- It's a bird.

It's a plane!

No...

It's a bat!

♪ Wimee creates ♪ all the day through ♪ and you can do it too!

- Get ready to laugh, learn, and play with me!

Wimee, as we explore these creatures of the night!

Bats!

(laughs) We have so many people here to help us learn!

[Wimee] Ms. Sarah will teach us all about our senses and how we, like bats, can use them on a daily basis to help us.

Michael is here to help illustrate a story that we make up about bats in the Wimage lab.

Ms. Karen from the Muskegon Area District Library is here to show us how we can use bats to measure things?!

That'll be interesting.

And Ms. Kelaine will join us and share with us her favorite website to learn about... You guessed it.

BATS!

(laughs) This show is going to be a home run!

(Record scratch) Wait, wrong bat.

(laughs) Join us as we celebrate bats in another episode of Wimee's Words!

Well, friends, for the opening song share with us a compound word.

You know, two words put together as one.

♪ How much wood could a woodchuck chuck ♪ ♪ if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

♪ ♪ As much wood as a woodchuck could ♪ ♪ If a woodchuck could chuck wood!

♪ (laughter) How about fruit bat?

(laughter) ♪ How much fruit could a fruit bat bat ♪ ♪ if a fruit bat could bat fruit?

♪ ♪ As much fruit as a fruit bat could ♪ ♪ If a fruit bat could bat fruit.

♪ (laughter) So, doghouse, mailbox, let's go with doghouse.

Ready?

♪ How much dog could a dog house house ♪ ♪ if a dog house could house dog?

♪ ♪ As much dog as dog house could ♪ ♪ if a dog house could house dog.

♪ (laughter) Let's see, what are some more compound words?

Watermelon!

Indeed.

♪ How much water could a watermelon melon ♪ ♪ if a watermelon could melon water?

♪ ♪ as much water as a watermelon could ♪ ♪ if a watermelon could melon water.

♪ I think bats like watermelon, too.

Backpack.

Can you imagine a little bat wearing a little backpack?

I just had that picture in my brain.

♪ How much back could a backpack back ♪ ♪ If a backpack could back pack?

♪ ♪ As much back as a backpack could ♪ ♪ if a backpack could pack back.

♪ (laughter) Ooh, basketball!

♪ How much basket could a basketball ball ♪ ♪ if a basketball could ball basket?

♪ ♪ As much basket as a basketball could ♪ ♪ if a basketball could ball basket.

♪ (laughter) Man, oh, man!

Hey friends, Let's see what Moby's got for us today!

(upbeat music) - [Moby] I was just reading about bats.

Did you know that there are bats all over the world except for in the hottest and coldest places on earth?

Yep.

And I read that there's a bat so tiny that it weighs less than a penny.

(laughs) a penny!

Can you believe it?

It's called the bumblebee bat and it's the smallest bat in the world.

Not only is it the smallest bat in the world, it's the smallest mammal in the world.

(laughs) I would love to see one, one day.

I'll be like, "Hey!

What's going on, tiny bat?"

(upbeat music continues) I can't believe it.

That's teeny.

Oh, my goodness.

Friends, it's time for today's three sentence story!

Beginning, middle, end.

So, in the first sentence we will set the scene.

In the second sentence.

there will be a problem.

And in the third sentence, there will be a solution.

(laughter) We love nouns!

Share with us a person, place, or thing.

Hmm, the first word to set things off is the word "gloves"!

(laughter) Here we go.

I looked up in the night sky and I saw a bat flying by wearing a pair of gloves.

(laughter) Wouldn't that be fun to see a bat wearing a pair of gloves?

Wait, how does that even work?

Because their, umm... their little... their fingers or their claws.

What if I don't even know what they have?

Are they fingers?

Are they claws?

I'll have to do some research.

If you could help us out, that'd be cool too.

But this bat is wearing gloves (laughs) Then for our second word, the second word is house.

Oh no!

There's a problem.

And it's got to do with house.

Here we go!

I looked up into the night sky, and I saw a bat flying by wearing gloves.

He flew to the top of our house and got stuck!

Oh no!

We've got to help the bat.

He's stuck.

Maybe it was the gloves that, like, got him stuck.

Maybe they weighted him down and he was stuck on the roof and... Oh no!

It's our friend there, the bat, we gotta help him.

Ho ho ho Mom, I love it.

The word "Mom" is the solution (laughs) That's a very true statement so often.

Okay, here we go.

I looked up into the night sky and I saw a bat flying by wearing some gloves.

I noticed he landed on the house and got stuck on the roof!

Oh, no!

Mom said, "Don't worry, here's a ladder!"

and she climbed up and freed the bat.

(laughter) It was so cool.

Then the bat was like, "Thank you!"

"You can borrow the mittens!"

(laughter) All right, well friends, we've got a story, we've got a rough draft.

(laughter) Indeed.

I wonder what Michael has created for today's Wimage.

It's time for Wimage Lab in Grand Rapids with Michael.

(laughter) The words are gloves, house, mom.

(laughs) - [Michael] Hey Wimee, how are you friends?

(Wimee laughs) - Good.

- So, what an awesome story.

Mom's are always there to rescue Bats... Dads... (Wimee laughs) - Robots... - Kids, robots, squirrels, neighbors... - What would we do without moms?

- I know.

- Awesome, so let me show you what we've got so far.

Look at mom.

Mom's holding the baby and climbing the ladder!

- [Wimee] I was just gonna say that!

(laughs) - [Michael] Wimee, you might want to ask mom if I can, if you can go up.

- Yeah, or she should have handed me the baby and then... - Yeah, or the bat.

(Wimee laughs) The bats are pretty friendly with babies.

- (laughs) This is fun.

Okay Michael, we'll see you later.

Keep adding some more things to the Wimage if you like and we'll check in with you.

Friends!

It's time to find out how to say today's words in Mandarin Chinese for today's language explorers!

Let's check in with Miss Holly!

Hi, Miss Holly!

- Hi, Wimee!

- (laughs) So, how do you feel about bats?

- I love bats.

- Yeah!

So the words are gloves, house, and mom.

How do we say "gloves" in Mandarin Chinese?

- So, "gloves" in Chinese is "ShRu tào".

ShRu tào.

- [Wimee] Awesome.

- So shRu means hand and tào means, like, a covering.

- Awesome.

Covering our hands.

- Mhm.

And "house" - [Wimee] House... - Fáng Zi.

Fáng Zi.

- [Wimee] Nice.

- And "mom" Mama!

- [Wimee] (gasps) For real?!

- Uh huh.

Mama!

- [Wimee] That's awesome!

I love that.

- Yeah.

- Thanks so much, Holly, for today's words in Mandarin Chinese.

(laughter) Hey friends, we love to learn new things.

Right now, it's time for today's Tech Talk!

(phone rings) (whoosh) (robot sound effects) Hi Kelaine!

Hi!

Hi Wimee!

Hi everybody!

Nice to see you again!

- What you got for today?

- Okay, well, I am also a big fan of bats like Miss Holly, and they eat mosquitoes.

Anything that does that.

Perfect!

And actually technology has had a lot of things that...umm...

I don't know if anybody knows how bats hear and find things.

So if you don't see very well, what other things do you think you could use to find food like mosquitoes and bugs?

Or so that you don't run into... a lamp post or a tree or a house?

Oh, I see someone did it!

Echolocation!

Yes, Danielle, echolocation.

So they, they have sound that they listen for it to bounce back.

So yes, hearing, they can actually sense it as it comes back with their hearing and with their body.

They, they can sense when there's something in front of them.

So very good everybody, yeah!

So I want you to learn a little bit more about bats and there's a website you can go to: It's the Bat Conservation International.

Can you see that page?

- [Wimee] Yeah.

- But they have all kinds of fun games and activities for you to do kids!

Look, you can become a Bativist!

You can be part of the Bat Squad.

You can make masks, you can do coloring.

You can do batty recipes!

You can either eat what bats eat or make some stuff that looks like fun like bats.

And then at Halloween, they have lantern designs that you can carve on your pumpkins.

Yeah, so have some fun hanging out at batcon.org in the games and activities and find out more about bats.

- I love it!

- Well, thank you so much, Ms. Kelaine, for today's Tech Talk!

- You're welcome, good seeing you!

(laughter) - Friends, let's see what Siblee's got for today's...

Laughing with Siblee!

(children cheering) - What kind of bat can do back flips and cartwheels and somersaults?

An acrobat!

(laughs) (cheering continues) - (chuckles) Acrobat.

Well friends, we are going to check in with our friend, Miss Sarah, at the Comprehensive Therapy Center.

How's it going, Miss Sarah?

- It's going great, Wimee, it's been a while!

I'm happy to be back.

- It's good to see you.

Do you like bats, first of all?

How do you feel about bats?

I like bats from afar.

I think they're great when they are outside.

I don't want them in my house.

- Yeah.

(laughs) That's a fair point.

Yeah.

So what are you going to share with us or do today?

- So we already kind of started talking about it when you were talking about how bats find things and echolocation and ways to use our senses.

And what I like to do is use my senses to help me calm down sometimes.

If I'm feeling nervous or anxious that's what I do.

They help us calm down, they help us feel better.

And so the first thing I do is: I look around myself, and I see five things that I can see and I just kind of name them.

So right now I can see a plant.

I can see my dog sleeping on the couch.

I can see my cup of coffee next to me.

That's three, what else can I see?

I see some chairs and let's see... Oh, I see my jar of candy.

That is very tempting right now.

- Ooh man!

- So, that's five things that I see.

And then, I go down, so another one we have already talked about is hearing using our ears.

So then I do four things that I can hear.

So, I'm to get really quiet and I'm going to listen.

- Okay.

- So I can hear my husband across the house.

(laughter) - Tell him I said hi!

- I can actually hear my dog snoring because she's sleeping.

I hear a little bit of the street noise from the cars outside on my street.

And I'm going to cheat a little.

If my window were open I'm sure I could hear some birds or maybe some kids.

- I love birds.

- You got to kind of concentrate sometimes.

So that was four things that right now I can hear and now go down.

One thing that I haven't seen pop up in the chat one of our other senses is touch and we feel things like our clothes and everything.

- Yep, there it is.

- Yep, see?

There it is.

So, three things that I can feel right now so I can feel my feet on the ground right now.

I can feel my sweater in the palm of my hands, and... Oh, my heat is starting to kick on so I can feel some air hitting the back of me, and some heat coming in.

Taste, perfect!

That's the next one!

- Great!

- So that was three things that I can feel and Kylee just gave it to us.

The next one is taste with our tongue.

Two things that I can taste.

I'm tasting my coffee.

I'm still drinking coffee.

And I mean, I can it's kinda mixed with my saliva too, saliva has a taste.

Those are two things that I can taste.

And then the last thing is one thing we can smell with our nose (audibly inhales) And... Oh!

I can actually smell the flower that I talked about earlier.

That's behind me.

Smell the flower.

So, as we go through the five senses we are just bringing attention to physical things that we can pay attention to.

And that really helps us calm down when we're nervous or stressed out.

And we tend to be nervous or stressed out about things that we can't see, we can't control.

And so by using our senses to help us calm down we're just being reminded of all of the things around us that we can control, We can see, we don't have to be afraid of.

So, it's just another way of using our senses.

Just like bats adapt to... because they can't see where very well they use their echolocation to figure out where they are in space.

so they don't run into anything.

Well, we too can use our senses to help us in other things and not just, you know, be able to see the plant, but use it to help us.

- I love how it's 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and the things about our senses.

And if we're not the strongest in one sense of the senses, then like you said, like bats, sometimes our other senses really kick in even more and it's just being in tune with your body and how to see your place in the world.

- Exactly.

- I love it.

Well, thank you Miss Sarah!

I love it!

We will see you at the dance party!

- Great!

- (laughs) So good.

I'm going to take a deep breath.

I'm going to slow down, look around.

I won't do them all right now because you're still watching the show, but I like this a lot.

All right, friends, it's time for today's Mathematical Moment.

(upbeat music) [Wimee] Hi Karen!

- Hello!

Wow, One Very Big Bear indeed, that book looks awesome!

- It also looks very big in my camera.

I was very excited that it was bats today because one of my very good friends who works at our library for the visually and physically disabled, Sax Mahoney, bats are her favorite animals!

So I went over there to get some information and we're going to do some bat measurement today.

So this book is all about measuring this bear but they use different things to measure the bear.

So, the bear is five penguins tall.

Five.

- Wow.

- But the bear is also four seals tall.

Well, how can it be five penguins and four seals?

It all depends on what you're using to measure.

- That makes sense.

- That's what we're going to talk about today.

So, if you get a chance to read this book, it's pretty cute.

- I love it.

- It is written by, and I'm sorry that my French is not better.

Alice Brière-Haquet and illustrated by Olivier Philipponneau and Raphaële Enjary - Nice.

Those names sound awesome.

- I think my French teacher mother would be disappointed in me.

- I think you did great, you did it.

- Thank you.

That would be a picture of her favorite bat.

See this little guy?

Oh my goodness, that looks amazing!

He's so tiny, too.

His name...

He is a Honduran white bat.

And he actually makes tents out of leaves like the banana trees in the jungle.

And that is where he lives.

And he mostly eats fruit, but only one type of fruit.

So this is a very interesting bat and it happens to be her favorite bat.

But I was thinking, you know...

He looks tiny.

I wonder how big he is.

And I thought, how we could measure Mr. Honduran white bat.

Well, here's another little bat.

- [Wimee] Okay.

- Now we can measure with anything.

Usually we use a ruler and we measure with inches or feet or centimeters.

We kind of choose based on how big something is.

But since this little guy is pretty tiny, I thought we could measure using bats.

That would be our unit of measure.

- [Wimee] That's awesome.

- So let's see.

He is one, and we'll just move up the bat, two... three bats tall.

But it's important to say what our unit is.

He might not be three inches tall, he's certainly not three feet tall, but he is three bats tall.

So, I have another thing to measure with our bat.

- [Wimee] Okay.

- This is my little guy.

He doesn't have a name.

He needs a name.

- [Wimee] I'll think about, yeah, I'll think about it.

- Okay.

I'm going to pick him up a little bit so everybody can see him.

Now he's still pretty tiny.

So let's see how many bats he has.

Let's see...one... - [Wimee] One... - Two... - [Wimee] Two... - Three... - [Wimee] Three... - Four!

- [Wimee] Four!

Yeah, he's about four bats tall.

So, still pretty tiny, but... What if I wanted to measure my water bottle?

- [Wimee] Water bottle?

Oh, man!

- I'm repping my college here.

I went to Oral Roberts University and they got to the Sweet Sixteen in March for the first time ever.

Would I want to measure in bats?

I mean, that's a lot of bats.

Normally, if we're going to measure something bigger we want to use a bigger unit.

So, I also have boxes.

Those are bigger.

- [Wimee] Yeah.

- Move this over so you can see this better.

So here's my water bottle.

Now, each box is about three bats.

So I've got one box, two boxes, three boxes, four boxes!

- [Wimee] Four!

Whoa!

- Oh wait, have we met... Is it almost...I still have a little bit here.

- [Wimee] Little bit.

- So let's see... - [Wimee] Half?

- Yeah!

About half, so my water bottle is about four and a half boxes tall.

Is it four bats tall?

- [Wimee] Nope.

Those are different terms of measurement.

- Yes.

- [Wimee] Or types of measurement.

- They're different units.

- [Wimee] Units!

That's what I was looking for!

Different units, thanks.

- Because we had a bigger object, we wanted to use a bigger unit and it's okay to say it's four and a half boxes tall, Because it's not quite a full box.

It's about half a box, and that's all right.

So I brought one more thing to measure and this goes along with one of Ms. Sarah's things that she was talking about.

Because it's one of my favorite senses.

Hold on, let me move this over.

This is our jar of M&Ms.

- [Wimee] Oh ho ho!

- Yes.

So I'll put them...let's see... Maybe you could see them better back here.

This is our jar of M&Ms my colleague, Ms. Michelle and I share these with our office.

So if anybody needs M&M's we even have a little scoop in there.

I was wondering, is it taller or shorter than my water bottle?

What do you think?

- [Wimee] I'm going to my, my guess is that it's shorter.

That's what I estimate.

- All right, that's a good estimation.

Let's check.

One box, two boxes, three boxes... Oh, we still have that handle.

- [Wimee] Three and a half.

- Three and a half.

So it's one box shorter than my water bottle.

- [Wimee] Yeah.

- Pretty crazy.

What other things could we measure?

- We could measure the chair or... - Would we use our boxes?

Yeah.

Would we use boxes to measure a chair?

- Um...We might want a larger measurement of unit.

- You're right.

We might want a larger unit of measurement.

We might want a ruler or a yardstick or something like that to measure a chair or even a person.

- Cool.

That's so cool.

So this is like how measurements were created across the world.

They said, this is a standard unit and this in different parts of the world have different type of measurements.

But yeah, we could use own kind of system as long as we understand what it is and we define it and oh yeah, the rest of the world, oh, the metric system!

- The metric system.

(laughing) How many bats is this?

Well, they standardized measurement so that we all know what an inch is because the reason why we call it a foot is that we would use our feet to measure things.

But a foot, my foot is smaller than my dad's foot but it's larger than a baby's foot.

So it was hard to get an exact measurement.

It might be 15 baby feet, but six Ms. Karen feet.

(laughter) They started standardizing meaning making them all the same measurement.

And, and our friend here is right.

There's the metric system that the rest of the world uses and then our standard.

(laughter) It's a little different, but I'm not gonna go over that.

- Yeah.

Well this was so cool.

I'm just all about learning and discovery and figuring stuff out and then seeing what other people do and learning from others.

And, oh man, you're right.

We could talk a long time about this, but why don't we do this?

You know what we're going to do next, Ms. Karen?

We are going to do a scavenger hunt.

Are you ready?

We didn't even tell you about this.

Are you ready?

Will you play along with us?

- Yes, absolutely.

and everybody backstage who's with us right now, play along!

Friends at home, it's time for Find it Fast!

Here's what we want you to find.

Can you find something that starts with B?

Just like bat does.

Find something fuzzy!

Oh, and bats are pretty quiet.

Can you find something quiet?

Shhhhh..... See if you find something!

friends backstage that have been with us.

Michael and Sarah and Karen and Holly.

Oh man, we'll put you on the camera.

When we see what you got, friends.

Post comments, sharing what you got!

I see lots of stuff backstage.

Who's coming on first?

Let's see who it is.

(laughter) Oh man, oh man.

If you got an idea at home, post it in the comments!

Oh, look at that!

What have you got?

Something soft, fuzzy, starts with B?

Bat?

- Box and bat.

- Oh, and the box, and the bat!

Oh my goodness, I love it Miss Karen!

Great job.

Ooh, let's see.

Also it looks like Ollie.

Ollie the Octopus!

(laughter) Good stuff today!

Ooh, Ella!

- Ollie and Ella.

- So much good stuff!

- You know what?

This octopus actually turns inside out.

So one side could be Ollie, this angry side.

And this one could be Ella.

- Wow.

I love it!

That's such a cool idea.

What do you got, Michael?

- Awesome!

- We got Wimage fuzzy, we got this, starts with B.

And Lucas has the basketball.

(Wimee laughs) - [Wimee] I love it.

Good stuff.

Good stuff.

Oh man, friends, keep finding these things.

You've got to find it fast.

What have you got?

Sarah?

- I've got a ball to start with B. I have a dog toy that's nice and fuzzy.

And I've got headphones because it helps keep things quiet!

- [Wimee] You're right.

That's awesome!

Well said, you're right.

It keeps you focused right in.

You don't hear the other stuff around you or you could even use it, like, just to cancel the noise.

Oh, look at that.

Danielle and family DeJonge, they got books, stuffed animal and blankets!

(laughter) Great job, friends!

I love it.

all the good stuff and you found it fast.

(laughs) Well friends, it's time for our dance party.

(laughter) Look at all these ideas still coming in!

A ball, a shirt, headphones.

Good stuff.

Well friends, it's been a lot of fun.

Thanks for joining us in today's show.

Oh, what you got?

- Backpack!

- Backpack!

(laughter) - Let's dance, Wimee!

I know it's been so much excitement with finding everything.

Together!

(laughs) We're ready!

(rock music) - Wimee's Words is brought to you by PNC: Grow Up Great.

Funterra by Smart Meijer and with additional support from these great partners.

(gentle guitar music plays) (applause)