(energetic music) - Oh, oh, hi!

Hey, welcome to "Camp Read-A-Lot."

You caught me.

I was just checking out this stump here, there's something going on there.

I don't know what it is but, there's something.

And I was reading some facts about squirrels that I'll have to share with you later, 'cause they're pretty fascinating.

Hey, welcome to "Camp Read-a-Lot."

I am so glad you're here today.

I'm Mrs. Hammack.

And we are gonna do so much fun learning here at "Camp Read-a-Lot."

We're gonna read, we're gonna talk, we're gonna sing songs, and do all kinds of activities that will help you to grow your brain to be a strong reader.

So I'm super happy that you're here.

Parents, I know when you're home, and your kids are reading, and there's just a lot going on in the summertime.

But I wanna remind you of something that might help you with them as they're reading.

And I know it will help them.

And that is to ask them questions about the stories that you're reading to them, or that they're reading to you.

You can ask them who the characters are.

Ask them, "Is there a problem in the story?"

"What was the solution to that problem, how'd they solve it?"

And "Where does the story take place, what's the setting of the story?"

All of these things will help to deepen your child's comprehension and understanding of stories and that is going to make them a powerful, strong reader.

And when they get to school in the fall, you will notice a great difference in what they're able to do.

So that's just an idea for you.

So ask 'em questions, talk about, open a conversation about the stories that you're reading.

I think you'll enjoy it.

All right campers, you ready?

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

Are you ready to do our pledge?

Let's get to it.

Repeat after me.

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

Great.

You're getting so good at remembering all the words to that.

It's fantastic.

All right, so we're gonna play a sound game today, an ending sound game.

Um, I, think I, Oh!

What are you doing?

You're not supposed to be doing that right now.

I know.

Do you have s'mores on your fingers?

Because you're gonna get the book all sticky.

What are you doing?

I know it's a good book, but it's not time to read that yet.

It's time to play our game.

All right, come on over here.

Help me with the campers, they're ready to play the game.

Are you ready?

Okay, oh my goodness, this guy.

What am I gonna do with you?

All right.

Today we're playing an ending sounds game.

And so I'm going to tell you a word, and I want you to think about what do you hear at the very end of the word, okay?

So we're gonna sit here, and I have some acorns that we can use if we get stuck, but I think you'll be able to do it.

Are you ready to try it?

Okay, so my first word is fish.

Fish.

Should we segment it, will that help you?

All right, let's segment it.

F I sh.

What's that ending sound?

Good, shh.

F, I, shh.

That's the ending sound.

The end is the very last sound that you hear.

All right, are you ready to try another one?

All right.

Let's try camp.

Camp.

Don't tell, it's a secret.

Camp.

Should we try it?

Okay.

C A M P, camp.

What's that ending sound?

P, good job.

All right, let's try one without the acorns.

All right, are you ready?

All right, I have a great word for you.

Squirrel.

Squirrel.

Gotta listen close.

Did you hear the ending sound?

You did?

Okay, what is it?

Are you sure, 'cause squirrel.

Let's say it in slow motion, we'll stretch it.

Yes, like a marshmallow.

Squirrel.

What's that sound?

Good, L. Very nice, good job.

Remember if you're trying to isolate the ending sound, sometimes it helps you to stretch it in slow motion so that you can hear all the sounds, and that will help you.

Okay.

Oh what, what are you, why are you rubbing your hands together?

Oh, you're thinking about marshmallows.

It's not time for marshmallows.

But I have a joke for you.

Okay, all right this is a really good one.

What do you call a dinosaur who crashes a car?

What do you call a dinosaur who crashes a car?

Do you know?

Tyrannosaurus wrecks!

(Mrs. Hammack laughs) Get it?

Tyrannosaurus wrecks, like wrecks the car?

I know, I know, it was a good one.

All right today we have, what?

Oh, he would like me to tell you he's very happy that you're here today.

Good, I'm glad.

I don't know where that came from, but we are happy you're here.

And today we're gonna read a story called "Book Fiesta" and we're gonna find our catch of the day.

And this story is amazing.

It's written in two languages.

I'm gonna give it my very best try, so have some grace and be kind.

All right, are you ready to find out what our words are?

Did you catch them today?

Are they over there?

Okay, all right you sit down right here.

Okay, our catch of the day!

We only have two.

"Fiesta."

Fiesta, a fiesta.

That's Spanish for a party or a celebration.

A fiesta.

And then we have "favorite."

Favorite.

If something is your favorite, it means you like it more than any others.

So today we're gonna be talking about favorites and a fiesta.

And this story is one of my favorite kind of fiestas.

It is a "Book Fiesta."

A "Book Fiesta", so it's a book celebration.

And that's exactly what we're gonna do today.

So I want you to be thinking about all the stories that we've been reading, and think about which one might be your favorite as we read "Book Fiesta."

It's Celebrate Children's Day or Book Day.

This is a bilingual picture book by Pat Mora, illustrated by Raphael Lopez.

And so, let's jump in.

Oh, the pictures are gorgeous.

Look how beautiful and colorful they are.

He's sleeping on a cloud and she's sleeping on the moon.

I love it.

"Book Fiesta."

It looks like a party, doesn't it?

All right, here is the dedication page.

They wrote a whole bunch of things to the people they dedicated it to.

Here's our title page again.

Gorgeous.

Hurray, today is our day!

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) Let's have fun today reading our favorite books.

Toon!

Toon!

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) Children's Day is Book Day.

We read in English and Spanish in Chinese and Navajo too.

We read by ourselves.

We read with a friend.

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) Look at that.

And we read at the library too.

Toon!

Toon!

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) Our families tell us stories while we listen and play.

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) We read "libros" together in cars and planes, and trains.

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) We read to our puppies and kittens and lizards in our yard.

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) I like to do that too, do you like to read to your animals?

Yeah, and if you don't have animals maybe you can read to your stuffed animals.

They like stories too.

We read riding an elephant.

That would be fun.

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) Or sailing with a whale.

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) We read in a long submarine.

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) Or floating in a hot air balloon.

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) Ooh look at this page.

Then, snug in our beds, we read to the moon.

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) And fly away in our books.

Toon!

Toon!

(Mrs. Hammack speaks Spanish) Wasn't that nice?

Great!

This is a story that says, "Dear friends, children are special aren't they?

Every single one.

Books are special too.

It's fun and important to connect them.

When I learned that Mexico celebrates El Dia Del Nino (The Day of the Child) on April 30th, I thought (gasps) I like the idea of celebrating children and having a fun kid's day.

Hooray!

And let's add books to the party.

Let's celebrate children and books every day of the year and then have an anniversary party on April 30th."

Isn't that fun?

Wow, that is awesome.

Books are so much fun to include in a celebration, aren't they?

We can read everywhere.

Did you see all the places they read?

They read riding an elephant.

I've never done that before.

They read it in a hot air balloon.

They read at the library.

They read or played while they listened to someone reading to them.

In cars and in planes and on trains, you can read everywhere you go.

It's a great place, in your mind you can travel to all kinds of places when you read a book.

A book can teach you all about the different people and places around the world.

And that's what makes reading so much fun, because just like people, every book is different and you can find one that you really like.

So a "Book Fiesta."

So think about the stories that we've been reading.

Let's see, we read "Big Al", remember "Big Al"?

And we read "The Diary of a Spider."

Ooh, do you remember "Chrysanthemum?"

That was a good one.

What else did we, ooh, oh, I know which one was my favorite.

Well, I know I have a lot of favorites, but the one that I'm thinking about was, do you remember?

"Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great."

Wasn't that a fun one?

"Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great."

I'm gonna write that down because that was the one that was my favorite.

I'm just gonna write "Unicorn" here, unicorn.

So "Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great."

I like it because I love the character of the unicorn, and I love the character of the goat.

I like how they're different.

And you know what?

It made me laugh because of how silly they were.

Remember how silly they were being jealous of each other?

Goat was jealous of all the things that Unicorn could do.

And Unicorn was jealous about Goat because of the goat cheese on his pizza.

And because he had those strong horns that he could use.

I just thought it was such a silly and funny story about how we're all different, but we can appreciate each other, and not to be jealous of what other people have.

So I really loved that story.

And that's what I would write here, "Why was it a favorite?"

And I would write that "This book made me laugh because Goat is jealous of the things that Unicorn has, and Unicorn is jealous of the things that Goat has."

So you might think about what your favorite story has been over these past few weeks.

What's one of the ones that you enjoyed the most.

And what was it about that story that made you really like it?

Maybe you really loved the story about "Happy Birthday Martin Luther King."

That was a great story.

Or maybe you liked "Come On, Rain!"

Because we really need some rain.

All of the stories that we have shared have been so good.

And there's so many fun stories out there that we haven't even gotten to yet.

Think about which one is your favorite and what makes it your favorite.

Now, I have another joke for you before we go to our craft table.

And I also want to tell you something about squirrels.

Did you know this about squirrels?

I don't know if you know this about yourself.

Did you know that squirrels teeth never stop growing?

Their whole life, their teeth just keep growing.

The only way that, you knew that?

Oh!

The only way they can keep them from getting too long is by eating and chewing and gnawing on things that are hard and it kind of files them down like we file our fingernails.

That's kind of what they do with their teeth.

No, marshmallows are not going to help your teeth.

So, no!

They have to eat harder things like acorns and things like that.

And that helps to file down their teeth.

Isn't that cool?

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty glad that my teeth don't keep growing my whole life.

That would be weird.

All right, I have a joke.

Are you ready?

Okay.

Why did the teddy bear say no to dessert?

Oh look, he's shocked that somebody would say no to dessert.

Why?

Why do you think he said no to dessert?

Oh he's, oh!

No, I'm gonna tell you.

He said no to dessert because he was stuffed.

(Mrs. Hammack laughing) Get it, a teddy bear, he's stuffed and he's full of stuffing?

Get it?

He's stuffed.

Yeah, it was a good one.

He was stuffed.

All right, hey you know, when I hear the word "fiesta", I think of a party and I love how beautiful the Spanish language is in that story.

And parties make me think of pinatas.

Do you know what a pinata is?

It's like a little shaped, it could be any shape really.

And they're filled with candies and then you hit it and break it apart and the candies fall out.

And today we are going to make our very own pinata.

What do you think about that, do you think it'll be good?

You do?

All right, so let's go to the craft table and get started because our pinata is gonna take some time.

Come on, let's go.

All right.

Okay so, to make the pinata, you sit right there, there are a few things you need.

You need a lunch bag.

It can be any size, the bigger the bag, the bigger your piñata is gonna be, the longer it will take you to make it.

So I just have like a lunch bag here.

You're gonna need some tissue paper.

And I chose colorful tissue paper, you can use white, but you can choose all different kinds of colors.

You'll need some string to hang it and tie it up closed.

And then you'll also need some glue and scissors, because we're gonna use that.

So the first thing you're gonna do is open your bag all the way up.

See that?

Okay?

And then do you see the little fringies that I made there?

And we're going to make some layers around that.

So let me show you what I did.

I took two colors together and I folded them in half.

It's okay if it sticks out a little bit, they don't have to be exactly the same size.

And where the folded edge is, that's where I'm gonna hold it, I'm gonna hold it where the folded part is.

And then I'm going to do little snips.

I'm not gonna cut all the way off.

I'm going to cut gently, see how that looks?

I'm just gonna cut little snips, so it makes it kind of fluffy and wavy.

Do you see that?

All right, so I'm gonna snip.

I'm gonna go all the way across, I'm gonna lay this back down so that I can get it snipped for you.

And then when I'm done snipping, we're gonna put some glue.

Now I'm gonna put the glue on the tissue paper, but for some of you it might be easier to put the glue on the bag.

It just depends.

All right.

So now I have my fringies, do you see that, isn't that pretty?

All right, so here's my bag.

Now I want to make sure that I don't put it way up here 'cause I want it to cover.

So I'm gonna open my glue, and I'm gonna put a little bit of glue right on.

I'm gonna go all the way across.

All right now, this is a little bit messy so you gotta be careful.

I'm gonna lay my bag down.

I'm going to take this and, ooh!

I'm going to lay it so that it is not all the way on top.

I want to make a layer of it so that it kind of covers, but it's not right on top.

Do you see how I moved up a little bit?

So there's some space, but you can't see the space because the fringies are there.

See how that works?

This part's coming off, so let me put some glue there.

All right.

And then I'm gonna keep going.

I'm going to trim some more and put another layer on.

So I can snip, snip, snip.

This is kinda fun.

Now you don't want to make the snips too wide because then it won't be really fluffy.

We want it to be able to wave and be wavy.

So you want to make sure that you don't snip it too wide.

Now this time I'm gonna be smarter.

And I'm just gonna put a little bit of glue as I go, 'cause that was a little bit crazy.

So I'm gonna put a little bit of glue and then I'm going to stick that on to my pinata.

Now I'm gonna move up the bag so that it's in a different spot.

I don't want to put it right on top of the spot I already did.

Now I'm gonna put a little glue right here, and then fold it over and press it down.

Now I need a little more glue.

And hold it down.

And now I've made it all the way around.

Now I could, if I want to, or if you're doing this and you want to, you could keep going and just make it full of fluffies.

Isn't that pretty?

Isn't that nice?

Now what I thought would be fun though, is you could also just put dots of glue on your bag.

Just kind of all over.

And then you could use really cute colorful tissue and just make it like a mosaic, which means that you're just gonna put a lot of colors together and cover up the bag, so that it makes it really fun and interesting.

So you could do that.

Now I did mine kind of in a hurry, but of course, if I were taking time, I would make sure that I covered that all up.

And then you're gonna close it up and poke a string through it.

And then, before you tie it all the way you can fill it with a little treats or candies, and then you can decorate the other side and then you have a beautiful pinata that you can have fun with.

Wouldn't that be fun?

For your very next fiesta.

♪ 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 ♪ ♪ Ow ♪ ♪ Skinnamarinky dinky dink ♪ ♪ Skinnamarinky do ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ And you, and you, and you ♪ I hope you had fun with our pinata I hope you make some fun things and have a great time doing it.

Remember to read, read, read.

Bye-bye!

(energetic music)