(bright upbeat music) - Hello, little learners.

Welcome back to our PreK and TK classroom.

My name is Miss Laura, special letter L for Laura.

Hello, I hope that you're having a great day wherever you are.

Now, we're going to be learning all about earth day this week.

So we've been learning about recycling, landfills, the environment and we've been in our project place using things that we would normally throw in the trash and making new exciting things out of them like musical instruments.

And that's exactly what we're gonna do today.

Except instead of musical instruments, we are actually going to make a birdhouse.

So if you wanna follow along with me, get a milk carton and paints out.

We're also gonna be learning a few new words and reading a very interesting story about a little character who finds a box and doesn't know what do with it.

We're gonna be doing some shared writing right behind me.

And then we're gonna sing songs and end our day with a big smooch, sound like a good plan.

Okay, let's get started with one of our songs which is "I Love the Earth."

And we do remember this song uses our hands.

Here we go.

♪ I love the earth and everything that lives ♪ ♪ I love the plants and the beauty each one gives ♪ ♪ I love the animals and the fishes in the sea ♪ ♪ For I am a part of this earth ♪ ♪ And the earth is part of me ♪ Yes, I love doing poems and songs with you.

Now, we're also learning a song or poem in Spanish about recycling and we've learned a few words.

(speaking Spanish), that means recycle.

We've learned (speaking Spanish), that means plastic.

We've learned (speaking Spanish), that means earth and (speaking Spanish) which means to help.

And our last word in the song that we'll learn is (speaking Spanish).

Can you say it with me, (speaking Spanish), that means paper.

And in the song we're recycling plastic and paper.

(speaking Spanish) Let's sing our song.

We can make this motion for recycling.

(singing in Spanish) I hope that you learned a few words in Spanish.

We're gonna learn some more right now.

Right behind this door are three words that I want you to put inside your brain, because we're going to need to know what they mean in order to understand our story.

Now, these words aren't exactly in our story but they do help us know what the story is out.

Do you recognize these words, reduce, reuse, recycle.

What a great way to end our week.

Those are the three Rs that we've been talking about.

So let's see.

Our first word is reduce.

They all start with R, reduce means to create less waste.

So we've been reducing waste by turning it into other things in our project place.

Reuse means using items more than once.

Like those plastic silverware pieces that we use to make maracas, we reuse them.

The last one is recycle.

That means putting a product to a new use instead of throwing it away, you recycle it.

We've been doing all three of those things.

Pat ourselves on the back.

We're great helpers of planet earth.

Now this book that I'm gonna share with you today is all about a little character that finds a box and he finds a way to reuse it in creative ways.

There are not a lot of words in this story but the pictures tell a beautiful story of what you can do when you use your imagination.

"Not a Box" by Antoinette Portis.

And look, what's interesting right here.

This whole book is made out of recycled materials.

It even looks like a cardboard box itself, doesn't it?

Not a box.

Here we go.

It's dedicated to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes.

Right here, it says, why are you sitting in a box?

So look at our little character sitting in a box.

Is that what you do with boxes?

You sit down in them.

Wait, it's not a box?

What is it?

It's a race car.

That's right, looking number 15, he's going down the road in a box, he's pretending (whooshes) He's using his imagination.

What are you doing on top of that box?

So look, he was in the box.

Now he's on top of the box.

What do you think it's gonna be?

Hurry, take a quick guess before I turn the page, what is it gonna be?

Not a box, it's a rabbit peak.

He's on top of the mountain.

He's climbed far away above.

Look out below, I'm way up high.

Do you ever pretend to be up high on the box?

Why are you squirting a box?

Look, there he is with the hosey squirting a box.

What do you think it's going to be?

What is the box gonna be?

What is something that needs water?

Could it be a plant or maybe it's not a box, it's a house on fire.

Hurry, help, spray it down so the fire doesn't spread.

Here comes the rabbit, fire department to save the day.

There's the original box, you see it.

Wait a minute.

Now you're wearing a box.

What is he gonna be in that box?

This is not a box, I am rabbit robot.

The box is my body.

Are you still standing around in that box?

Here he is, standing in the box.

It's not, not, not a box.

Look!

It's a ship.

And I'm a pirate, hot air balloon.

It's an elephant.

I'm on a boat, maybe a barge.

I'm towing something very, very heavy.

Well, if it's not a box, then what is it then?

Hmm, what could it be?

It's my not a box.

Look, he's in a rocket ship flying high (whooshing).

And oh, way.

Okay, this one's a very short story with not a lot of words, "Not a Box."

Do you have a not a box at home.

I hope that you get to look for one so that you can turn your box into different things.

So right now we're gonna go over to our writing place.

And we're gonna write about all the wonderful things that we learned about this week.

And if you didn't join us all week long, don't worry, don't sweat it.

We're still gonna do some writing.

So get your pencils and papers or your dry erase board out.

And we can practice writing some letters together.

So here we go.

All right, so do you recognize the symbol?

It's reduce, reuse, recycle.

This is the symbol that we use when we're going to put things in the recycling bin and use it again.

And that's what we been learning about all week.

Making sure to take the cap off the marker and putting it back here.

Oh, I hate it, hate it being in the classroom and then a marker has to have a funeral because it dried out, someone didn't put a cap on it.

All right, so what did we learn about recycling?

It's when you take rubbish or trash and you use it again.

So let's write, use it again.

Use it again.

So get ready to write with your pencil and paper.

Use, the first letter is U, I'm gonna write in all capital so it's easier for you to write it.

Use, that one's tricky to write, watch me and then you do it.

Use, use, that's one word, use.

Now we're gonna write a next word.

So we're gonna leave our finger space.

That's just two rabbit ears.

Just like the character in our story, but I'm right here.

Use it.

Let's write I, big line down, two little lines.

Looks like a big stick sandwich, doesn't it?

It, T, correct?

Big line down, little line across, use it, it is another word.

So now we're gonna return sweet and go back and write our last word, which is again, A, A.

A, tricky one to write, a G, let's see, you're gonna do a big curve with the little line, just like that.

And if I'm going too fast for you, that's okay.

If you're still over here, then that's okay.

As long as you're practicing your writing.

Again with another A, then I know that there's an I in there.

I'm gonna write it right on top.

'Cause I don't wanna smash my reduce and last sound again.

N, that's right?

And look, now we've made our phrase, use it again.

That's what we've been doing all week.

What else did we learn?

Where does all of our trash go?

It goes to a place and they're buried underground.

Do you remember what that place was called?

Yes, a landfill.

Let's write that word landfill right here.

And remember, landfills get full and they smell very bad and they look horrible.

So we don't want landfills.

So let's write our word landfill./ You ready to write?

Here we go.

L, big line down, little line across, LA, A, you know A, first letter of the alphabet.

N is tricky to write too, big line down, then it slim slides across, then another big line down.

Land, what letter makes the D sound?

That's right, a D, land.

And then our last one, fill.

F, correct, big line down, little line across, little line across then an I, fill and the last two letters are L, that's kind of easy to write, isn't it?

Because it's a big line down and a little line across, landfill, where all of rubbish goes.

All right, what is another thing that we learned?

We learned to use it again, landfill.

We learned that we can save the planet.

That's right, kids, me, you, everyone.

We all have to do our part.

We have to love the earth that we live in, our environment.

So maybe we can write the word love to represent what we're gonna do moving forward.

So let's write it right here.

Love, just like we wrote here L, get your writing tense all ready.

We're gonna write letter L for love, then an O, love.

And then what letter makes this sound?

V, that's right.

And the last thing, sticky E and I might even draw a heart.

Now, I didn't draw too many pictures today but you can also add pictures to your writing because that's a form of communication.

So let's review some of the things that we learned this week and we wrote down today are, we use it again.

We recycle, reduce and reuse.

We throw our trash in the landfill and actually, I'm gonna draw little sad face, we don't like landfill, sorry, landfill.

We don't like you.

We want our trash to stay out of the landfill because we love the earth.

And that's one thing that we have to remember.

So we're gonna go over to our project place.

I thought we could do a project where we make something out of a box.

But I had extra milk cartons laying around.

So I thought that could be my box.

Oh, I know what I'll do, I'll make a bird feeder.

So watch me walk over there.

How many steps is it gonna take?

I think five.

Let's try one, two, three, four, five, yeah, I'm right.

I think I'm always right.

Is it because I control the number of steps (laughs).

Here is the bird feeder that we're gonna end up with.

Now, I don't have any seed in here.

But you can go over to the place where everything costs a dollar and buy a little seed.

Or if you have some cereal that's organic, maybe you can put it in here if it's a little stale and you don't wanna eat it anymore, birds love that.

Just make sure to check that it's a cereal that's safe for birds.

And look, this is a little perch where the bird is gonna stop.

Reach in here, eat the cereal, and I've made it so nice.

So they know there's a flower here and they can come and are welcome.

So here are the materials that you're gonna need, a milk carton, an old one, some string, some scissors a writing tool, some paints and glue.

Now I also use this very fancy tool.

It's like a screwdriver and it's gonna help me poke a hole through things.

So I don't have to use my scissors.

All right, so the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna take our milk carton and we're gonna rinse it out because even if there's no more milk in it, its still needs a good rinse with soap and you're gonna let it dry.

The next thing we're gonna do is we are going to draw what we want our opening to be.

Now you'll notice here in my bird feeder that I didn't put it too close to the bottom.

If we put it too close, then the bird seed or whatever it is that we put in will just fall out.

So we wanna leave a good amount of space at the bottom.

Next, I'm gonna take my marker and I'm gonna make a shape like a window.

Now you can put windows on any side of your bird feeder, but if you add too many windows, it's not gonna be very stable, is it?

That means it's gonna fall apart if you add too many holes.

So I'm gonna add one big window right here.

It's gonna be in the shape of the box.

See, I didn't go all the way to the bottom.

Oh!

It's crooked.

That's kind of why we draw it out first.

There it is, crooked at the bottom too.

Miss Laura, I can hear you telling me.

So next, we have to cut it out.

Now, this is where a tool like this comes in handy, have an adult or grown up help you.

And you can use your scissors.

But this tool is really handy because it pokes right through and you can make a nice large hole for your scissors to get through.

There it is.

And then you're gonna take your scissors, put it in the hole and then just cut around where you did your opening.

Now I'm gonna show you in just a minute, can be a little tricky like I said, you might wanna have a grown up help you do this part.

You can do most of all the rest.

I mean, that's what grown ups are there for, to help the kids do fun things like that.

What else are they there for?

(box tearing) That's not true.

All right, let's cut this window out.

My window is not gonna be perfect.

You know, I don't even like perfect anyway, boring.

All right, here's what it looks like.

Do you see?

Then you can put the bird seed in there.

All right, the next step is you're gonna wanna poke a few holes on the side because you're gonna wanna hang your bird feeder outside.

Now keep in mind, this may not last long in the rain or if it snows wherever you are, it doesn't snow where I am, but try to put it in a place, maybe that's covered by a few leaves.

I'm gonna take my tool, you can use your scissors or if you have a screwdriver and poke holes on either side like this and we're gonna put the thread or string through.

Now, I happen to have this kind of string that I have made out of burlap.

And it's kind of sturdy.

You do not wanna use something like, I don't know.

You don't wanna use thread because it might be a little weak and you definitely don't wanna use something that'll break easily.

Maybe some yarn, that might work.

Okay, I'm gonna reach in and grab it and we're gonna tie it in a knot so that it doesn't go out the other side.

Okay, there it is.

I'm gonna do the same to the other side.

Where might you hang a bird feeder?

In my house we have a big tree in the front.

I think I'm gonna put it there.

That way I can watch it.

'Cause what fun would it be to watch birds eating the seed that you provided?

That would be fun.

See what kind of birds you get.

A lot of people, they go bird watching.

That's what they do.

They take their binoculars and they go search for birds.

Maybe some that are endangered.

Okay, so here it is.

This is how you're gonna hang it.

But I don't know about you.

If I was a bird and I saw, I'd be like, "No, I'm a little scared to go near there," so you can actually paint or decorate your bird feeder however you like and you notice in the one I completed, I decorated with sticks and some newspaper so that it was really welcoming, but I thought, hmm, so we don't have to use a hot glue gun.

Maybe we'll use some paper to make a little roof for our bird feeder.

So you can measure out, kind of measure, make a little snip.

So you want your roof to hang.

And just cut it all the way across.

And you can do this in pieces too.

Today, I think I'm just gonna do one big one like this.

Ooh, it looks like a little roof, doesn't it?

And then you can use your stapler or I have some glue here and you can glue it down, which is exactly what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna glue my piece down here.

And of course, it's gonna take a little while to dry.

Glue, glue, glue, glue.

This is almost like painting tube, painting with glue.

And you're gonna put it on, just like that.

And hold it down for 10 seconds.

10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

I'm so fancy, I counted backwards.

There's your little roof, look at that.

Might need a little more drying time here in the back.

And then what you get to do is you get to paint it any color you like.

Now, I like to paint my bird feeder a bright color.

That way I can see it, nowhere to look when I'm looking for my bird.

Look, I used some cardboard for my painting palette.

So I have three colors here.

I thought nice and bright colors.

I have orange, red and yellow.

So again, I don't mind mixing my colors on the same brush but if you do, get a little cup with some water.

So I'm gonna do a little yellow.

I'm just gonna paint around it.

Now, notice I put my roof on before I started painting because if I hadn't done that I would've had to wait for the paint to dry.

And I am impatient, that means, I do not like to wait.

Now, I just realized that I picked all of the colors that make fire.

I hope the birds don't think that this is fire.

Then they definitely will not come (laughs).

I'll have to put a little sign that says not fire.

See some orange here, how's it looking?

Oh, I love it.

Let's do the sides.

Now, you'll notice that as you're putting on the paint, you can still see the words underneath, that's okay.

I kind of like it to look a little homemade but you can do as many coats of paint as you like.

So you can go back, let this dry and then do another coat of paint until you get just the right coverage that you like.

And when you're all done painting, you're gonna have a wonderful birdhouse just like that.

You can even add a little perch right down here so that the birds can stop and look and feed.

I hope that you give this project a try.

I really enjoyed doing all of our fun recycling crafts with you all week.

Now, it looks like we have just enough time to sing some of our song.

Let's see how far we get today.

Okay, ready?

♪ A is for amazing, that's what you are ♪ ♪ B is for brave that'll carry you far ♪ ♪ C is for caring and community ♪ ♪ D is for determined and be the best you can be ♪ ♪ E is for empathy, caring for all ♪ ♪ F is for friends that'll catch you when you fall ♪ ♪ G is for grateful for everything around ♪ ♪ And H is for hopeful there's we're good to be found ♪ ♪ I is for imagine all the fun things we could do ♪ ♪ J is for joyful how I feel when I'm with you ♪ ♪ K is for kind to people and animals too ♪ ♪ And L is for love put it in all that you do ♪ ♪ M is for mindful be present every day ♪ ♪ N is for nice words in everything you say ♪ ♪ O is for original, always be you ♪ ♪ And P is for persevere until you make it through ♪ ♪ Q is quiet, those bad thoughts ♪ ♪ R is for remember all the greatness that you got ♪ ♪ S is for strong body and mind ♪ ♪ T is for talent why not make yours being kind ♪ Another talent could be taking care of our planet.

I hope you enjoyed spending the week with me.

I can't wait to see what we get up to next week.

All right, well, see you then.

Big kisses, goodbye.

(upbeat music)