling pretty proud of himself.

But then something happened, Unicorn moved in.

And what happened then?

Oh yeah, I think he was feeling a little bit sad because he wasn't feeling like he was as good as Unicorn.

And he also felt jealous.

Jealous, that's when wish you had something or could be something that someone else has.

I saw a lot of that in the story, did you?

Right?

Now, as the story went on, and Unicorn became very proud, but also Goat became proud when he got that compliment.

Remember the Unicorn said, "Wow, what is that delicious smell?"

And he said, "It's goat cheese, I'm a goat."

And he tried it and loved it!

I want you to think, when do you think in the story that Goat was surprised?

When do you think he was surprised?

I think so, too, right!

He was surprised to find out that Unicorn wasn't such a bad guy.

He felt really surprised that he could be friends with Unicorn, even though that's not what he said to Unicorn, he said, "I knew we'd be friends."

I don't think he really knew that though, did you?

Great.

♪ Skidamarink a dink a dink ♪ ♪ Skidamarink a doo ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ Skidamarink a dink a dink ♪ ♪ Skidamarink a doo ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ I love you in the morning ♪ ♪ And in the afternoon ♪ ♪ I love you in the evening ♪ ♪ And underneath the moon ♪ (mimicking wolf howling) ♪ Skidamarink a dink a dink ♪ ♪ Skidamarink a doo ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ And you, and you, and you, and you ♪ - I hope you come back to camp tomorrow.

We have another great story, and I think you are going to be surprised at how much this story can help you.

My friend Scooter and I are going to be waiting right here for you.

Come back and see us tomorrow.

Remember, help a friend feel confident, and read a good book.

Bye-bye!

(playful music)