(cheerful music) - Yup, you gotta get that packed up there, buddy.

We are, today's the last day, we've gotta, we've gotta take down our tent and, oh, hi, campers.

Hey, welcome to Camp Read-A-Lot.

Whoo, it's a busy day here at camp because it's our last day and, you know, when you camp, it's really important that you leave the campground cleaner and cleaner and cleaner than you found it.

Don't leave any trash behind.

When you go camping, you gotta take everything back out with you, even the trash.

We don't want any animals to get into our trash and get sick and we want to keep our forests clean.

So please make sure you do that when you pack up, all right?

Awesome.

Hey, welcome to Camp Read-A-Lot.

I am so excited you're here.

For our last day, we're gonna be talking about celebration because we're celebrating the end of camp.

But, that sometimes can be sad, but we're also celebrating that we're going to be starting school again, which can be an exciting time, especially this year.

It's gonna be super exciting.

So, camp is a great place for us.

We've done all kinds of learning this year and reading and singing and talking about stories and all kinds of activities that help us to grow to be strong readers and you've done an excellent job.

Hey, parents, even though summer's coming to a close, there's a fun activity that you might try with your family.

Why don't you try to make reading into a fun family bingo game?

You and your family can create your own bingo card by putting things on it like, "Read outside," "Read in your pajamas," "Read to a family member," "Read out loud," "Read at the park," whatever you guys can come up with, put it on here.

And then, your kids can work on crossing them out by doing those activities.

So, one day they might read to their pet, they can mark that out and when they get a bingo, you guys can figure out what kind of prize you want to win.

Maybe they want a popsicle, maybe they want to help you make dinner, or maybe they want to pick dinner for the whole family.

There's all kinds of fun and easy prizes that you can come up with.

You're way more creative than I am, I know you'll come up with some good ones.

But this might be a fun way to engage kids in reading at home and we want to encourage them to read at home because the more they read, the better they get.

This is just one fun way that you could help your kids get engaged in reading at home.

You could do it for the rest of this summer, you might even think about doing it in the fall when school starts and that would help them to set up a routine and a fun way to read.

I hope that helps you think of other ways that you can get your kids reading at home.

All right, campers, it's time for us to sing our song one last time.

♪ 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 ♪ All right, campers, it's been eight weeks of Camp Read-A-Lot and you have read a lot and now I want you to help me with our pledge.

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.

You know, campers, those are things you can do when you start school.

You can try your best to be kind to everyone, you can make sure you have a smile on your face, and leave your house in the morning with a song in your heart.

Song is a very good way to set the tone for a great day.

All right, we've been working hard to clean up our camp and I've got some other things I've gotta pack up, but we're going to read a story today about celebration.

Before we do that, we need to train our ears for sound by playing the sound changer game.

Do you remember that game?

It is super fun.

So, my friend Scooter is gonna help us with that.

What are you doing over here?

Oh, okay.

So, let me show you what he's made and see if you can tell what he is drawing as his celebration.

Can you tell that it's a s'more?

Right.

So, s'mores help Scooter to feel like he is celebrating Camp Read-A-Lot.

That is a very nice picture.

I especially like how you used wavy lines to make the sky so pretty and blue.

Are you ready to play our game?

Come on.

We're gonna come back and do this later.

All right, campers, here we go.

This sound changer game we are going to do, we're gonna use our acorns and then some dots.

So, the first word that I have for you is van.

V, a, n, van.

All right, now, if I change one sound, if I change the v to a m, what's my new word?

M, a, n, man.

Great job.

So I had van and I changed it to man.

Terrific.

Okay, let's try another word.

Are you ready?

Here's my next word.

L, aw, g, log, log.

Okay, now this time, I'm gonna get tricky, this time we're gonna change the middle sound.

We're gonna change the aw in l, og to an eh.

Hmm.

Ooh, let's see if you know.

Are you looking?

You're not even paying attention.

L, eh, g, leg.

Great.

We had log and we changed the aw to an eh to make leg.

Great.

All right, here's the next one, ready?

B, o, t, boat.

Okay.

I'm gonna change the ending sound from a t to a th.

Let's try it.

All right, ready?

B, o, th, both.

Great job.

Do you see how when we play with sounds and change them around, we can make new words?

Your brain is very strong.

That is awesome.

All right, mister, we are going to read our story today about celebration, it's called "Sky Color".

Yes, you did some sky color in your picture, that was great.

But, before I read it, I have a joke for you.

Why, this is a, this is such a good one, okay, are you ready?

This is, I think this might be one of my best ones.

Why did the belt get arrested?

Why did the belt get arrested?

It held up a pair of pants.

(Mrs. Hammack laughing) Oh, get it?

A belt, what's its job?

It holds up your pants, but, like, not a holdup, you just, holds them, okay.

Well, I thought it was hysterical.

It holds, it held up a pair of pants.

(Mrs. Hammack laughing) Oh, that is so good.

Are you ready for our catch of the day?

Oh gosh, I've been thinking about that one for awhile 'cause it was a good one.

All right, you sit there and let's check out our words for our story today.

All right, our catch of the day.

Here is our first word, horizon, horizon.

Do you know what a horizon is?

It's, you know when you look out at the sky, it's where the sky and the land look like they touch each other, it kind of makes a line right there.

So, the land is here and the sky is here and if you look right far out there, it looks just like the sky is touching the Earth.

It's pretty cool.

All right, this is mural, mural.

Do you know what a mural is?

A mural is a large artwork painted on a wall.

So, we have a few in town that you can drive by with your grownups and see and they are really, really beautiful.

It's kind of fun to look at a piece of artwork that is so huge.

A mural.

And then, this is inspiration.

Inspiration, it's an event that helps someone think of a new idea and make something new happen.

So, if you have an inspiration.

So, when I was decorating my bedroom, I had the inspiration to design it the way I wanted because of a really pretty picture that I saw.

So, the picture was my inspiration for what colors I used and how I decorated it.

That would be an inspiration, something that helps you to think about something new.

Isn't that cool?

All right, now, our story today is "Sky Color".

It's not a long story, but I think that you will learn a little bit about celebration as we read this story.

I want you to think about how this book is connected to the word celebration, okay?

I think you'll find out.

All right, let me get my reading tools.

Whoops, I dropped one of my pens, that's okay.

And here we go.

"Sky Color" by Peter H. Reynolds.

What do you notice on the cover?

I see it, too.

Do you see the ROYGBIV?

That's rainbow, isn't it?

Remember, we learned that a few weeks ago?

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, is it purple?

Oh, you're right, it's blue, then indigo, and then violet.

Right, good.

All right, and then what else do you see?

I do, too.

I see an easel and a girl with a paintbrush and some paints.

And it looks like she's outside.

Do you see that?

The ground looks kind of like grass or outside.

All right, so here's our front cover, here's our back cover.

Oh, and we see more evidence of some painting going on, don't we?

And then, the inside, how interesting?

I wonder why they chose to make the title page in black and white.

Hmm.

What do you think?

Do you think we'll find the answer in the story?

Let's check.

Oh wow, how pretty.

"Sky Color".

Peter H. Reynolds is the author and the illustrator.

Remember, that's something you might decide to be when you grow up.

You can write stories or you can illustrate them or both.

Marisol was an artist.

She loved to paint and draw and she even had her own, her very own art gallery.

Where is her art gallery, can you tell?

Yes, on the refrigerator.

Oh, look, her cat's taking a look at all that.

Not all of her art hung in a gallery, much of it she shared with the world.

She painted posters to share ideas she believed in.

This one says, "Save the ocean."

What do you think she painted?

Right, the ocean.

It says, at school, Marisol was famous for her creative clothes, her box of art supplies, and her belief that everybody was an artist.

You know what?

I really like how they did the pictures.

Do you see how he did the pictures in kind of a gray and white, except for the parts that she's painting.

It kind of draws your eye right to where he wants you to look.

Isn't that a cool thing to do?

You could try that.

Yes, Marisol was an artist through and through, so when her teacher told the class they were going to paint a mural for the library, Marisol couldn't wait to begin.

That looks like a fun class.

The classroom buzzed with sounds of brainstorming.

The students talked and sketched.

Together they made a great big drawing.

Then, they marched to the library.

"I'll paint a fish."

"I'll paint one, too."

"I'll paint the ocean."

Marisol shouted, "I'll paint the sky."

Okay, it sounds like everybody has a job to do for the mural, right?

They're gonna all work together to make one big beautiful picture.

We'll see if my pages will stop sticking together.

Marisol rummaged through the box of paint, but she couldn't find any blue.

Why do you think she would need blue?

Right, 'cause she's supposed to paint the sky.

How am I going to make the sky without blue paint?

Hmm.

That's a dilemma, isn't it?

She has a problem.

The bell rang, it was time to put their brushes down for the day.

As she climbed aboard the bus, Marisol kept wondering.

All the way home, she stared out the window.

Are you noticing something?

Look very closely.

What do you see?

Oh, I see it, too.

Look, there's yellows and oranges in the sky.

Hmm.

I wonder what she's gonna do about that.

The sun lowered closer to the horizon.

That's when the sun is going down in the late afternoon and evening and look what the sky looks like.

Is it blue?

Not always.

Later, at home, Marisol watched the day turn into night.

Now what do you see?

Oh, wow, look at the beautiful reds and pinks and purples and yellows and oranges that make the sky incredible.

That night, Marisol settled into a deep dream.

She drifted through a sky swirling with colors.

The colors mixed, making too many to count.

Wow.

Is she really drifting in the sky?

No, she's dreaming.

Have you ever done that?

Sometimes when you are thinking and thinking and thinking about something really a lot, you dream about it and that's exactly what happened.

In the morning Marisol stood waiting for the bus in the rain, the sky was not blue.

She smiled.

Why do you think she smiled?

Hmm.

I wonder.

Let's see if we can find out.

At school, Marisol raced to the library.

She grabbed a dish and began adding colors.

This one, that one, she swirled the brushes to make an all together new color.

Look, everyone's watching.

Do you think they're curious about what she's doing?

She's supposed to paint the sky and she doesn't have any blue and she's doing all kinds of color mixing.

Marisol then began painting on the wall.

A boy asked, "What color is that?"

"That," Marisol said, "That is sky color."

Ooh.

I'm anxious to see it, aren't you.

Let's see what happens.

Wow.

Look at that.

Look at their mural.

Look at all the beautiful ocean and fish and look at the sky.

Isn't that gorgeous?

Wow, I bet you could paint a beautiful sky, also.

Ta-da.

I love this, look at this.

This is the dedication page at the end.

It says, "Dedicated to Aldo Servino for, who took the blue paint away from me and helped me paint and think in sky color."

Aw, I love that.

That's so awesome.

Because sometimes we get stuck thinking that things should be a certain way and this book shows us that you can make things be different because the sky is not always blue, is it?

No.

And she wasn't sure what she was gonna do, but she was able to look around her in the world and see how the sky changed.

That's pretty cool.

All right.

This reading power chart today is our last reading power chart and it says, "What, why was it your favorite?"

And so, why was one of the books your favorite?

This one I wrote was "The Dot", so I wrote about "The Dot", it was one of my favorites because I like the way the author reminds us all to make your mark.

Remember, Veshti couldn't, she said she couldn't draw and so she put the dot on the paper and then her teacher told her to sign it and she learned that she was an artist, she just needed to get started.

And then she encouraged, or inspired, the little boy who said he couldn't draw a straight line, he made a squiggle, remember?

And she told him, "Sign it," and then he learned that he didn't have to worry, he could draw, too.

And so, I really loved that story because it reminds us that we just need to try, make a mark.

And then it also made me feel like I can do anything I put my mind to.

Maybe I'm, maybe my art is different than someone else's, but if I want to make art, I can do it, if I want to learn how to play the ukulele, I can do it, but I have to put my mind to it.

If I want to be a strong reader, I can do it.

Now, that doesn't mean it's always gonna be easy, it doesn't mean that you might not have some challenges, it means that if you want something bad enough, you can put your mind power to it and you can do it.

And I am excited.

That makes me feel excited.

It says, "I like how at the end of the story, Veshti shares with another child what she has learned."

That is important, too, friends.

When you learn something new, I want you to share it with somebody that needs to know because that is how we all grow stronger together and we've had some great stories that taught us about that.

Another story that I would write on here was the story about Jackie Robinson.

How one person changed something huge.

He changed Major League Baseball and he did it by being kind and great.

He practiced and was fantastic.

But he didn't get, he didn't say mean things back to people that weren't nice to him.

I think he is a hero and we could learn a lot more about how to be by learning more about him.

So I want you to remember those things, too.

What are some of your favorite stories that we've read over the last eight weeks?

Do you remember some of them?

Did you like "Not Nelson"?

That was a good one, huh?

Or "Not Norman", "Not Norman" with Bob Nelson, that was a great story.

Yeah, so, we've learned so many great lessons in our time together here at camp and I am excited for how you're going to take those lessons with you to school and learn to be a kind friend, have courage and to stick with things, even if it feels like they're a little bit hard because you can do hard things and that is awesome.

All right, I have a joke for you and then we're gonna go to the craft table and think about something that we celebrate, okay?

So think about something that helps you remember to celebrate.

All right, come here, mister.

All right, here is our last joke, are you ready?

How do you stop a rhinoceros from charging?

Ooh, that's an important thing to know.

How do you stop a rhinoceros from charging?

Easy, you take away his credit card.

(Mrs. Hammack laughing) Get it?

'Cause when we use a credit card, we say we're putting it on our charge card.

Rhinoceros's don't have charge cards.

Oh, okay, well.

Let's go on over to our table and get ready.

We've gotta do some packing up, mister.

Do you know that?

All right, friends, it has been a great eight weeks here at camp.

I want you to think about which story was your favorite, which lesson was your favorite and what are you gonna do to celebrate the start of school?

Do you have a tradition?

I hope so.

♪ Skinna marinka dinka dink, skinna marinka do ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ I hope you have a great end of summer and I hope to see you when we start school again.

Bye bye.

(cheerful music)