(cheerful music) ♪ It's Monday, a new day ♪ ♪ And time for learning fun ♪ ♪ We'll read books and sing songs ♪ ♪ Learn letters one by one ♪ ♪ And when our time is at an end ♪ ♪ Our brain will be much stronger, friend ♪ ♪ So come along, let's take a seat ♪ ♪ I have a new friend I'd like you to meet ♪ - So good morning, little learners.

My name is Mrs. Lara.

Can you tell me your name?

Our new friend today is actually one we've met before.

Her name is Ms. Maria.

Can you say hi to Ms. Maria?

She's our mail person.

She's the one that delivers all of our letters to us here at the studio.

So I hope you're having a wonderful Monday.

We have so much to do today.

We're gonna learn about a train this week and about the word perseverance.

So let's get started and I'll tell you what we're going to do.

So we're going to read a mystery book that's in my box, and then we're gonna work on retelling the story.

After that, we're going to have a project that we're going to do together, where you can play and read the book on your own when you're at home.

Does that sound like a good plan?

I hope so.

Right now, I think I hear.

(doorbell rings) Ooh, it's the door.

I think I have our letter here, so let me grab that here.

And it, of course, says, "Dear Mrs.

Lara."

And we need to read our letter, right?

Because that's what all of our letters do, they help us read.

Do you remember where we start when we read?

We start on the left and we slide to the right.

So let's do our song to help us remember.

♪ This is the left ♪ (Mrs. Lara finger snapping) ♪ This is the right ♪ (Mrs. Lara finger snapping) ♪ When we read, we start at the left and go to the right ♪ (Mrs. Lara finger snapping) It says, "Dear Mrs. Lara, have I got a story for you!

Have you ever heard of perseverance?"

Oh, have you ever heard of that word?

That's a long word, isn't it?

"So many good things can happen when you believe you can do something.

Love, our little engine."

I bet that's a clue about the book we're going to read later.

So that word, perseverance.

I bet if you haven't heard about it, you've done it before.

And I think Ms. Maria left a book in here that's gonna help explain what it is.

So, our book is called "A Little Spot Of Perseverance, A Story About Not Giving Up".

It was written and illustrated by Diane Alber.

That means that she wrote the words and drew all the pictures.

Now I want you to look at the front cover, there's a little spot here and it looks so excited.

Do you see that?

Let's see what this book is going to be about.

All right.

"Hi, I'm a little spot of perseverance.

I'm here to help you in tough situations."

So there's a little spot crossing the finish line.

And as you can see, he's sweating and he's tired.

"What does perseverance mean?"

Such a fancy word.

"Perseverance is when you do your best and keep trying when things get hard.

It also helps you finish things when you start."

So look, he's smiling now, after he crossed the finish line.

"Every time you persevere in a challenging situation, your perseverance spot grows.

The bigger your perseverance spot gets, the easier it will be to keep trying when you don't see success right away.

Sometimes it just takes time and practice to get something right."

Has that ever happened to you, where you try something one time and it doesn't work out, but then you keep going and going, and then all of a sudden, you're better and better at it?

I think that's when your perseverance spot grows.

"Practice can help grow your perseverance spot."

See, I told you.

"Believing in yourself is sometimes all you need to accomplish what you're trying to do.

Use positive self-talk to tell yourself, you can.

I can do this, I can do this.

Confidence can help grow your perseverance spot.

Confidence is believing in yourself.

I can do this, I did it.

Try to imagine yourself accomplishing the task before you start, this can help give you the mindset you need to succeed."

So right before you're about to do something really hard, imagine in your brain that you're about to do it and that you're going to be successful and do it well.

"Optimism can help grow your perseverance spot."

Another fancy word.

Optimism just means that you're gonna look at things in a positive way.

You're gonna see that they're gonna be okay in the end.

"Sometimes when you try something new and it doesn't turn out like you expected, it can scare you.

But getting back up and trying again will give you the chance to be victorious."

That means to win, to feel accomplished.

"Courage can help grow your perseverance spot too.

You can quickly become overwhelmed with frustration if you think you've lost something.

Try calming down to get your angry spot and retracing your steps."

So look, I can't find my unicorn.

She's so sad, oh.

She got an angry spot.

But if she calms down, that's gonna shrink.

"And being peaceful can help grow your perseverance spot too.

Success isn't always instant, it can often take a few attempts to make something work.

You might need to think outside the box to accomplish your goal.

Why is the cardboard getting so wet, what can I add?

Look, so he's trying to make a boat and he's floating cardboard in water and it's just seeking.

Oh, no.

"Creativity can help grow your perseverance spot too."

We love to be creative here.

"And listening to feedback is an excellent opportunity to find out what you can improve on.

Also, this will give you a better chance when you try again."

So look at this little boy, he has a perseverance spot, and he's trying out for the basketball team and his coach is gonna tell him some bad news.

Listen.

"I'm sorry, you didn't make the team.

If you work on dribbling, it will help you for next year."

So, do you think that boy is gonna give up?

Goodness, no.

He's gonna take that feedback or something that someone told him that's helpful and use it to practice his dribbling so he can try again next year.

All right.

Look, he even found a friend that says, "I can help you practice."

He says, "Thank you."

"Teamwork can also help grow your perseverance spot.

Even if you are talented at something, it can still require training to get better."

Look, this is his first try, second try, and by his sixth try, he finally is able to make the fruit in the bowl just like he likes it.

And here they are, the boy and his friend playing a game.

They're playing chess.

And look, his friend won by saying checkmate.

"It's hard to try again after you lose.

Try looking at every loss as an opportunity to learn.

Remember, a positive mindset can help you grow your perseverance spot.

So the next time you feel like giving up, remember all the ways you can grow your perseverance spot."

The end.

Boys and girls, I hope that you have a great, big perseverance spot right next to you, so that when you do hard things, you feel like you're going to be successful.

Now, right now, I wanna share a video story with you about a little engine that had a great big perseverance spot too and he could do hard things.

So let's watch our video story together.

(cheerful music) It's storytime.

"My Little Engine That Could" by Watty Piper.

Retold by Mrs. Lara.

(train whistling) "A little train rumbled over the tracks.

She was a happy little train for she had a jolly load to carry, full of good things for the boys and girls across the mountain.

(train rumbles) The little train was carrying all kinds of toys, dolls, airplanes, picture books, puzzles, a little clown, tops.

Anything a little boy or a little girl could want.

But that was not all.

Some of the cars were filled with good things for boys and girls to eat, like apples and oranges, milk for breakfast, and lollipops for after dinner.

She puffed along merrily until suddenly she stopped.

Her wheels wouldn't turn, she couldn't go another inch.

What would the boys and girls on the other side of the mountain do?

Along came a shiny new engine.

The little train decided to ask for help.

'Please, shiny new engine, will you help pull me across the mountain?

My engine has broken down.'

'Me?

Pull you?

Huh,' snorted the shiny engine.

'I just pulled a passenger train with more cars than you dream of.

I?

Pull the likes of you?

Indeed not.'

(train whistles) How sad the little train felt.

Then, along came a big strong engine.

The little train asked, 'Please, oh please, big engine, won't you take me across the mountain to deliver these goodies to the boys and girls waiting for me there?'

(train whistles) 'I'm a very important engine and I have just pulled a big train with machines on it.

Me?

Pull the likes of you?

Indeed not.'

Along came another train, this one looked old and tired.

'Perhaps he can help me,' thought the little train.

'Please, kind engine, won't you help me go for the mountain?

I have broken down.'

The rusty old engine said, 'I am too tired, I must rest my weary wheels.

I cannot, I cannot, I cannot, I cannot.'

Just as the little train was giving up hope, another engine appeared.

'What's the matter, my friends?'

This engine asked kindly.

'Please, please help me,' said the little train to the little blue engine.

'I need to get across the mountain.'

'I'm not very big and I've never been across the mountain but I think I can.'

And with that, the little blue engine hitched herself to the little train.

(train whistles) She pulled and tugged, and tugged and pulled, and slowly they started off.

(train whistling) Puff, puff, chuck, chuck, went the little blue engine.

'I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.'

Up, up, they went faster and faster.

'I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.'

Until they made it across the mountain and the good little boys and the good little girls in the city were happy that they received all their goodies.

(kids cheering) The little train thanked the little blue engine, and as the little blue engine was leaving, she thought she heard her say, 'I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could.'"

(train whistles) The end.

(cheerful music) So, what did you think of that story of "The Little Engine That Could"?

That little engine had a huge perseverance spot, didn't it?

And it got up the mountain.

Now, right now, what I'd like us to do is retell that video story.

Now, retelling means that you tell the events in the story in the order that they happened.

And I have a little song to help us remember.

Are you ready?

It goes like this.

♪ When I retell book to a teacher or a friend ♪ ♪ I tell the beginning and the middle and the end ♪ ♪ First, next, last are the words that help me out ♪ ♪ When I read my favorite book, I tell what it's about ♪ And I have my friend here, the little engine, that's gonna help us retell the story.

So here we go.

So once upon a time there was a little engine.

And what happened with the little engine?

It had all these goodies in the back that it was trying to carry to the good boys and girls across the mountain, right?

So there it goes.

Chooku, chooku, chooku, chooku, choo, choo.

But when it was climbing up the mountain, what happened to its engine?

Oh no, its engine broke down.

So then, it had to wait for another engine to help carry it across the mountain or the boys and girls would not get their treats.

So the first thing it came across was a shiny new engine.

Now, did that shiny new engine help the little engine that could?

No, he said, "me?

Help you?

Indeed not."

So the little engine was distraught or sad.

The next kind of engine that it came across was a big, strong engine.

And he said.

Oh, the little engine said, "please, help me.

I need to get across the mountain."

But what did the big strong engine say?

"Me?

Help you?

Goodness, not."

So then he was stuck, came across yet another engine, but this one was old and he said, "Please, help me get across the mountain."

But the old engine said, "My wheels are weary, I don't think I can help you."

Oh no, the little engine was so lost until it came across a little blue engine that thought it could.

And the little blue engine said, "Mmm, I think I can help you."

And he kept saying, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."

Hitched the little engine to it and then up they went to the mountain, and all the good boys and girls got all of their treats because the little engine thought that it could.

So I hope that you enjoyed that story and retelling it.

There are a lots more books and stories to check out about perseverance at your local library and on the Sora app.

Now, I always like to leave you with a little takeaway, a little project that you can do at home that'll help extend the story.

So we're gonna move over to our project place to get started.

So here we go.

So the materials that you're going to need for this project are two pieces of paper like these, a glue stick, an old kind of napkin holder where the paper napkins come out of, a pencil, a marker, scissors and some crayons.

It seems like a lot of stuff, but I promise you probably have most of this at home.

So let me show you what we're going to make.

We're going to make this little train.

Choo-choo.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

See, you can actually play with it and make it as long or as short as you'd like.

So the first thing that we're going to do to make the paper extra sturdy, because you see it has to stand up.

Let's glue two sheets of paper together, just regular paper that you might have.

You might even have printer paper at home that you can use.

You can also use cardboard, or if you have that fancy thick paper cardstock, I figured some of you might not have that at home so I tried this technique.

You can use foam, different things, anything that would stand up.

So here's me gluing.

And notice I'm not pressing down super hard.

I'm just glued one side.

I think that's what I'm gonna need.

And I'm making a glue sandwich, putting two things together like this and smoothing it out.

You can even use the cap to kind of smooth it out as you'd like.

There we go.

Once that step is done, you get to draw your train.

And as you can see right here, I drew it kind of fancy using different shapes.

So if you want to make this one, I'll show you what I did here.

So the first thing I did, I'm gonna have to do it here, is I put it to the bottom like this.

And I knew it was gonna be like this shape and I'll actually do it with a marker so you can see it a little better.

So I knew this was the bottom of my train here.

And then I made kind of like a little I shape where it goes in and out and over, out like this.

So it looks like the letter I, doesn't it?

Is that your special letter?

I'll show you in just a minute here how it looks frontways, see?

And then, what I did was bring the line out and then make a little V shape over here, go down and over.

So this is what it's looking like so far.

I'll show you in just a minute here.

And you do not have to make it like this, you can make it however you like.

You can just make it a rectangle and add any details after.

Next thing I'm gonna do is cut it out.

My favorite part.

SO thumb, two fingers at the bottom, scissors in front of you, and using your helper hand to hold the paper as you cut.

Oh, this is a lot of curves and shapes to kind of cut.

All right, you go around, here we go.

Cut my letter I down.

I don't throw that paper away.

Good for scraps and what we're going to do next.

All right.

So it goes like this.

And as soon as I cut it out, I can show you how I made the wheels.

I colored it and added a little bit of color like I said, to make it colorful.

We can't leave things plain here.

No, no, no.

We got to make them bright.

Okay, so here it is.

I'm noticing I forgot my little window, I'll put that here.

The next thing I did to make my train here is I used some crayons to color it in.

Shall I use orange?

Okay.

Now when I'm coloring, I actually don't press too hard because you know what happens when you press too hard, right?

If you've ever colored and you're pressing to hard, your crayon will break.

And don't throw them away if they break, that hurts their feelings.

Keep them in a box.

They're still good, they're useful, they just look different than all the other crayons and that's okay.

Oh, here I go, coloring it in.

And, of course, I'm super fast, but you can take your time and pick different colors.

A rainbow train would be nice.

Ooh, a cow train with black spots, or like a ninja train.

All right, here it's what it's looking like.

I'm gonna color in my window here.

Purple.

Do you like the color purple?

Not too many things are purple.

I can only think grapes.

Grape juice.

All right, here we go.

That's the bottom of my train, see?

Now we're going to make the wheels.

So what I'm going to do is take my paper towel roll and I'm gonna cut some pieces out.

I'll show you.

About one inch in length.

Now, this part, boys and girls, you might have a grown-up help you with 'cause it does have to be a certain kind of way to make it stand up.

But you can do the cutting of the paper towel.

Next thing, what you're gonna do is take your scissors, or if you're a grown-up, you can use a knife too, that helps, and kind of score the edge like this 'cause what we want is to create a slot for our train to go through.

I think like this, right?

Yes.

(Mrs. Lara chuckles) And then we're gonna make a little incision or cut.

Ooh, incision is the term that the doctors use when they're performing surgery.

It feels like I'm performing surgery too.

All right, I kind of cut it out.

When you use a knife, it actually works a little bit better.

Make it a little deeper here, so it can stick up.

Here we go.

Have I done it the right way?

I think I have.

And then you're gonna insert it into the slot.

So there's wheel number one.

Let's get the next wheel going.

And as I'm doing that, I can tell you what you can bring tomorrow if you wanna follow along with me.

So tomorrow, we're gonna read "The Little Engine That Could" live here in the studio.

So if you have a copy, get it ready and you can read along with me.

We're also gonna be making a name train craft.

So you're gonna need some colored paper, glue, a little bit of tissue paper, and your scissors.

And we're gonna make our name in a train.

Sounds like fun, huh?

Okay, here's the next wheel I'm gonna put on.

And there you go, you can color in your wheels.

Ah-ha, there it is.

And of course, what I did here is add a little back to it.

And of course, you can make it as long or as short as you like, and pretend you go around, choo-choo.

Choo-choo.

And what I thought about doing since it's two pieces kind of sandwiched together, is leave a little slot where you can put things on Popsicle sticks to be your passengers.

So I hope that you give this project a try.

I think it's really fun, and it goes along with our book, "The Little Engine That Could".

All right, boys and girls, looks like it's time for us to say goodbye.

So I hope to see you again tomorrow.

Mrs. Lara sends you a big squeeze and a big smudge, and reminds you to read, to play, and to use your imagination and five senses to be a scientist every single day.

Come back tomorrow for our reading fun.

Goodbye.

(cheerful music)