(upbeat music) - [All] Good morning, Super Readers.

- Thank you for joining us in our Valley PBS classroom.

I'm Mrs. Nix.

- I'm Mrs. Hammack.

- And I'm Mrs. Vang.

- This is a place for us to learn, practice and-- - [All] Grow our brains.

- To become even stronger readers, writers and thinkers.

So let's get started by warming up our brains with some-- - Ear training.

- Called-- - [All] Daily phonemic awareness.

- All right, Super Readers, here's what we're gonna do today.

And I know that we've been working on some of those three letter blends.

And so now, we're gonna take some of those words and we're gonna stretch them out and segment them and see if we can hear all of those different sounds in words, okay?

So, turn on those listening ears, get 'em up nice and loud.

- All right.

- Let's start with that first word.

Yeah, stretch it like a rubber band.

Let's stretch out the word strap.

- [All] Strap.

- So listen to all the sounds.

- [All] Strap.

- Oh.

- Ooh.

- [All] Strap.

- Ooh.

- Wow.

- That's a lot.

- That is.

- Strap.

How many sounds did you hear?

- Wow.

Can I count them?

- I thought I heard a lot.

- I heard five cos I was counting.

- Okay.

- [All] Strap.

Five.

- Sounds.

Great job.

How about this one?

Thrill, thrill.

Okay, so stretch it out.

- [All] Thrill.

Thrill.

- Thrill.

- Oh, yep.

- That was a tricky one.

I got four.

Did you guys have four?

- Yep, I got four too.

- All right.

- All right.

How about this last one?

Scream.

(screaming) Let's do scream.

How many sounds do we hear?

- [All] Scream.

- Mmh, et's count 'em.

- [All] Scream.

- Scream.

- I have five.

- It's five.

- That is a lot of sounds.

- A lot of sounds.

- Wow.

- We're getting so good and so are you, Super Readers.

So great job.

Hang in with us.

Practice that all the time.

Take a word, have your parents or your guardians or whoever that you're with; a babysitter, an older brother or sister, have them give you a word and you can practice stretching it out and see how many sounds you can hear.

- Right, that really helps to train your ears so that when you are writing, you can break it apart, every sound and you won't miss any of the sounds.

- Absolutely.

All right, you know what else that you don't wanna miss out on?

(Mrs. Hammack laughing) - Might have something to do with jumping.

- I think so.

Let's dance, right?

Let's do some jumping.

So make sure you've got some space.

- Okay.

- This one's a good one.

(upbeat music) Okay.

- We're gonna warm up our bodies, warm up our bodies.

♪ Johnny likes to jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Johnny likes to jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Johnny likes to jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Johnny likes to jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Everybody jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Everybody jump, yeah ♪ ♪ Johnny likes to jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Johnny likes to jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Johnny likes to jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Johnny likes to jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Everybody jump, jump, jump ♪ ♪ Everybody jump ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ - Yeah.

(laughing) - I gotta work on that ending pose.

- We'll figure it out by the end of the week.

- Oh, all right.

I am definitely awake and it's time for us to get to our three letter blends and I'll see you guys later.

- Okay, we'll see ya.

- All right, Super Readers, come with me over to our Word Work board where I have the three letter blends that we're gonna be working on all week long.

So three letter blends are really just like two letter blends.

We put those sounds together really quickly.

For three letters, sometimes it's really hard to hear all three letters.

That middle letter sometimes gets a little lost.

So that's why we are practicing in our phonemic awareness, and also when we're blending.

So let's call our friends to help us and we can get started.

Hey guys, I need your help.

Can you come help us?

- Ooh, yes coming by.

- Oh, look at you.

Good jumping, Ricky.

- I'm ready.

(laughing) - You are ready.

That is awesome.

All right, so we're working on our three letter blends and I would like you to review what we did yesterday, and then we'll blend some words.

And then today, today I have an extra challenge.

I'm gonna have you help me build some words.

Are you up for it?

- We can do it.

- I don't know.

That sounds like it might be really, really hard.

- All right, I think you might surprise yourself.

You have a lot of great reading skills.

- Tina, we can do hard things.

- You can do hard things, absolutely.

- We've got this, Mrs. Hammack, we've got it.

- You do.

All right, let's start with some review though.

We have S-C-R says scr.

You try it.

- [Tina and Ricky] S-C-R says scr.

- Very nice.

S-P-R says spr, spr.

- [Tina and Ricky] S-P-R says spr.

- Good, like as in spring.

- Spring.

- Then S-P-L is spl.

You try it.

- [Tina and Ricky] S-P-L says spl.

- Good like in splash.

- Splash.

- Splash.

- S-H-R says shr, shr.

- [Tina and Ricky] S-H-R says shr.

- Very nice.

S-T-R says str.

- [Tina and Ricky] S-T-R says str.

- As in stripe.

- Stripe.

- Stripe.

- Very good.

And then T-H-R says thr, as in throne.

- [Tina and Ricky] T-H-R says thr as in throne.

- Very nice.

All right, so I have four words for us to blend before we start some building.

Are you ready to try it?

- Yes.

- All right, let's take a look at the word, think about what you see here and let's start here at the beginning.

Here we go.

- [All] Scream.

Scream.

- Scream.

- Excellent.

All right, you ready for the next one?

All right, here we go.

- [All] Spray Spray.

- Spray, good job.

- Spray.

- Very nice.

All right, I put one in that we did yesterday just to kind of be familiar, so let's try it.

- [All] Split.

Split.

- Very nice.

- I don't know split - Ooh, that sounds really tasty.

Let's try this one.

- [All] Stroke.

Stroke.

- Very nice.

Like I was in the pool doing the butterfly stroke.

That's like a swimming stroke, right?

Okay, are you ready to build?

- Okay, let's try it.

- Okay.

- I'm still a little nervous.

- Oh, I think you've got it, I think you've got it.

All right, I'll start a little bit easy and then get a little bit harder, not too much though.

- Okay.

- Let's try to build the word scrap, scrap.

So which three letter blend do you think we should use?

- Okay, this one's kind of easy so I'm feeling good.

- Okay.

- Okay, it's gonna be the S-C-R 'cause that one has the scr.

- Scr, very nice.

All right, there's scr.

Now we need the last part of the word.

- Ap, ap.

So A-P. - Absolutely correct.

Scr, a, and then we have P. - [Mrs. Hammack And Tina] Scrap.

- Very nice.

- That wasn't as hard as I thought.

- I told you you could do it.

Alright.

- You've got it, Tina.

- Are you ready for the next one?

- Mm hmm.

- Here we go.

Scratch, scratch.

Hmm, what do you think?

- Okay, I still hear the scr.

- Yes, very nice.

- S-C-R. - You are right.

- And then I hear the scr, that's the a.

- You're right.

- And the scratch, and I know that's a diagram, but you know what Mrs. Hammack?

- Tell me.

- I remember because the a is a, a which is short vowel, because I remember it's a T-C-H. - You are right.

- I remember.

- You're sweet, Ricky.

I thought I could trick you with that.

You have learned so much because that short vowel and that tch is at that the end of the word.

- I'm excited 'cause I saw the word in my head, and I read it as a, so I need a T-C-H, not just C-H.

I remember and guess what Mrs. Hammack?

- Tell me.

- I was looking at the cheese car behind you.

- Oh, see how you're using your resources.

That's excellent.

And you know what?

Ricky, I am so proud that you used that visualized strategy that we learned about comprehension because you visualized or you saw the word in your head and that's exactly what good readers do.

So great job.

All right, I have one last word, okay.

You might need to work together on this one.

Here we go.

Scroll, scroll.

Now, let me tell you a little bit about this word.

Sometimes when somebody writes like really sloppy, we say they put their scroll on the paper.

It's just kind of like a scribble.

So what do you think we need to build the word scroll?

- Well, I still hear the S-C-R, scr, scr.

And Ricky, what do you think with the-- - You know what it made me think, Tina?

- Like crawl?

- I was thinking there was crawl, and I know how to spell crawl because that had the aw sound.

I know we learned that a couple weeks ago which is the A-W or the A-U.

- I was thinking the same thing.

- So I think it's the aw that says aw and then scrawl.

I hear that.

Do you hear it?

- I hear it.

There's an L at the end.

- Oh, good listening.

Wow.

You are really training your ears for sound.

And you're right.

Look, if I take off that S, it does say-- - [All] Crawl.

- See, I saw it right there.

- Excellent job, scrawl.

Now, did you notice that even though all three of our words had the scr, scr sound, there was not an S-K-R. Did you notice that?

- No, there wasn't one.

- No.

So that's kind of a little bit of a hint for you.

When you're using three letter blends, there's not an S-K-R.

So that might help you as you're trying to determine which three letter blend it is.

Now, we cannot say that about two letter blends, but we can with our three letter blends.

This is the only three letter blend that makes that scr sound.

- That's great tip.

- That's really good to know.

Thanks for sharing.

- You always give us the greatest tips, Mrs. Hammack.

- I try to come up with things that will be helpful for you and I hope that that helps.

Great reading today, friends.

I'm gonna let you guys go, and the Super Readers and I are gonna read our sentence and I'll see you guys later.

- Okay, we'll see.

- Maybe we can have one of those bananas splits.

- Ooh, that sounds great.

I'll see you.

- Bye bye.

- All right, bye.

All right, Super Readers, here is our sentence.

We stroll by the shrubs in the spring.

Did you see that S-T-R, stroll and S-H-R, shrubs and S-P-R for spring?

Wow, you are learning such hard things, but you make it look so easy.

You know what else can you always make look easy?

Learning your high frequency words.

Let's go see Mrs. Nix and find out what she has for us today.

- Thanks so much Mrs. Hammack, and yes, we're gonna continue working on our high frequency words.

Those words we see often in our reading and we should be using them in our writing every once in a while too, right?

So it's important for us to be able to both read and write them.

Okay, let's look at today's word or let's read all of them first.

Here we go.

Push, front, heard before, your and tomorrow.

Today, I want us to look at the word front.

Spell it with me.

F-R-O-N-T. Great job.

Now, what does this word look like in a sentence?

Well, let's check out our sentence.

I helped dad paint the door.

Let's try it.

I helped dad paint the front door.

Great job.

Okay.

Now, we've talked about Whack-a-Word a few times before.

So up here, I have my Whack-a-Word, and I have some new little whackers and these are just some little, what do we call these?

They're like little puffballs and then they're glued on a little skewer.

So again, you can make some really, really inexpensive, very fun things to do even at home.

So I've got a big, giant chart, but look, today, I also have a little tiny chart.

So maybe if I'm practicing in my bedroom, I could do it just on here.

So how would we do front?

Well, we're gonna look.

F-R-O-N-T, just like that, or on the big chart, F-R-O-N-T just like that.

Lots of fun.

I hope that you have fun practicing your high frequency words.

Now, I'm gonna turn it over to a story, and then Mrs. Vang is gonna come out and help us with some comprehension.

We'll see you back here in just a minute.

"A Spring Birthday."

(upbeat music) May was a happy time for Marco.

It was his birthday month.

"Can I have a party this year?"

He asked.

"Then my friends can celebrate with me."

"It's our family tradition to have a birthday dinner," said Gram.

"Your friends can join us.

"I will make empanadas for everyone."

"Nobody makes better empanadas, Gram," Marco said.

"But it would be fun to do something new this year."

"How about a picnic?"

Dad asked.

"I heard about a nice spot in the park on Elm Street.

"It's in front of the ball field.

"We can push the tables together."

"That sounds like fun," said Marco.

"We can have hotdogs, burgers and Gram's empanadas."

At last, it was the morning of Marco's birthday.

He opened his eyes.

He saw mom and dad and Gram.

They were singing the Mexican birthday song, "Las Mananitas."

Marco sprung out of bed.

He could not wait for his party.

Mom and dad went shopping before the party.

First, they got a baseball mitt for Marco, then they bought a birthday cake and a pinata.

Everyone met at the picnic spot.

"Happy birthday, Feliz cumpleanos, Marco," they shouted.

Mom hung the pinata, dad spread out the food.

There were hotdogs, burgers and yummy empanadas.

After lunch, the children took turns striking the pinata.

Each one swung three times.

The pinata was difficult to hit.

At last, it split open.

The kids shrieked and scrambled for the treats.

Next Marco opened his gifts.

When he saw the baseball mitt, he cried.

"Thank you, this is just what I wanted.

"I can use it in the game tomorrow."

When it was time for the cake, Marco's family sang the Mexican birthday song again, Marco's friends hummed along.

Then mom taught them the words so they could sing it too.

"This is the best birthday party I've ever had," Marco said.

"Can we do this again next year?"

"Sure," said, Gram.

"It's fun to mix the old with the new.

"A spring picnic can be your birthday tradition."

- Did you enjoy that story?

I did.

I know I enjoy all of our stories, but today we're gonna be working with theme.

Now we've worked with this before.

All right, remember, the theme of a story is the message that the author wants to tell the reader.

So in order to find the theme, we need to find clues in the story to think of the theme of the story.

So what I did here was I put two pages up here and I thought we could read these pages again and then come up with some theme or some clues on the page or on these two pages so that we can come up with a theme.

How about that?

Okay.

So in order for us to read, they said we should call Reader.

Reader, can you come read with us?

That was a great idea.

I heard you guys.

(Reader barking) There's Reader.

Hello, Reader.

Reader, can you help us read this page?

- Oh, I can 'cause I love to read.

- You do.

- That's my name, Reader.

- I see that.

- Okay, are you ready?

- Okay, you ready?

- Yap.

All right, next, Marco opened his gifts.

When he saw the baseball mitt, he cried, "Thank you, this is just what I wanted.

"I could use it in the game tomorrow."

When it was time for cake, Marco's family sang the Mexican birthday song again.

Marco's friends hummed along.

Then mom taught them the words so they could sing it too.

"This is the best birthday party I've ever had," Marco said.

"Could we do this again next year?"

"Sure," said Gram.

"It's fun to mix old with the new.

"A spring picnic can be your birthday tradition."

- Oh, great job reading, Reader.

- Thank you.

- Oh, you did such a great job reading.

Okay, so as Reader was reading, did you pick up on those clues?

What was the first clue?

So the first clue was, remember?

For Marco's birthday, what did they do?

They sang it traditional Mexican birthday song.

Did you see that?

But then, I'm looking at the picture.

Guess what else I see there.

They had a birthday cake.

- I like cake.

- And then at the end, they decided they would have a spring picnic as a new birthday tradition.

- That sounds like a great idea to me.

- So what's the theme?

The theme is-- - You can put old and new traditions together.

- That's right.

So that's the theme of our story.

We can blend the old tradition and the new tradition and have a new tradition.

- Ooh, I like it.

- Good job, Reader.

Hey Reader, why can't you go and tell Writing you wanna get your pencil and help us?

- Oh yes, I do.

I'll be right back.

- Okay, I'll see you in a minute.

- Okay - Okay, Super Readers.

Now get those pencils out and paper and let's read our writing prompt for today.

It says, write a letter from Marco to his parents explaining why he wants to start a new tradition.

Describe what the new tradition might be.

So today, we are writing a letter.

We're gonna pretend we're Marco and we're writing to his parents and we need to tell his parents of a new tradition that he wants to start.

So are you ready?

Okay, I'm gonna start with dear mom and dad 'cause that's the greeting, right?

It was fun to combine old things and new things for my birthday.

Now, what do you think his new tradition can be?

Do you thinking an idea?

Oh, I see my friends coming.

They have their sentences for me.

Hello friends.

- Hello Mrs. Vang.

- I have an idea.

- Do you have an idea for me?

Okay.

- What if we said, I think we should start a new tradition with singing a different birthday song.

- Oh, I love that.

Will that be a great tradition to start?

- Yeah, I love it.

- So I think we should start a new tradition with singing a different birthday songs.

I like that.

Now, what else can we add?

What other details?

- Well, we could make up a song with the name of the birthday person in it.

- Oh, I like how you are describing what the new tradition is.

We can make up a song with the name of the birthday, oh, thank you, Reader.

- You're welcome.

- Person in it.

Now are we done?

We're not quite done.

I want you guys to think of another detail.

What else can we do?

And don't forget to close it with love.

And then who was the letter from?

Marco.

- Marco.

- Don't forget.

And I can't wait to see your writing but let's go to a friend 'cause a friend has a book they wanna share with us.

Good morning, Super Reader.

This is Mrs. Vang and I have another book I wanna share with you guys.

This is a book called "Come On, Rain!"

by Karen Hesse illustrated by Jon Muth.

Now, have you ever been sitting in a hot, hot day wishing like you can have rain, just wishing?

Well, in this story, the character Tessie and her friends are wishing for rain because it's such a all day.

And guess what they keep saying?

They keep saying, "Come on, rain."

And you know what?

It finally rains, let little droplets and guess what?

Her and her friends get to go and play outside in the rain.

Do you like to go outside and play when it's rain?

Oh, I do.

I love playing in the rain, but that's not it.

At the end, do you know who joins them in playing in the rain?

Well, I'm not gonna tell you.

You have to read and find out who comes and joins them when they're playing outside.

So if you wanna check out this book, you can check at your school library or you can check it out on Sora.

I hope you guys read it.

Tell me how you like it.

Thanks for watching Valley PBS.

Bye bye.

- Hey, she looked familiar.

(Ricky brays) - Is that your cousin, Mrs. Vang?

(Mrs. Hammack laughs) She does.

I got my joke for you.

Okay, you ready?

What's one animal you'll always fine at a baseball game?

- Baseball.

- A bat, a bat.

You get a bat.

- Nice.

- Multiple meaning words.

Oh, you're so tricky.

Hey, you know what, Super Readers?

Thanks for hanging out with us today on Valley PBS.

We look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

Take care, enjoy a good book.

- Bye.

- Bye.

(upbeat music)