- Oh, gosh, this thing.

Oh, hi.

Hey.

Welcome to Camp Read-a-lot.

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

Camp is a great time of learning and having fun.

And at Camp Read-a-lot, we're going to spend our days reading and talking and singing and learning and enjoying many activities together that will help us become strong readers.

Parents, when you're reading with your kids or they're reading to you, or you're reading to them, you don't even have to be reading the same book, but you can ask them questions about what they read.

Like who are the characters in your story?

Or where does this story take place?

Or was there a problem in the story?

How did they solve it?

Maybe you want to ask them, how did the character feel?

And did the character change his feelings in the story?

Those are all great questions to get your kids thinking about what they're reading and open up a conversation about books.

So try it and see how that works.

And I think you're going to see a great improvement in your kids' comprehension.

All right.

Okay campers.

Are you ready?

It's time for our song.

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.

I am so glad you're here today.

And we're going to do a really amazing story today that I have for you.

And I am super excited to share it with you because it's a, it's, it's a non-fiction story about a real person, and those are always super exciting to read.

Let's do our pledge so we can get started.

Are you ready?

All right.

Scout salute.

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.

I hope that you do have a smile on your face today and a song in your heart.

All right.

It's time for us to get ready to train our ears for sound.

We're going to be playing a game today called 'Rhyming Pictures'.

Now I'm going to show you a picture and then you're going to help me figure out a word that rhymes with the picture.

But before we can do that, have you seen scooter?

He's missing again.

That little rascal.

I can't find him anywhere.

Do you see him?

I've looked over here at the lake.

I've looked in the tree.

I looked in the tent and I don't see him.

Can you find him?

What?

He's behind me?

He's not behind me.

Oh, lower?

Look lower?

Okay.

Hey, what are you doing down there?

Good eyes.

Hey, get out of there.

What are you doing?

You're supposed to be ready for our rhyming game.

The campers are here and no, it's not funny.

It's not funny that you hide from me every day.

You need to stop that.

He is a little bit crazy.

Are you ready to play campers?

How about you?

Are you ready?

Okay.

Let's take a seat right here because here are our pictures.

Do you want to see them up close?

Okay.

All right.

Our first picture is fox.

Fox.

Can you see the fox?

All right.

Can you think of something that rhymes with fox?

Oh, I'm hearing some people yell.

All right.

I heard someone say box.

Did you hear that?

Yeah.

You heard that too?

What about socks?

Good for you.

All right.

Let's take a look at the next one.

The next word I have is a picture of a dog.

Dog.

Can you think of something that rhymes with dog?

You can't?

You can.

Oh, good.

Let's see if they get it.

Dog.

Hog.

Great job.

Very nice.

Very nicely done.

All right.

How about fan.

Fan.

Can you think of something that rhymes with fan?

Man?

Good.

I heard that Pan?

Very nice.

Good work.

Wow.

You're really good at rhyming.

And the last one that I have for you is fish.

Fish.

Oh yeah.

What did you say?

Dish?

Good.

You know what he said?

Wish.

Wish.

Isn't that great?

Great rhyming today friends.

That is awesome.

Oh, you're giving him a clap?

Okay.

Nice.

All right.

I have a joke for you.

Yeah.

This one you're going to love because it's about squirrels.

Are you ready?

Okay.

Okay.

Here we go.

What kind of TV do squirrels watch?

What kind of TV do squirrels watch?

Nutflix.

(laughs) Get it?

Nut-flix instead of Netflix?

Oh, well I thought it was really clever.

Nutflix.

You might share that with your families.

I bet they'll think it's funny too.

Well, today we are going to read a story about a real life person and we have some words that we need to know before we read the story.

It will just help us to understand what we're listening to.

Are you ready to see our words?

Our catch of the day today?

We have three words.

You ready?

Okay.

You're going to sit down here, get in your story spot.

Good job.

All right.

Our catch of the day is dream.

Dream.

Do you know what a dream is?

Well, you're right.

When you go to sleep, sometimes you have dreams, but this kind of dream is a hope or a wish that you have for yourself or for the world.

It's a little bit different than a sleeping.

All right.

How about this one leadership.

Leadership.

What do you think that means?

Good.

You heard the word leader.

That's right.

Leadership is the talent to lead a group of people, right?

Not everybody has leadership talents.

Some people are better at being leaders than others.

So leadership is a talent that some people have and you it's even, it's even a skill that you can grow.

So maybe if you are not a strong leader or a good leader, you can learn how to be.

Isn't that cool?

I know.

All right.

And this word is law.

Do you know what a law is?

Right.

They are rules that tell us what we can do and what we cannot do.

Right.

Even as grown-ups, we have rules.

So law is kind of a, it's kind of like a rule that we follow to be safe and to do things similarly, to avoid problems.

All right, good job.

Thinking about those, catch that catch of the day.

And now let's get to our story.

I'm gonna get my reading glasses.

These are the tool that I use for my eyes to help them to be stronger.

And if you wear glasses, make sure you're reading with your glasses on if you're supposed to.

Don't worry.

We all have different things that we need help with.

And my eyes are just one of the things that need help.

So today we are reading the story.

'Happy birthday, Martin Luther King'.

Do you know who Martin Luther King is?

Well, we're going to find out today.

The story is by Jean Marzolo and it's illustrated by J. Brian Pinkney.

Now I want you to look close at the illustrations.

They are.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful illustrations.

It is hard to even imagine that someone created these illustrations with their own hands, because they are really works of art.

So let's get into our story.

What do you think it might be about?

What do you see?

Aha.

Right.

I see a lot of people sitting.

He's got a little boy on his lap.

Have you heard of Martin Luther King before?

Some of you might have heard about him in school, right?

So let's see.

Oh, look how pretty this looks.

Let's see.

This is a clue that does this tell us anything?

What do you think this is?

Right?

It's a beautiful colored window.

That's called a stained glass window.

Do you know a place where you might have seen one of those?

Church.

Good.

Yeah.

There's a lot of churches that have stained glass windows.

So I wonder how that's related to Martin Luther King.

Hmm.

Let's see if we can figure that out.

All right.

Oh, before I forget, remember this is our cover front cover and our back cover.

And then this is our title page.

Very nice.

All right, here we go.

Martin Luther King Jr. Was born on January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.

His parents loved him very much.

See what I mean about the pictures.

Aren't they incredible?

So beautiful.

Martin Luther King had the same name as his father, except for one thing.

His father was called Martin Luther King Sr. Martin was called Martin Luther King Jr.

I bet some of you have juniors in your house, right?

Yeah.

I know we do.

Martin went to elementary school, high school and college in Atlanta.

He was a good student Later, he went to divinity school in Pennsylvania.

Martin became a pastor, just like his dad at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

They were both called Reverend, the Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. And the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Did you see the stained glass window?

We found it.

Right.

So let's see.

First he was born then what?

He went to school and was a really good student.

And then he went to divinity school.

Do you know what that means?

It means he went to school to learn how to be a pastor, right?

And then he became a pastor with his dad.

That's pretty cool.

Martin's job as a minister was to help people in need.

He visited sick people in the hospital and he made them feel better.

He asked people not to fight with each other.

He said that there were peaceful ways to solve problems.

I like that.

And like his father, Martin led people in prayers and songs.

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., is famous because he helped our country change some of its laws.

A law is like a rule.

Once there was a law in some places that said only white people could sit in the front of the bus and that black people had to sit in the back.

Martin Luther King said that this law needed to be changed.

Rosa Parks and other people helped him change it.

And now all people can sit in an empty seat, wherever they like.

It's hard to imagine.

Isn't it?

It wasn't all that long ago.

Really?

Once there were laws in some places that said that African-Americans could only use certain restaurants and drinking fountains.

Martin Luther King and many other people helped change these laws and now, all people can share the same restaurants and drinking fountains.

Once there was a law in some places that said that black children and white children couldn't go to school together.

Martin Luther King and other people, including many very brave children had this law changed too.

And now black children and white children can go to school together.

Aren't those laws crazy?

So glad he changed, helped change them.

Martin Luther King had a special talent for leadership.

When he spoke people listened.

Poor people, rich people, white people, black people, and people from all around the world listened.

When Martin Luther King spoke, many helped him work, march, sing, and pray for justice.

In the summer of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., gave the most famous speech of his life.

He gave it outdoors to a quarter of a million people who had come to Washington, D.C to ask the president for jobs and freedom for black people.

In his speech, Martin Luther King said that he had a dream.

His dream was that people everywhere would learn to live together without being mean to one another.

Martin Luther King Jr., was killed in 1968.

Because he loved poor people so much, He was given a special funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was born.

His body was put in a simple farm cart and pulled slowly by two mules to a cemetery.

Thousands of people walked behind Martin in a sad, loving parade.

And on his gravestone were carved these beautiful words: 'free at last free at last, thank God Almighty, I am free at last'.

Martin Luther King wanted people to be able to go places together, share food together and love one another in peace.

Because he worked so hard for freedom and helped so many people gain it, we honor him every year on his special day, we call this day 'Martin Luther King day' and we say to him, 'Happy birthday, Martin Luther King'.

Wow.

Isn't it amazing how one person can make so many great changes for our world?

I think he is an amazing person with an amazing life.

And if you want to know more about him and about other people like him, you will want to look for books about him at the County Public Library and learn all that you can.

I think he is somebody to model your life after because kindness and love is always the way to go rather than fighting.

Aren't we all just human beings?

Right?

So it seems silly to me that we would make laws and rules against one another when we're just all human beings and we need to treat each other with fairness and respect.

And so I hope that you will think about that as you go through the week.

Martin Luther King, the story about Martin Luther King is a story of hope.

That feeling when you want something to happen and you believe that your efforts today will create good things in the future.

And he is a perfect picture of that.

He wanted peace and fairness and goodness, and I am super excited of the work that he did Now, that doesn't mean there aren't still things we need to do because we still have a long way to go.

But that's where you and I come in.

Right?

We have to do our part.

Let's look at our story about what we learned about Martin Luther King, Jr.

Okay.

So let's think about it.

What is something that we learned from our story today?

Who, who was he, who was he?

Can you think about that?

Oh, I heard somebody say he was a strong leader.

Yes.

He was.

When he spoke, people listened.

He was a strong leader.

Okay.

What else did you notice in the story?

I noticed that too.

He cared about others.

Sometimes people think that if you're kind or that you care about others, it means you're not strong.

And I would challenge you and say to you that I think the strongest people are the people that care about others and are kind.

Can you think of something else you learned?

I Agree.

He made the world a better place.

Yup.

I think so too.

Now, when we talk about these things that we learned from the story, we need to kind of think about, well, where did we hear that?

So where did it show us that he was a strong leader?

Do you remember seeing evidence of that or something in the story that shows that?

Can you remember?

What was it being a strong leader here?

No, he was a brand new baby.

Right.

So let's see.

How about.

Oh, I know the perfect picture to show you.

Are you ready?

I know the perfect picture.

Look, is he leading the group?

Right.

He spoke in front of others.

He spoke to groups and he talked about peace.

He visited sick people in the hospital.

That's how we know he cared about people, right?

He visited, he visited sick people.

What else?

Right.

It bothered him.

Right.

That people couldn't just go to any restaurant or sit where they wanted to on the bus.

So he wanted people to sit anywhere or go to the stores that they wanted to go to.

Right.

I'm going to leave that cause we're running out of room.

And what do we know about him making the world a better place?

He asked people not to fight.

What else?

He changed, helped change laws so that we could all go to school together.

Right?

So he did some great things for our world, for our country.

And it's our job now to keep doing great things, to keep looking for ways that we can make things fair for each other and for caring about others more than we care about ourselves.

That's the legacy that he leaves to us.

And it's our job now to keep going forward.

There's a great story about his granddaughter.

And I hope that you will look for that and learn more about his family and, and what they are doing to keep his dream alive.

So thank you for sharing that story with me.

And now we're going to do our little activity, our activity page.

But before we do, I'm going to lighten the mood for a minute.

I have another joke.

I know it's a good one.

It's a good one.

Are you ready?

Okay.

Are you ready?

Here it goes.

Okay.

What do you call a bear who has no teeth?

Do you know?

Do you know what?

A gummy bear.

(laughs) Get it?

Gum, gummy?

He doesn't have any teeth?

Gummy bear.

(laughs) No?

You didn't like that?

He doesn't like my jokes.

I hope you like them though.

I would love to know if you have a joke.

You'd like me to tell.

Yeah.

Let's go to the, the activity table and see what we've got planned for today.

Today is a sequencing day.

Now, when we sequence, that means we put something in order from the beginning to the end.

Now I've done it as one way, but this is just one way.

What I did was I took some of the pictures from our story and I'm going to separate them out.

They're kind of all mixed up.

All right.

So here they are.

And now what I'm gonna do is I'm going to look for the very first thing that happened in the story.

And that's when he was born.

Now you might not have the pictures from the story and that's okay.

Here's my favorite way to do this.

My favorite way to do it is to draw them.

And remember, if they don't have to be like the artists in this story.

I mean, this is a professional artists, but you could draw your own pictures and they will be perfect.

And so here's the first one, he was born in 1929.

So I'm just going to take that.

I'm gonna put a little glue on the back of it, and then I'm going to stick it right on this strip.

Now, if you don't have one of these strips, you could put it on a piece of construction paper, or you could even just put them in order and clip them together.

That would work too.

And then I'm gonna look for the next one.

Oh, I think the next one, he became a preacher or a minister like his dad.

So I'm going to glue that one down.

So this creates, when I'm all done, I'll have a timeline of his life and the things that he accomplished.

I hope you'll do that.

So you can retell the story to your family.

It's time for us to get ready to go.

Skinnamarinky dinky dink Skinnamarinky do, I love you.

Skinnamarinky dinky dink Skinnamarinky do, I love you.

I love you in the morning and in the afternoon, I love you in the evening and underneath the moon.

(howls) Skinnamarinky dinky dink Skinnamarinky do, I love you.

And, you, and you, and you.

Bye bye!