- Hey, good morning, learners!

I am so excited to see you.

Today, we're going to be talking all about our brains, right?

What kind of brain power do you have?

We are going to find out today.

We're going to talk all about our amazing brains and how we can grow them and be strong.

Welcome to our PBS classroom.

I'm Mrs. Hammock, and I am super excited to start this school year with you and help you practice all the skills you need to be an excellent reader, writer, and thinker, and we are going to do that together.

So, I am proud of you and I am excited to be here with you, and we're going to start with our good morning song.

Are you ready?

Okay, let me set this down.

All right, here we go.

♪ Good morning, good morning ♪ ♪ Good morning to you ♪ ♪ Good morning, good morning ♪ ♪ Good morning to you ♪ ♪ Our day is beginning ♪ ♪ There's so much to do ♪ ♪ Good morning, good morning ♪ ♪ Good morning to you ♪ Good morning, learners!

I'm so happy you're here.

Well, we are going to train our ears for sound using a game called "How Many Syllables."

A syllable is a part of a word that has a vowel sound, and so I'm going to say a word, and then we're going to see how many parts make up that word.

Those are called syllables.

All right, here's an example, so you'll know what I'm talking about.

If I say the word "funny," we're going to say, "Fun, ni."

hat has two syllables.

It has "fun" in the first part and "ni" in the second part.

Another way you could do that besides clapping would be how many times does your chin drop?

"Fun, ni."

And that's two.

All right, let's try another one.

Let's try "little."

Are you ready?

That was one of our high frequency words this week.

"Little," let's try it.

"Li, tul."

Good, two.

How about "listen?"

"Listen."

Ready?

Let's tap our feet this time.

"Li, sen." Oh, how many did you hear?

Two, good job.

Now, we've had a lot that have two.

Not all words have two.

How about, hm, let's do "car."

You ready?

"Car."

Oh, that one just has one.

How about, "teacher"?

Let's try that.

Let's do snaps.

"Tee, chur."

Good job.

You are getting the hang of it.

Syllables help us because, when we can break a word into syllables, that helps us to sound it out better.

It also helps us when we're writing longer words.

If we know the parts, we can break it apart and write the smaller syllables to put together, and so that is one of the reasons we practice syllables.

It helps us when we are writing, and it also helps us when we're reading.

Today, we have the last of our consonants, and the last short vowel to practice and review.

So, we are going to take a little look right over here at our word work board, and you can see, I have our large sound spelling cards.

So, our first one is the W card.

W. Now, I know what you're thinking.

Those don't look like U's.

They look like V's, right?

But it's called W, so double U.

We say W, window, "wuh."

Say that with me.

W, window, "wuh."

Good job.

There's only one way to spell that W sound, and that's with the W itself.

Then we have have X. X, box, X.

Now, X, there are not very many words that start with the right sound of X.

There are some words that start with X, but they sometimes make a different sound.

So, for this sound, the X sound, we have a box, because the X is at the end of that word, and so often, when you see this letter, you'll see a picture that has that sound at the end.

Sometimes my learners like to think about what a soda can sounds like.

So, if you have a soda can and you pop the top, it says, "ks," and that's the sound that X makes.

Now this letter is the letter Y.

Sometimes people get confused and they want to say that it says "wuh," because its name is Y, but it doesn't say that sound.

Y, yo-yo, "yuh."

Y, yo-yo, "yuh."

So, when you get stuck, look at that picture on the sound spelling card to help you.

Yo-yo, and isolate that beginning sound, "yuh", yo-yo, and that will help you remember what sound the Y makes, and then we have the last consonant of the whole entire alphabet, and that is Z, Z, zipper, Z.

What do you notice?

I noticed it too.

There are two ways to spell the Z sound.

Some words at the end have an S that makes the Z sound, and so that's why this little line is here.

It tells you that the Z sound at the end of a word sometimes is an S, and did you notice this?

What do you think that means?

This means that the "yuh" sound is only at the beginning of a word.

There's not going to be a "yuh" sound at the end of a word.

That sound only comes at the beginning, and then we have the last of our short vowels, and that is the E. E, egg, "eh."

E, egg, "eh."

There are two ways to spell the "eh" sound, E and then the EA also can spell that, and you'll see some words as we go along that have that "eh" sound spelled with those two.

It's not often, but it is there, and we want you to know that, because it can get you confused when you're trying to read.

So, and when you're trying to write.

All right, so we have W, "wuh," window.

Window, "wuh."

X, box, "ks."

Hey, did you hear that?

X-Box, hm, "ks."

Y, yo-yo, "yuh."

Z, zipper, "Z."

And, E, egg, "eh."

Good job, that is all of the continents, and all five of the short vowels we've done this week.

So, if there was one or two that you need extra practice with, make sure you're practicing.

All right, now, we have some high-frequency words for review.

These are words that you might already know.

They are review words, but if they're new to you, write them down and practice.

Maybe you want to do a whack-a-word.

That's always fun.

All right, so here, we have the word "for," "for."

This word is like when something is for someone else.

Not the number four.

That's spelled different.

So let's spell this.

F-O-R, "for," good.

Here we have "was."

Oh, did you hear it?

What's at the end of that sound?

What sound did you hear?

"Was," a perfect example.

The word "was" has the S at the end that makes the Z sound.

W-A-S, "was."

"This," T-H-I-S, "this."

"They," T-H-E-Y.

Sometimes, it helps to think about "they," it's "the" with a Y at the end.

So, if you're trying to spell it, that will help you to spell it correctly.

Then we have "have," H-A-V-E. And then we have "said," S-A-I-D, "said."

Great job.

Now, we're going to come over to our writing board, and we're going to practice writing these letters so that you can see how to form the letters correctly.

You ready to help me?

Let's go.

All right, our first letter today is the letter W. So we are going to make it right here.

We're going to start, where do we start?

In the middle, at the top?

What do you think?

Right, for uppercase letters, almost always, I say almost because sometimes there's things that are different, almost always, we start at the top.

So we're going to go slanted down a little, tiny bit.

Then we're going to go up to the middle.

Now, I want to say, some friends and some teachers go all the way up to the top, and that's okay.

I'm going to stop mine here, and then I'm going to go back down, and then I'm going to go all the way up, but if you learned to make it go all the way up to the top and then down and all the way up, that is okay.

That's how that one looks.

It goes all the way up, then all the way back down.

Both ways are okay.

We'll know it's a W, and then the lowercase W looks just like it, but it was in a shrinking machine.

Here we go.

Do, do, do, do.

There it is.

It's like you put two V's together, even though it's called "double U."

Isn't that crazy?

All right, the next one is an X.

This is one of the easiest ones, I think.

You're going to start at the top.

You're going to go slanted down.

Then you're going to go back to the top and go slanted down.

Just like that, and the lowercase X was in a shrinking machine.

It looks exactly like the big one.

All right, what do you think is next?

Let's look.

Oh, we've got the letter Y.

Okay, now, Y can be tricky.

There are a few ways you can make a Y.

We'll make the Y, I'll make it the way they did here.

They did this.

They did a V at the top section of the paper, and then a straight line down like that.

Okay, and then the lowercase Y is a slanted line, and then this stick goes way down here under the line, okay?

So, that is the Y, and it says, yup, "yuh, yuh."

Good job, and then we have the Z. we're going to go straight across the top.

We're going to go slanted down, like that, and then straight across the bottom, and you know what I'm going to say about the little Z, right?

Lowercase Z, it's in a shrinking machine, because it looks just the same as the big one, but we start down here at the dotted line.

We go across and down, and then across the bottom, just like that.

Okay, now, we have the short vowel E. E can be tricky.

It's going to go like this.

Straight line down.

Then we're going to go straight across.

We're going to put a line on the dotted line, and then we're going to go over here on the bottom.

So it has three lines.

Okay, now, lowercase E is the one that most learners have the hardest time with.

So, let me show you a trick.

If you go just a little bit under the dotted line, and go straight just a little bit, now watch.

You're going to go up and around, just like that.

So, start in the middle, go across, go up, and around, and then you'll get the short E, "eh."

Great writing.

So, we have W, X, Y, Z, and then our lower case short.

Well, not lower case, but short E sound, for egg.

Today, I have a great story for you.

It's called "Your Fantastic Elastic Brain," because our brains are amazing.

They're like your own personal supercomputer, right inside your head, and so let's find out a little more about our brain.

Let's go.

All right, I'm going to put on my glasses, and I'm going to show you the front cover of the book, because it is so cool.

Now, do you see how they made the word "brain"?

It's pink, and it has all these little wrinkles and stuff, because that is what your brain actually looks like.

If we could peek inside, you would see something that looks kind of like these letters, with all these wrinkles and folds in it.

It's pretty amazing.

"Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, Stretch It, Shape It," by JoAnn Deak, illustrated by Sarah Ackerly.

This is a really good book.

So let's find out about your beautiful brain.

"What does your brain really do?

Does it fill the space between your ears?

Well, yes, but your brain can do so much more."

This little bird says, "Hello in there."

And this little mouse says, "All I see is pink stuff."

Aren't you glad, when we look in the mirror, we don't see our brain?

That would be, I dunno if I'd like that.

"Your brain helps you think and remember and name what you see and what you hear.

It lets you move your body and feel both touch and emotions or feelings.

Your brain does all the things that make you you.

Likes red food, favorite word is elbow, ping-pong champion, knows global landmarks, good at science, enjoys reading pirate books."

So, here, these are all the things that this girl likes or knows how to do, and that's all in her brain.

It comes from her brain.

"So what is your brain?

Is it a muscle?

No, the brain is an organ in your body.

It is made up of cells and tissue.

The brain controls everything that you do, everything you think, everything you feel, and everything you dream."

Did you know your brain even controls your breathing and your heartbeat?

You don't even have to think about those things because your brain takes care of it automatically.

Isn't that amazing?

So, our brain is working to help you breathe and think and your heart to beat all the while you're thinking about other things.

Isn't that cool?

"The brain has many parts that do all kinds of different jobs.

Cerebrum, the hippocampus, the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and the cerebellum."

And then now we're going to hear a little bit about those things.

So, the cerebrum, which they made blue, it's not really blue, but in this picture, they made it blue.

"That is the largest part of your brain, and it helps you to think and speak."

The cerebellum, that's way down here.

"The cerebellum is a small part at the back of your brain that helps your muscles to coordinate your movement and your balance so that you can walk, ride a bike, or play tag.

Your prefrontal cortex, that spot.

Oh, let me move that out of the way, That spot right up here in the front of your brain.

"That is the part of your brain behind your forehead, and it helps you to make plans and decisions.

The hippocampus is in the middle there, and it is at the very center of your brain.

It works like a file cabinet to help you store and find memories.

The amygdala is a tightly-packed group of cells, deep inside in there, and inside that, it controls your emotions or how you feel.

Excited, angry, embarrassed, frightened, sad, happy."

It's an important part of our brain that helps us to know what to do in circumstances, so that we know how to respond.

"And then neurons are all over your brain, and they are the tiny brain cells that send electrical signals and messages to the other parts of your body."

That is so cool.

"When you were born, you were very little, and your brain was small and not so strong.

As you get older, your body grows and gets stronger.

As part of your body, your brain grows, and you learn to do new things, and you can make your brain do even more.

Your brain grows very fast during the first 10 years of your life.

This is called the magic decade, when you can help your brain grow faster and get powerful.

Just like lifting weights helps your muscles get stronger, when you learn new things, your brain gets stronger.

You can give your brain a good workout by trying to learn lots of new things."

Isn't that awesome?

"Like an elastic band that stretches when you pull them, even things that are hard at first or that you don't like to do, or that you don't do very well, get easier if you keep trying."

So, you know, what I love about that is it's a great thing for you to remember.

You might not like to, maybe reading is hard for you, or maybe writing is hard for you, or maybe you don't like to do it, but if you keep doing it and keep trying, you are going to get better and better and better, because your brain will learn how to do those things that feel kind of hard.

So I want you to remember that the next time you're trying to do something that maybe you don't really like or don't want to do, or maybe it's hard for you, or maybe you just want to give up, I want you to say, no, I'm going to stick with it, because I want you to learn as much as you can.

"Even when you make a mistake while you're learning something new, you're still training your brain.

You will remember that mistake, and try something else until you get it right.

Making mistakes is one of the best ways that your brain learns and grows."

Wow, did you know that?

Mistakes are important for learning.

If you aren't making mistakes, you're probably not learning anything.

So, go ahead and make mistakes, it's okay, and then your brain remembers that mistake and you can try something new.

"If you aren't willing to risk being wrong, you won't take the chances that stretch your beautiful elastic brain.

You can stretch the part of your brain that controls your feelings too.

If you're frightened about taking a risk, like learning to swim, finding the courage to put your face under the water stretches your amygdala, and it will help you to overcome your fear, so you will be braver the next time something scares you, like diving into the water.

So that's an important thing to remember, that if you can be brave, even when you're afraid to try something new, it helps to stretch your brain.

Learning something new causes the brain to grow and make connections.

When more connections are made, they can send and receive more signals and messages, and these connections help to stretch a part of your brain and make it more elastic, so that it can hold on to new and more ideas."

Isn't that amazing?

"When you learn something new, you're building on what you already learned.

In the same way that your muscles in your body work together when you want to lift a heavy object or kick a ball, the different parts of your brain work together when you're learning something new.

The brain that makes you really is an amazing organ.

It controls what you think, what you do, what you feel, and what you remember.

Your brain is growing very fast in the first 10 years of your life."

If you're only five, your brain is still growing five more years.

"When you try hard to learn something new, connections grow in your brain, and then your brain can send messages faster, making your brain bigger and stronger.

Making mistakes helps you learn, because your brain keeps trying new things and stretching.

You are shaping a more elastic brain when you learn new things that build on what you already know."

So, when you learned all the letters and sounds of the alphabet, you helped your brain to grow, and now we're going to put those letters and sounds together to make words and read, and guess what?

You're going to use the letter sounds you learned to learn how to read, and that is going to make your brain grow even more.

Aren't you so amazed at your elastic brain?

I want you to grow and read and get more strength building in your brain.

All right, this says, my little poster here says, "The brain is like a muscle.

Your brain gets stronger when you embrace challenges."

I hope that you will embrace challenges, and try to learn something new every day.

See you next week.

Bye-bye.