(upbeat music) - Hello, little learners!

Welcome back to our pre-K and TK classroom.

My name is Mrs. Lara, and I'm going to be your teacher today, hello!

Now I'd love for you to introduce yourself, because I'm going to try to guess your special letter.

So when I put my hand to my ear, you're gonna tell me your name as loud as you can, wherever you are.

Ready?

Here you go.

Ooh, I heard it way over here!

So let's see if I get your special letter right.

We're always gonna put our happy face on our top, because that's where our letters start.

So we're gonna start with a big line, and then we're gonna do a little curve.

Yes, we did that one yesterday, a P, but it's not a P. If you add another little curve, you'll get a B, that's right!

Is this your special letter?

It's your special letter if it's the first letter of your name, and you'll remember, the B makes a sound, it goes b.

♪ The B says b, the B says b ♪ ♪ Every letter makes a sound ♪ ♪ The B says b ♪ I'm gonna put this down because today is day two of the five days that we'll be together, and we're talking about Thanksgiving this week.

Thanksgiving is a time, if you'll remember, that we all get together and show our gratitude or thanks for everything that we have.

So I added one magnet on top, so I have one on top, one on the bottom, and one and one makes two, three days to go.

Now, I told you that on Thanksgiving, when people think Thanksgiving, they think turkey.

So I pulled out from the vault, the "Turkey Pokey," and that's the song we're going to do together.

So wherever you are, I need you to stand up nice and safe, because we're going to need to do the "Turkey Pokey."

And here are our turkey body parts.

We're gonna need our turkey wings, our drumsticks, which are our legs, our stuffing, which is our tummy, and then our wattle, which is our head.

Are you ready to do it with me?

Here we go.

♪ You put your right wing in ♪ ♪ You put your right wing out ♪ ♪ You put your right wing in ♪ ♪ And you shake it all about ♪ ♪ You do the Turkey Pokey and you turn yourself around ♪ ♪ That's what it's all about (claps) ♪ Get your drumsticks ready.

♪ You put your drumsticks in ♪ ♪ You put your drumsticks out ♪ ♪ You put your drumsticks in ♪ ♪ And you shake your drumsticks out ♪ ♪ You do the Turkey Pokey and you turn yourself around ♪ ♪ That's what it's all about (claps) ♪ Next we need our stuffing, which is our tummy.

♪ We put our stuffing in ♪ ♪ We put our stuffing out ♪ ♪ We put our stuffing in ♪ ♪ And we shake our stuffing out ♪ ♪ We do the Turkey Pokey and we turn ourselves around ♪ ♪ That's what it's all about (claps) ♪ Last one.

We need our wattle, which is our head.

♪ We put our wattle in ♪ ♪ We put our wattle out ♪ ♪ We put our wattle in ♪ ♪ And we shake our wattle out ♪ ♪ We do the Turkey Pokey and we turn ourselves around ♪ ♪ That's what it's all about (claps) ♪ Oh, wow, you were such good turkeys!

I loved watching you dance with me.

Right now I think it's time for Miss Maria's delivery, so let's see what she brought us today.

Here we go.

(bell chiming) There it is.

Here is our letter.

Read it with me.

It says, "Dear Mrs. Lara.

Yesterday, we learned that Thanksgiving isn't just about turkey."

And that's true.

It's not just about turkey, different families have different traditions and things that they do around this time of year.

Some eat turkey, some do not, but the most important part is being together, isn't it?

"Do you have any other books about togetherness that we can read?"

You know I do!

"I loved our last book!"

Oh, I did too!

"Our Table" is such a good book to read, and a good reminder to put away our devices, our phones, our computers, our video games, and spend time together when we can.

So I think Miss Maria brought another book about togetherness and sharing, which is what Thanksgiving is about, and it is called "Thank You, Omu!"

Right there, that's actually Nigerian for queen.

It is by Oge Mora.

Now, there are a couple of things that I want you to notice about this book before we read.

First is the artistic style of the illustrations.

They're collage style, and that's a sneak peek into the project that we're going to make.

And next, I want you to notice the characters in the story.

This is a great story for sequencing.

We're not gonna sequence together today, but if you go back and read it, make sure you practice that skill.

So "Thank You, Omu!"

Let's read our story.

Look at the beautiful pictures.

Now, you can tell they're all newspaper, different paintings, that the artist or illustrator has clipped up to make one big picture.

"On the corner of First Street and Long Street, on the very top floor, Omu was cooking a thick red stew in a big fat pot for a nice evening meal.

She seasoned and stirred it and took a small taste."

So there she is cooking her big red stew, and do you notice what's coming out of the stew?

Let's see if it tells us.

"'What a delicious stew,' Omu said.

'Tonight's dinner will surely be the best I have ever had!'"

That is an aroma.

It's a smell, and it's going out her window.

"With that, Omu put down her spoon and went to read a book before supper.

As the thick red stew simmered on the stove, its scrumptious scent wafted out the window and out the door, down the hall, toward the street and around the blocks until...

Knock, knock, knock!

Someone was at the door.

When Omu opened it, she saw..." Who do you think it is?

Look, there's the scent going through the city.

Do you notice this little guy here at the bottom?

I wonder if it's him.

"A little boy!

'Little boy!'

Omu exclaimed.

'What brings you to my home?'

'I was playing with my race car down the hall when I smelled the most delicious smell,' the little boy replied.

'What is it?'

'Thick red stew.

Thick red stew!'

'Mmm, stew,' he sighed.

'That sure sounds yummy!'"

Now, you'll remember, Omu was saving that stew for dinner.

Will she share?

"Omu thought for a moment.

She was saving her stew for dinner, but she had made quite a bit.

It would not hurt to share.

'Would you like some?'

she said.

The little boy nodded, and so Omu spooned some of the thick red stew in the big fat pot for her nice evening meal.

'Thank you, Omu!'

said the little boy, and off he went."

So there she is sharing.

Even though she didn't have a lot, she shared with the little boy.

"With that, Omu closed the door and went back to her book, and as she read, her thick red stew's scrumptious scent wafted out the window and out the door, down the hall, toward the street and around the block, until knock, knock!

Someone was at the door.

When Omu opened the door this time, she saw..." Do you see any clues about who she's gonna see?

Hmmm.

"A police officer!"

What would you do if a police officer came to your door and asked for some stew?

Oh, it says, "'Miss Police Officer!'

Omu exclaimed.

'What brings you to my house?'

'I was on duty down at the street when I smelled the most delicious smell!

What is it?'

'Thick red stew.'

'Ahh, stew,' she said, and her mouth watered.

'That sounds mighty tasty.'

Omu thought for a moment.

There was still enough to share.

'Would you like some?'

The police officer nodded.

Once again, Omu spooned some of the thick red stew from the big fat pot for her nice evening meal.

'Thank you, Omu!'

said the police officer.

And for the second time, Omu closed the door and went back to her book.

Sure enough, she read, and her thick, red, scrumptious stew, the smell of it wafted out the window and out the door, down the hall, toward the street and around the block, until knock, knock, knock!

Again, someone was at Omu's door.

This time when she opened it, she saw...

The hot dog vendor!

And the hot dog vendor said, 'I was selling my hot dogs down the block when I smelled the most delicious smell!

What is it?'

'Thick red stew,' Omu said.

'Stew?'

The vendor licked his lips.

(smacks lips) 'That sounds quite delectable.'

And Omu shared her thick red stew with the hot dog vendor.

'Thank you, Omu!'

The hot dog vendor said."

Look, there he is, smelling his stew.

"Throughout the day, people from all across the neighborhood knocked on Omu's door.

She fed a shop owner, a cab driver, a doctor, an actor, a lawyer, a dancer, a baker, an artist, a singer, an athlete, a bus driver, a construction worker.

Even the mayor stopped by!

And each time they knocked, Omu shared."

Now, I want you to think about what's going to happen when you share everything you have.

What are you left with?

Not a whole lot, huh?

Here's her empty pot.

Let's read.

"Soon, the sky darkened, the street lights brightened, and it was finally time for dinner.

But when Omu opened the big fat pot for thick red stew for her nice evening meal..." Oh no.

"It was empty!"

Look at her face, she's so sad.

"'There goes the best dinner I ever had.'

Sorry and blue, she sat at the table with her empty pot until...

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock!

'Who could that be?'

Omu wondered.

When she opened her door, she saw..." Now, I want you to make a prediction.

Who do you think this could be?

She doesn't have any more thick red stew left.

Who could be knocking at her door?

Let's see.

"The little boy?

The police officer?

The hot dog vendor?

The shop owner, the cab driver, the doctor, the actor, the lawyer, the dancer, the baker... Why, everyone she fed today was at her door.

Omu said, '(sighs) I'm sorry, everyone.

My thick red stew is all gone.

I have nothing left to share.'

The little boy tugged on Omu's sleeve.

'Don't worry, Omu.

We're not here to ask.

We're here to give.'

The police officer carried in a fresh salad.

The mayor entered with a roast chicken.

The baker brought a collection of sweet goodies.

Even the little boy presented Omu with something special in a shiny red envelope.

Everyone who had knocked on Omu's door that day squeezed inside her tiny apartment, and together they ate, danced, and celebrated.

While Omu's big fat pot of thick red stew was empty, her heart was full of happiness and love.

That dinner was the best she's ever had.

The end."

And look, here's a picture of the author.

So what did you think of the story, "Thank You, Omu!"

Isn't it a great story for teaching about sharing and giving?

I love this story for that reason.

I hope that you check it out at your local library or on the Sora app.

So of course, you'll be able to read stories too soon.

You just need a little practice.

So one of the things that is really great predictor of reading success is being able to take apart words into their sounds.

This is called syllables.

The sounds in a word are the chunks in a word, and today we're gonna break apart the sounds of different things from Thanksgiving, at least that remind me of Thanksgiving.

And I have some musical instruments here that will help us.

So let's do the first one, pumpkin, pumpkin.

Let's see, what instrument should I use?

Let's try this one.

Let's see if I say it.

Pumpkin.

Do you hear how many sounds?

Two, that's right.

So I'm gonna put the pumpkin in the two syllable category right here.

Let's try this one.

Potatoes.

Ready?

Potatoes, potatoes.

Potatoes.

Three syllables.

Let's put it over here with the number three.

Let me try a different instrument.

Ooh, how about my rhythm sticks?

That'd be really fun.

All right, let's do pie.

Ready?

Pie.

Oh, just one!

Pie, that goes in number one.

So pie has one syllable or chunk.

Let's do turkey.

Turkey.

That's two.

Turkey, two syllables.

Let's put it in with pumpkin right here.

How about this one?

Corn, corn, corn.

Just one.

We'll put it up here.

We have three more left.

Let me pick a different musical instrument here.

Oh, what shall I pick?

Maybe the maraca?

That'd be a lot of fun.

All right, let's do that one.

Ooh, this one is good.

It's cooking.

Let's see if you can help me break this into chunks.

Cooking.

What do you think?

Cooking.

Two?

We'll put it right here, and do you recognize this?

Oh, this is my favorite around Thanksgiving, all on top of mashed potatoes.

Gravy, yum.

Mushroom gravy's my favorite food.

Do you like mushroom gravy?

Let's try it.

Gravy, gravy.

Two syllables, that's right.

And the last one, way over there, that I'll grab a different instrument for, maybe these clappers, is acorn, let's see.

Acorn, acorn.

That's two.

Look at all of our different words have syllables.

As homework, I want you to take a look at your name and think about how many syllables your name has.

Well, right now at our project place, we're gonna continue to make our five little turkeys.

We made one yesterday using leaves, and today, we're gonna use some recycled materials to create a whole other turkey, and at the end of the week, we'll be able to sing our five little turkeys song.

So let's go over to our project place.

Let's see here.

For this activity, you will need some magazine pages.

Now, I cut them out like this, but you can actually just take a magazine and just have it with you.

What I love about magazines is you can practically get them for free.

Some people like to throw them away, and they have lots of different colors and patterns that we can use to create art.

You're going to need a piece of paper, I chose black paper because it really makes all other colors stand out.

You're going to need scissors and some glue, and those are the only materials you'll need to create something like this, a magazine collage turkey.

Turkey number two of five that we'll create.

Isn't it lovely?

I call him Tim, Tim the turkey.

So we'll make something like that.

So the first thing you'll need is to gather some magazine cutouts, like I mentioned, and I picked some that have interesting designs.

I think this is supposed to be soap, but I liked that it was dotted.

Then first thing you're gonna do is cut out some feather shapes.

Now, to make like a feather shape, it's almost like you're making a round triangle.

So look like that.

I'll show you just what it looks like.

Of course, your feathers can look any way you would like, but this is what mine looks like.

And then you're gonna glue it down.

I'll do it this way so you can see.

Now, part of this activity is layering.

Layering means you put things on top of each other, and you create different patterns and art using this layering technique.

So I'm gonna lay my first feather down, and I'm gonna do it kind of in a rainbow pattern like this.

So let's keep going.

I'm gonna pick out some more.

Ooh, do you see this one?

It has a really pretty rug kind of pattern, and I'm gonna cut that out and I'm gonna layer it or put it on top of my first feather.

So I cut out the piece, and I think I'm gonna make it a round shape like this.

I'm gonna cut it out and go round, but you can make it whatever shape you'd like.

You want it round or zigzag or square.

Let your imagination and the materials be your guide.

So here we go.

Here's kind of our first feather, and what it's looking like so far.

We're gonna keep going.

So I have some more patterns over here, and we'll do a feather out of this.

So I'll just keep going and cutting out my feather shapes.

Now, you don't have to use magazines for this activity.

You can use paper if you'd like, but like I mentioned, magazines will save you a lot of ink, because they are very colorful, and really, you can't find paper that looks like this practically for free.

If you need some good inexpensive magazines, you can actually go to the thrift stores in our area.

They will sell them for about a quarter each.

But you know, you might just ask somebody, "Hey, do you have any magazines that you're throwing out?

I want to make a turkey out of them."

(laughs) As one does.

All right, here's another piece of the feather.

I'm just cutting out whatever I see that I like different patterns.

So I'm gonna put this one on top.

Again, layering is just putting things on top of each other.

My turkey, for some reason, is coming out very blue.

And that happens sometimes.

Sometimes you get materials that are a certain color, and you just have to work with them.

Go with the flow.

And look, this is supposed to be some germs, but I thought it was a cool color.

Now it's a feather, a turkey feather.

Who knew?

Make germs into a turkey feather from magazines.

And keep going, layering and layering.

I'm gonna do a few more so I can show you the body.

Okay, so this is ice cubes again from a magazine, and I'm gonna do another turkey feather out of these.

I like the pink squares.

Do you like the color pink?

I like the color pink.

I think my friend who might be joining us has a favorite color that's blue, but I won't give the surprise away.

Okay, and I'm going to put the pink on top of the blue.

Let's see.

What do you think?

Do you like that pattern?

Looking pretty good so far, huh?

Another illustrator in a book that's really known for their collage is Eric Carle.

Do you remember him from "The Hungry Caterpillar," and "The Grouchy Ladybug"?

He does these huge murals and collages that are gigantic, and he prepares the paper and cuts them out into different collage pieces.

So probably we're being like our author in our book, "Thank You, Omu!"

and Eric Carle.

Two literary inspirations today.

Don't we feel fancy?

All right, adding more feathers, I'm gonna layer this on top.

And then after this last feather, I think we'll do the body so I can show you what that looks like here.

All right, let's do one more feather.

Ooh, look at this beautiful black and white pattern.

Gotta be a feather.

Gonna make it the large feather, and then I notice some more patterns down here.

Quick tip is the best magazines for using patterns and creating art are the home decor ones, 'cause they want to sell you all kinds of rugs and different things.

They have tons of patterns.

All right, so last one, and then I'll show you what the body's gonna look like.

And again, this is gonna take you a little longer.

You're not gonna go as fast as I am.

We have limited time together, but hopefully you go back and check out the episode at the Valley PBS website and on YouTube.

All right, what should I make for a body?

A turkey body's gotta be really creative.

I can go boring, I can go brown, but I think I'll go purple.

Purple turkey.

I'm gonna call him Disco Turkey.

(laughs) I'm gonna make a circle.

Take your time, take your time.

And this is gonna be the head of my turkey, and I'm gonna make another body, and maybe I'll use this pattern over here.

Ooh, this one looks good.

Okay, have just a little bit of time left, so I'll show you what it's gonna look like, and then the completed project.

So again, this is number two of five turkeys that we'll make, so I can share my rhyme with you.

All right, here's what our turkey's looking like so far.

Of course, at the end, I'll add some eyes, and some legs, and he'll end up looking like this, a fabulous patterned turkey out of recycled materials.

See the little legs I made him?

And the eyes were just some white paper that I found from the magazine, and some black.

Ooh, he looks so fun.

All right, so I hope that you try this activity.

Thinking ahead, we're going be making more turkeys together as the week goes on.

We might even try to save a turkey from being eaten.

We're gonna disguise him.

What should we make him?

A pizza?

No, he'll be eaten.

Oh, I know, we'll make him a ninja!

Ninjas don't get eaten, right?

(laughs) I hope that you join me again.

All right, remember, boys and girls, I'm so grateful for you, and I'm so glad that you tuned in today.

We'll see you again tomorrow for more reading adventures.

Goodbye!

(upbeat music)