- Okay, okay.

How did the grizzly bear walk in the snow?

"Bear"-footed.

(laughs) Okay, okay, I got better ones.

What do you call a bear with no teeth?

Gummy bears.

(laughs) Okay, one more.

What did the teddy bear say after dinner?

I'm stuffed.

(laughs) I just love bears.

♪ Wimee creates all the day through ♪ ♪ And you can do it too ♪ ♪ Think of words and of rhymes ♪ ♪ Makes Wimages, please do ♪ (singer vocalizing) (sparse clapping) Hey, do you know the song, "There was a great big moose?"

We're gonna change it up to "There was a great big bear."

Share with me something that rhymes with "bear."

Ready?

♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He really had a lot of hair ♪ ♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He really had a lot of hair ♪ ♪ Sing wo-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Eyo-eyo-eyo-eyo ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Eyo-eyo-eyo-eyo ♪ All right, think of something that rhymes with "bear."

I'll put it in the song.

Oh, chair.

Good one, Michael.

♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He sometimes sat in a chair ♪ ♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He sometimes sat in a chair ♪ That makes me think of Little Red Riding Hood.

We got the big chair, the little chair, I was about to say big-little, the medium chair.

♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He loved to sit in a chair ♪ ♪ Sing wo-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Eyo-eyo-eyo-eyo ♪ Sing along.

♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Eyo-eyo-eyo-eyo ♪ Okay, we got bear, hair, chair.

Ooh, watch this.

What am I doing?

♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He really liked to stare ♪ ♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He really liked to stare ♪ Ms. Stephanie's backstage, watch, look.

Let's bring her in.

Look at Ms. Stephanie.

(laughs) Hey, Ms. Stephanie, you want to pick the next rhyme?

We got bear, stare, chair, hair.

- How about pear?

- Oh, pear!

Okay, now, which one?

The fruit?

Or like a pair of socks?

- The fruit.

- The fruit, okay.

Good to clarify, okay.

♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He sometimes would eat a pear ♪ ♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He sometimes would eat a pear ♪ ♪ Sing wo-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Eyo-eyo-eyo-eyo ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Eyo-eyo-eyo-eyo ♪ I think we should try one more.

We got pear, bear, stare, chair.

Hm, where's another word?

Oh, fair, ha, ha.

Thanks, Siblee.

♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He would always be fair ♪ ♪ There was a great big bear ♪ ♪ He would always be fair ♪ Song along with the big finale.

♪ Sing oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Eyo-eyo-eyo-eyo ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Eyo-eyo-eyo-eyo ♪ (laughs) That was a lot of fun.

That was fun.

Thanks for the helping all those words, friends.

Hey, let's go find out what Moby's got to share with us today.

(upbeat music) - Did you know that more than half of the state of Michigan is made up of forests?

Yup, and these forests give animals like black bears places to live.

Yeah, I just read that Michigan has almost 700 different kinds of animals that live in the state.

Oh, man.

I'm glad we have so much forestland to share the animals.

Yeah, I don't think I'd share my room with a black bear.

Hm.

Would you want to live with a black bear?

Hm.

Maybe that would be cool.

(upbeat music) - Ah, that would be cool.

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

Beginning, middle, end.

And the three words come from you.

Ha, ha, In the first sentence, we set the scene.

In the second sentence, there is a problem.

You don't want don't want to live with a bear, either?

Yeah, I think, well, I don't know.

I think maybe bears get a bad rap.

Maybe, you know?

But I hear you, all right.

Yeah.

Okay, so, and then the ending.

In the ending is the solution.

♪ Solution ♪ (laughs) Yeah.

I think we got the story structure, right?

Beginning, middle, end.

Where will this story begin?

Ha, ha, let's find out.

Ooh, honey.

(laughs) Hm.

Okay, honey.

Yes, okay, here we go.

A chipmunk was walking through the forest one day and noticed a giant honey- Wait, honey comes from a beehive, right?

So would the honey be in the beehive?

No, the honey's in the- I got to do some research, friends.

I've got to find out more about honey in the beehives and if the honey- I know people like, raise bees for honey, but I think- Are bees naturally making honey in the beehive?

Oh, oh, I get to find out.

Okay, well, I'll research that later.

But yeah, so this chipmunk was walking through the woods and looked up and saw some honey in a beehive.

To be determined and fact-checked later, okay.

But okay, so tree.

Okay, the problem is tree.

Okay, okay.

I got it, I got it.

Okay.

A chipmunk was walking through the forest and saw a giant beehive dripping honey.

Out of nowhere, giant pine tree came crashing down and knocked over the honey in the beehive.

Oh, no!

The bees, the honey, the chipmunk is like, "oh, no!"

(chittering) That's a little squirrel.

Oh, let's see.

Ooh, cauliflower.

(laughs) Yes, the solution, thanks, Moby.

The solution is cauliflower.

Okay, I got it.

Okay, here we go.

A little chipmunk was walking through the forest and noticed a giant beehive that was dripping honey.

Out of nowhere, a giant pine tree came crashing down and knocked it over.

Fortunately, a deer planted a little cauliflower that grew into a giant cauliflower, and we all put the beehive back on the branch.

Wait, does cauliflower have branches?

Do you call it branches on a cauliflower tree?

I think so, yeah.

We'll say it.

Friends, we did it.

We made a story.

We've got the beginning, the middle, and the end.

Now friends, Nia has been backstage working on today's Wimage.

It's time for today's Wimage Lab.

Ho, ho, hi, Nia.

How's it going today?

- Hi, Wimee.

How are you?

- I'm good, the cauliflower tree.

(Wimee snickers) - I know.

I know, that sounds so cool.

It's different.

- Wouldn't that be fun, to climb up in a giant cauliflower tree?

- Yeah, it definitely would.

I think so.

Cauliflower's good.

- Right, I think James would love it, right?

James and the Giant Peach?

He'd be like, "oh yeah, I get it."

- Definitely, definitely.

Let me show you what I have, and then like always, we're gonna work together and add more.

- I love it.

- All righty.

So here we go.

Oh, man.

It's magical, Nia.

- We have our tree with our bees and our honey.

We have two paths.

Maybe the chipmunks are gonna walk down that path.

We have the tree that's falling down, the cauliflower on the floor.

And there goes that deer that's gonna go eat it all up.

Oh, we also have a dog.

Maybe the dog is wandering in the forest to.

- I love that, how the pictures tell more of the story.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, a dog.

- So Wimee, I'm thinking, what should we add to this story?

- Okay, friends, if you have ideas, let us know.

How about- Hm.

Chipmunks.

The bees, the deer.

Other woodland creature?

Oh, a bear!

We should have a bear in the story, right?

- Let's add a beer.

(Wimee laughs) - Love it.

Ooh, 'cause the bears probably like, "no, not the honey!"

Or, wait a minute.

- Maybe the bear has a friend.

What do you think the bear's friend would be?

What are we thinking?

- Hm.

A rabbit?

- A rabbit.

- Yeah, I don't know if in a non-fiction story, would a rabbit and a bear hangout?

But that's what's fun about fiction stories, we can create it, right?

- Of course, you can create whatever you like.

(Nia laughs) So let me show you what I have now, so you guys can remember.

Because remember, today we're gonna play the game where I'm going to change something and you're gonna tell me what I changed.

- I love it.

- All righty.

- [Wimee] Let's see.

- [Nia] So here we go.

- [Wimee] There's the bear, there's the rabbit.

Cauliflower, okay.

So friends, look closely.

We've got to think about the colors.

So, okay, purple, green, orange, yellow.

Okay, the trees, there were two paths.

The deer, the cauliflower, okay.

I think I've got a pretty good idea.

And when we come back to you later in the show, Nia, we'll find out what you changed and what's different.

- All righty, see you later.

- See you soon.

Ha, ha, so cool.

Now friends, for today's Language Explorers, Ms. Stephanie is with us to show us how to say the words in sign language.

(Wimee laughs) Hello, Ms. Stephanie.

- Hello, Wimee, hello, friends.

(Wimee laughs) Yes, I thought I'd jump right in first with telling you how to say "bears," since that's the theme of our episode today.

So you would cross your arms like this and scratch twice.

This is "bear."

It's kind of like a bear scratching.

I think of bears scratching their backs on trees, but this is how it's in American sign language.

- I love it, scratch.

- Yes.

And bears seem to like honey, that's what we hear, right?

- Well, yeah.

I think so, but I have to research that some more too.

- Right, me too, actually.

But there are a few different ways to say "honey" in American sign language, so I'll show you this one.

You pick your finger and move it across your mouth and then kind of flick it away.

Honey.

- [Wimee] Honey.

- Honey.

Yes.

All right, the next one is "tree."

You're gonna put one arm out like it's the ground, the next arm goes up.

It's kind of hard to see, I realize, so I'll scoot back.

And it's "tree."

Can you kind of see that?

- [Wimee] Yeah.

- Tree.

- [Wimee] Nice.

- Yes.

- It's like the tree is coming out of the earth, right?

That makes sense.

- Exactly.

Now, the last word we had in the story was cauliflower.

And I did not know how to say cauliflower in American sign language, so I had to look it up.

And what I found out is there is no sign or cauliflower.

You have to spell it.

So in American sign language, if there there's not a sign or if you're not sure what it is, then you spell the word.

- Okay.

- So I could show you, it's a long word.

- Ooh, let's do it.

I'll say the letter while you show me.

- Wonderful, okay, C. - C. - A.

- [Wimee] A.

- U.

- [Wimee] U.

- L. - [Wimee] L. - I.

- [Wimee] I.

- F. L. - [Wimee] L. - O.

- [Wimee] O.

- W. - [Wimee] W. - E. - [Wimee] E. - R. Cauliflower.

- Nice.

I was thinking how cauliflower sounded to me.

Sometimes I do that, I get the letters mixed up.

- Yes.

That A and the U together gets kind of tricky, friends.

And it often says "aw," the A and the U.

- Aw.

Aw.

I love that.

They just say "aw."

- That's right.

All right, well that's all I have for today.

- Awesome.

- See you later.

- Thank you so much, Ms. Stephanie.

- You're welcome.

- I love it.

(Wimee laughs) Okay, so, friends.

We've got our story.

We've got the Wimage, we learned some sign language.

Guess what, friends?

Oh man, I've got to get my camera in focus first.

Check, check, check.

I think I'm moving around too much.

There we go.

(laughs) Now I can see clearly, okay.

Friends, guess what?

I'm so excited.

My friend Rose is with us on the show today to share a story about a bear.

(rock music) - Hi, Rose.

- Hi.

- It's so good to see you.

- It's so nice to see you.

- Will you share about yourself a little bit so our friends at home can get to know you like I do?

- Sure, I am Rose Johnson and I am Native American.

And the story I'm gonna tell is a Native American story that originates from right here in Michigan.

(Wimee gasps) - I love it.

I've heard the story and I'm so excited that you're going to share it with our friends.

So when you're ready, share with us this this story.

- A long time ago, when the earth was very, very young, well, the Bear had this beautiful, beautiful, long tail.

And he decided he was gonna go talk to Fox.

And he says, "Fox, don't you just love my long tail?

Don't you wish you had one?"

And Fox goes, "I do have a long tail, and it's kind of bushy and it's pretty, too."

Bear goes, "Yeah, but it's not as pretty as mine."

So he kept walking, and Fox decided, well, that wasn't very nice.

You know, it kind of made him feel bad because Bear didn't like his tail.

And so Fox said, "yeah, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna see if we can teach Bear a little lesson."

So Fox decided to go to the side of the lake, and he wanted dig a hole and get a whole bunch of fish because he knew Bear was getting ready to go for his long sleep.

And before they go on their long sleeps, they eat a lot, you know, so it keeps them all winter long.

So Fox got ahold of Otter, and Otter helped him get the fish after they made the hole in the ice.

And Otter went down and started piling up the fish on the side.

And then, Otter left.

Bear walked by and he saw all that fish that was sitting next to the hole, and Fox was standing there and he goes, "Fox, how did you get all of that fish?"

And Fox said, "Well, it's kind of cool, 'cause I just stuck my tail down in that hole, and whenever I would feel a nibble, I'd just pull them up and throw them on side."

Bear goes, "Can I try?"

And Fox goes, "Sure, sure, let's let you try."

He says, "I have all that I want, you can just use this hole and I'm gonna go home and feed my family."

Bear goes, "Okay, you have fun, see you later."

So bear sat down and he stuck his tail in the hole.

He remembered Fox saying, well, when you feel them nibble, you need to just kind of pull them out and just fling them to the side.

Well, Bear decided, "I have a little bit bigger tail and I think I'll just wait for a whole bunch of fish to nibble at one time."

So bear sat down there, stuck his tail in, wiggled it a little bit.

And he started feeling little pricks on his tail, and he goes, "Whoa, I can feel it, I can feel the fish."

And so he says, "I'm gonna let a whole lot of prickles happen on my tail."

And so, pretty soon it began to hurt.

And so he decided, "I guess I'd better pull it out now, and then I can go and do my eating and do my long sleep."

So he tried to get up and he saw he couldn't.

And he tried to get up again and he was stuck.

And he looked back and his tail was stuck in the ice.

It had froze over.

- Oh, no.

- And he pulled and he pulled, and then all of a sudden, his tail broke off.

(Wimee gasps) He no longer had that big, beautiful tail.

It was just like a little nubbin that he had left.

And if you look at that picture of the bear that you have at the beginning or in that story that you were told about the cauliflower, he had a little tail, too.

And that is how Bear lost his tail and has that little kind of small tail that he has now.

- Oh, wow.

Man, that story.

Wow, I really enjoy hearing that, Rose.

And this story has been told many times, right, over generations?

- It has, it has.

(Wimee gasps) - Man.

And so the bear was trying to get- What does this story mean to you if you were to summarize it?

- Well, I think that we shouldn't brag and to be humble.

- Yeah.

- Or we could lose our tail.

- Oh.

Oh, no.

(laughs) Wow.

And now, that's an Ojibwa legend, is that correct?

- It is, it is.

Yes, it is.

- That is so beautiful, so cool.

Rose, thank you so much for sharing that legend, that story with us today.

And we look forward to having you back on the show later, right?

And share with us some more legends, some more stories, some more history.

- Sure, I sure will.

- (laughs) All right, thank you, Rose.

Oh, so cool, so good, so fun.

All right, friends.

Siblee, you know Siblee.

He's got those fun, silly jokes.

It's time for Laughing with Siblee.

(kids cheering) - How do bears catch fish without a pole?

- [Wimee] Hm, I don't know.

- With their "bear" hands.

(laughs) (kids cheering) - Maybe that bear would still have his tail if he was using his paws to fish.

(snickers) That's fun.

Hey, friends, we love books.

It's time for Check Out This Book.

(upbeat music) Hi, Ms. Lisa.

How are you?

- I'm good, thanks.

I loved hearing Rose's story today.

That was so wonderful.

- I know, right?

- Yeah.

I'm excited to get to share a story about a bear with you all, too.

- [Wimee] What's it about?

- I am going to talk to you a little bit today about Letters from Bear by Gauthier, David.

And it is published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

In this book, Bear, with his short little tail, Bear is with his friend Bird at the beginning, and Bird flies south.

And as soon as Bird leaves, Bear is very sad.

And this whole book is told in letters that Bear is writing to his friend Bird, because right after his friend leaves, he decides that he's gonna go find her, his bird friend.

And he travels through all these interesting places writing letters to his friend bird.

This is a really fun book.

A fun one to read with a grown-up.

- Man, I got to go check out that book, Ms. Lisa.

Thank you so much.

I got to find out, how does the bird help him?

And lots of birds, one bird?

I don't know, I got to go find out.

Well, friends, we got to check in with Nia to see what things she has changed.

- All right, Wimee, are you ready?

- Yep.

- All righty, let me show you.

Here we go.

- Oh man, what changed?

Oh, the squirrels have moved around.

And they've got a jar?

Oh, they've got the honey jar.

The beehive, the jar of honey.

- [Nia] Yeah, they have a honey jar.

- [Wimee] Okay, so that's one change.

Friends at home, anybody see?

I think, oh, I think before there was one deer, but now there are two.

Am I correct?

- [Nia] There we go.

- [Wimee] Oh, so that's two changes.

Let's see, anything else change?

- [Nia] One more change.

- One more.

Friends backstage, anybody see what's maybe different?

- Is it the background?

- It's the background, it is!

(Wimee laughs) Ms. Lisa got the last one, awesome.

Well, Nia, thanks for mixing it up on the Wimage.

- Of course.

- Ha, ha, friends, this show is action-packed with adventure, with games, with fun.

It's time for today's Find it Fast.

(rock music) All right, friends.

Can you find something that starts with B, like bear?

Something soft, like the fur on a bear?

And something black, like some bears?

Now, take a listen to this awesome music.

This is our friend Royce- Royce.

I combined a few words in my brain.

Our friend Rose is singing.

Oh, it's called the Eagle Song, one of Michigan's oldest songs.

Okay, so, friends, can you find something that starts with B, something soft, can you find something black?

Find it.

Where can you find something that starts with B?

Ms. Stephanie, what do you have?

- So I have this notebook right here.

So a notebook, it's a type of book.

- Yep.

- Starts with B.

It's a black and it's soft.

It has a soft cover.

- Ooh, I like it.

Thanks, Ms. Stephanie.

Let's see, friends, what else can you find?

What starts with B?

Bear, Bob.

Anybody have an uncle Bob?

Hey, Michael, what have you got?

- So I've got this Wimee plush, which is pretty soft.

- Soft.

- Hi, guys.

- Hi, me.

- I also have this black ink.

- Nice.

- And something that starts with B is I'm a boy.

- Yeah, ha, ha, that'll work.

(Wimee laughs) I like that.

Something that starts with B. Hm, something soft.

Maybe a kitty?

Oh, any of the animals we mentioned with soft fur, I bet.

Anybody have a bear in their house?

Or a chinchilla?

(Wimee gasps) - I have a soft block.

(singing in foreign language) - Yeah.

- That starts with B.

- And I have a, like Michael, I have a pen with black ink.

- Ha, ha, that's perfect.

Ms. Lisa, at first, I thought you were holding a giant piece of cheese.

(laughs) Okay, what else?

Something black.

Ooh, ooh, a black blanket, perfect.

Something soft.

(singing in foreign language) Oh, can you imagine a nice soft blanket?

Well, friends, let's see what Nia's got.

Nia, what have you got?

- I have a water bottle that actually has a D on it.

Deer Park water.

(Wimee gasps) - And then, I have my black iPad.

- Oh.

- And then, in this box, it's soft tissue.

- Oh, those are soft.

The tissues in box, that starts with B too.

(Wimee laughs) Well, friends, thanks so much.

Ooh, Michael's got something.

What do you got?

Michael, you're overachiever, what'd you get now?

- I just wanted to end with that music is so soft and spiritual and it's just doing something to me, so that's all I wanted to say.

It's very soft, loving music.

- I'm so glad you said that.

Rose, I was just gonna ask, can you tell us more about the song?

- Well, what you were listening to was the vocables of the Eagle Song.

And in the other part, if they listen to the whole song, there is words that are all in the true language of Michigan.

So I encourage you to, you know, listen to the song and listen to the poem that goes with it.

- We'll post a link.

So this song, Rose, you and Kevin, and Ryan Hip and Stephanie, you worked together on the recording from the book, "A Curious Glimpse of Michigan" and the poem, right, it's called, "These Were the First Americans."

And the lovely recording that you did in the Native American flute.

And it was an honor working together.

I wasn't around back there, but Kevin told me about it.

- The song is actually a journey song, and you know, whenever you're leaving to somewhere, or you're going on to do something else, that's when that song will be played or sang.

- Wow, that's beautiful.

- It's very beautiful, thank you so much, Rose, for sharing that.

- Thank you.

- I love it.

Well, friends, Michael and Rose, stay right with us.

We're ready for the dance party, so let's bring in Nia and Lisa and Stephanie.

Oh, let's cue the music.

Let's get ready to dance, friends.

It's been so fun learning about bears, writing stories, checking out books, hearing awesome music.

(Wimee laughs) Could we dance like a beer?

How would bears dance?

Oh yeah, Michael's got it.

- [Narrator] Wimee's Words is brought to you by PNC Grow Up Great, Funterra by SMART, Meijer, and with additional support from these great partners.

(upbeat music) (groovy music)