(soft music) - Well I hope that they're ready for the story today.

Oh, hi!

Check out the catch of the day today.

It was a great catch.

We're going to talk about that in a few minutes.

Hey, welcome to Camp Read-A-Lot.

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

You know camp is such a great place for learning.

We are going to be reading and talking, singing, learning, and doing all kinds of activities together to help you grow your strong brain.

That's right.

So at Camp Read-A-Lot, we do all kinds of fun things and I'm so glad you're here.

Parents, I would like to encourage you to help your kids read outside of books.

Let me tell you what I mean.

So when you're riding around town in your car, have your kids read the street signs and the store signs.

Encourage them to look for signs that they see that they can read to you.

Maybe when you go to the grocery store, you could make a shopping list and encourage them not only to read the list, but also to read all of the things that are posted at the grocery store.

It's a great way to encourage kids to read.

You could also cook together, and follow a recipe.

Have your kids read the recipe to you and the ingredients that they need.

All of these are examples of how to make reading come alive for kids.

We want kids to know that we want them to read for their whole long life.

And so that is one way to show them everyday reading experiences.

So I hope that helps you think of new ways that you can encourage your kids to read.

Campers, are you ready to sing our song?

Awesome.

♪ 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 ♪ Great job, are you ready to do our pledge?

Now, we're going to put our fingers up, and I want you to repeat after me.

Are you 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.

All right.

Well, we always take time at the beginning of our day to train our ears for sound, because that helps us to appreciate the beautiful place we're in.

But also as readers, we need to practice listening for sounds, because once we can hear those sounds, then we can read them and we can write them.

So let's get ready for our game.

Today, we're going to do a fun segmenting game.

You ready?

Great.

Oh, you're right.

He's run off again.

Scooter!

Scooter!

Scooter!

It's time, the campers are here.

Where are you?

That rascally squirrel.

Do you see him anywhere?

Is he in the tent?

I bet he slept in because he stayed up by the campfire.

Is he over there?

Scooter?

Hey!

No, he's not there.

He wasn't down at the lake when I was fishing, and I didn't see him in the canoe 'cause we had a long talk about that.

Do you see him anywhere?

Oh, I bet he is somewhere looking for some acorns.

What do you think?

Should we check the trees?

All right.

Let's.

Did you see him?

Scooter.

Why don't you answer me when I call you?

The campers have been waiting for you.

We did our song.

We've already done our pledge.

What are you doing up there?

You're stuck?

Well how did you do that?

You're a squirrel.

All right, hold on, let me see if I can help you.

Well let go, you gotta let go.

I think your nail is stuck.

Oh, oh.

Oh my goodness.

What am I going to do with you?

He says he's sorry.

Don't do that anymore.

You have been, oh, look, you've got a pine tree on your tail.

My goodness, are you ready?

All right.

We're going to play the segmenting game.

Do you remember how to do that?

Okay, so we're going to use our little acorns.

Yes I know you love acorns, but these ones are not for eating.

They're for listening to sounds.

Okay.

All right.

So for our segmenting game, I'm going to tell you a word, and then I want you to break it apart one sound at a time.

You ready?

It's kind of the opposite of our blending game, isn't it?

Okay.

Let's sit down here Scooter.

Okay.

Our word today Scooter is rope.

All right campers, rope.

What's the first sound that you hear in rope?

Right, I heard it too, very nice.

All right.

R. O. Pe.

Good job.

R, o, pe.

Rope.

Great.

It had three sounds.

Did you see that?

Very nice.

Okay.

All right, let's try another one.

Are you ready?

Let's do rain.

Ooh, we really need some of that, don't we?

Rain.

Rain.

What's the first sound Scooter?

Oh, yes it is.

It's the same as rope.

It starts with the same sound.

R. A.

In.

R, ain.

Rain.

Great job.

Alright, we have one last one.

Are you ready?

Okay.

Nest.

Nest.

Are you ready?

What's the beginning sound?

Yes, good.

That one sometimes is hard to hear.

N, e. N, e. What comes next?

N, e, s. Yes, good job.

And the last sound?

T, t. Yes, T. Well, it is the T, but we're doing sounds.

N, e, s, t. Nest.

Great, that was a hard one, it had four sounds.

Terrific job.

Okay, I have a joke for you, are you ready?

Don't hide your face, I tell really funny jokes.

Okay.

Why do magicians, oh, let me think, I have to remember how it goes.

Okay, okay.

Why do magicians do so well in school?

Why do magicians do so well in school?

You don't know.

Do you know?

Because they're really good at trick questions.

(laughter) Oh, you liked that one.

Oh, good.

I'm getting better.

Trick questions.

Get it?

Magicians do tricks.

Right?

Okay.

Hey it's time to look at our catch of the day words.

And then we're going to read our story.

Are you ready?

Yes.

Okay.

Now, how's your tail?

Did it get stuck?

Okay, it's better.

Oh, good.

All right.

He's going to take a seat right down here, so he can see our story.

And we're going to look at our catch of the day words.

We have quite a few today for our story.

This word is advice.

Advice.

Now, advice is when you make a suggestion about what someone should do.

So if you give me advice about how to tell a funny joke, that means you're telling me what I should do in order to make that joke funny.

That's advice.

All right, how about this next one is glee.

Glee.

It's a fun word, huh?

It really means just a strong feeling of happiness.

Glee.

This word is unique.

Unique means one of a kind.

Scooter is definitely unique.

One of a kind.

All right, how about?

Let's do this one.

Proudly.

Proudly.

Proudly.

Proudly is how you feel because of something you've done.

Okay, how about foolish?

Foolish.

Do you know that?

Have you heard that word before?

Foolish means not having very good judgment or good sense.

Kind of being brainless, not using your brain.

It's kind of being silly, right?

So that is something we don't want to do.

We don't want to be brainless, right?

That's why we grow our brains so that we have a strong one.

We don't want to not use it.

Today friends, our story is called "Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon."

And it's written by Patty Lovell, and the illustrations are by David Catrow.

The illustrator is one of my friend's favorite illustrators.

So I hope you enjoy it.

Let me get my tools for reading.

Now, let's take a look at the front cover of this story.

What do you notice about it?

Do you see this little character here?

Right.

What do you think that means?

Stand tall Molly Lou Melon.

Does she look tall?

Are they telling her to be taller?

Hmm, what do you think?

What are you noticing about her on the cover?

Right, she has really big eyes, doesn't she?

She looks kind of little though, doesn't she?

Is she happy or sad?

Hmm.

What do you think the story will be about?

I'm not sure.

But stand tall, so I'm not sure what that means, do you know?

So here's our front cover.

Here's our back cover.

And when we open it, we have the title page, and then our story begins.

So let's jump in and see what's going on.

Okay.

Molly Lou Melon stood just taller than her dog.

And she was the shortest girl in first grade.

She didn't mind.

Her grandma had told her, walk as proudly as you can, and the world will look up to you.

So is she tall?

No, she's barely taller than her dog.

And her grandma said to walk as proudly as you can, and the world will look up to you.

What does that mean?

If she's really tiny, are they going to look up at her?

Hmm, let's think about that as we read and think about what grandma means.

So she did.

Can you see her?

Wow.

Look at all.

Are they looking up at her?

They are looking up at her.

Molly Lou Melon had buck teeth that stuck out so far she could stack pennies on them.

She didn't mind.

Her grandma had told her, smile big and the world will smile alongside you.

How do you think smiling helps other people to smile?

It does, right?

Smiling is kind of like yawning.

You know when you yawn, other people start yawning.

Same thing happens when you smile.

When you smile, it makes other people smile.

There she is.

So she did.

There's her great big smile.

Molly Lou Melon had a voice that sounded like a bull frog being squeezed by a boa constrictor.

Do you think that would sound nice?

Might not sound very nice.

But she didn't mind.

Her grandma told her, sing out clear and strong, and the world will cry tears of joy.

Look at that frog.

Do you think he's liking her song?

Oh, and look right here.

Do you see that?

I don't think they like her singing.

But does it stop her?

Nope.

So she did.

Oh now look, how sweet is that?

She had courage to go ahead and sing.

Molly Lou Melon was often fumble fingered.

You know what that means, fumble fingered?

Mean she dropped things a lot.

She didn't mind, her grandma told her believe in yourself and the world will believe in you too.

We talked about believing in yourself, right?

That's having confidence.

And Molly Lou certainly has confidence.

So she did.

Oh my goodness.

I hope you don't try that at home.

Then Molly Lou Melon moved to a new town.

She had to say goodbye to her grandma and all of her friends.

I know, that's hard, isn't it?

And start a new school.

Let's look at her.

Look at that illustration.

How do you think she feels?

Yeah, she looks a little nervous, doesn't she?

Maybe a little scared.

Do you think that she will have courage?

Let's see.

She's getting ready to get on the bus.

On the first day of school, Ronald Durkin called her "shrimpo" out in gym class.

When the game started, Molly Lou Melon caught the football and ran under the legs of Ronald Durkin and scored a touchdown.

All the children thought, wow, she's good.

And Ronald Durkin, he felt very foolish.

Did she let his mean name stop her?

Nope.

On the second day of school, Ronald Durkin called her bucky tooth beaver.

Molly Lou Melon took out the pennies and stacked 10 high on her teeth and smiled as big as the day.

All the children smiled with glee, and Ronald Durkin felt very foolish.

Nothing he says affects her, right?

She's not going to let him bring her down.

On the third day of school, Ronald Durkin said, you sound like a sick duck.

Honk honk!

Molly Lou Melon sang out quack, so clear and strong that it made Ronald Durkin somersault backwards, hit his head, and have to go to the nurse.

All the children cried with joy to be free of Ronald Durkin for the rest of the afternoon.

And Ronald Durkin felt very foolish.

On the fourth day of school, Ronald Durkin said that she'd made the snowflake all wrong.

But Molly Lou Melon opened up her paper and revealed the most beautiful snowflake of all.

All the children oohed and aahed.

Even Ronald.

On the fifth day of school, Ronald Durkin brought Molly Lou Melon a stacking penny for her tooth, and he smiled at her.

That night, Molly Lou Melon took out a pencil and paper and wrote a letter to her grandma.

Dear grandma.

I wanted to tell you that everything you told me was exactly right.

Love Molly Lou Melon.

Wow.

What a courageous person, right?

Molly had courage in the face of a bully.

She didn't let him bully her.

She didn't even listen to him.

Whatever he said to her, she turned it around and made it a good thing.

That is having courage to be brave.

And that's what we need to do, be brave.

That is a great example of showing courage.

Oh, I love it.

Let's take a look at our reading power chart.

So today, our read aloud story was stand tall.

So I'm just going to write that here.

Stand tall Molly Lou Melon.

And our character was Molly Lou.

There were some other characters in the story too, right?

Well let's focus on her for a minute.

How did she show courage?

What did she do to show that she was brave?

Do you remember?

Right.

She walked tall.

Now was she tall?

No, but she walked tall.

That's another way of saying she had pride.

She was proud.

She walked tall.

She went right onto the bus, even though she probably was feeling really nervous.

You know what?

Boys and girls, even though you have courage, it doesn't mean you're not afraid.

You can still be afraid, but having courage means you're afraid, but you do it anyway.

So she was afraid to move away from all of her friends and get on that school bus.

But she did it and she held herself up and walked tall.

All right.

She also smiled big.

Remember he made fun of her, called her a bucky tooth beaver.

But instead of shrinking and crying and running away, she stood tall and gave him her greatest smile and stacked pennies.

Wasn't that awesome?

I know.

I hope I could be that courageous.

All right, what else did she do?

Remember down at the pond?

What did she do?

Right.

She sang loud.

She showed courage.

And most of all, she believed in herself.

That's how she showed courage.

She didn't need somebody else to tell her that she was great.

She believed it in herself, right?

And you know what, that reminds me.

I think in our other story, Suki's Kimono.

Did you see Suki be courageous?

Can you think of something that Suki did that was courageous, that showed courage?

Now she might not have been afraid or maybe she was, but she did something anyway that other people might've made fun of her for.

What'd she do?

Right, she wore her kimono to school, and danced.

And because she was courageous, because she showed courage, the boys and girls in her class got to learn something about the Japanese culture.

Isn't that awesome?

I know.

So I hope today that you will find ways to show courage, to demonstrate courage, and to be courageous.

It doesn't mean you're not afraid.

It just means that you can do it.

I am so proud of you.

So be a Molly Lou and stand tall today.

I have a little activity for us to kind of bring our story to life.

You want to join me at the craft table, and we'll do some crafting together.

Okay?

All right come on Scooter, let's go.

All right Scooter.

I'm going to have you sit there.

Oh, you know what friends?

Let me get my book, because I want to make sure that you can see it while we're doing our little activity.

All right.

Today, I thought it would be fun to make a little puppet.

Have you ever made a puppet before?

So what you need is a paper bag, and this part is going to be the face of our puppet.

And then this part down here will be the body.

So I looked at our story, and I drew up a little picture, and I have Molly Lou's face.

I know it's not exactly like hers, but I did the best I could.

So, what I'm going to do.

Now, here's the trick.

You can't put glue under here.

You're just going to put your hand there, and put a little glue on this rectangle part.

It's actually the bottom of the bag.

If you were to open this up, that would be the bottom.

So I'm going to stick a little glue there.

And I'm going to put Molly Lou's face on there.

Okay, I'm gonna lay it down for a second just so I can get her nice and situated.

All right.

Now I'm going to put on her body.

I'm going to glue just a little bit.

I think I'll put the glue on the bag, that way I know right where I'm going.

I'm going to lift up that flap and stick that on.

And I can't forget her teeth, right?

So I'm going to stick her teeth right inside her mouth.

Yeah, you can do this at home with any character if you'd like.

And then, you can make her talk.

Isn't that great?

Stand tall campers.

I hope you stand tall today.

In the face of being afraid, I want you to have courage.

What are some ways that you can show courage today?

I hope you can think of some.

♪ Skinamarinka dink a dink ♪ ♪ Skinamrinka do ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ Skinmarinka dink a dink ♪ ♪ Skinamarinka do ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ I love you in the morning ♪ ♪ And in the afternoon ♪ ♪ I love you in the evening ♪ ♪ And underneath the moon ♪ ♪ Oooh!

♪ ♪ Skinamarinka dink a dink ♪ ♪ Skinamarinka do ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ And you ♪ ♪ And you, and you ♪ Come back to camp tomorrow, I have another great story.

And remember, find your courage today and stand tall.

Bye-bye.

(soft music)