[bright music] - [Announcer] Ready to learn?

- Hi.

- Hi friends.

- [Announcer] It's time to share a story, read, and write.

- Let's take it from the beginning.

- [Announcer] Discover, science, sing.

♪ Hello friends ♪ - [Announcer] Play and so much more.

- We're exploring with light.

- [Announcer] Stay tuned for lessons and activities.

- And the keyword is- - Apple.

- Awesome.

[bright music] - [Announcer] Funding for this program was provided by the JPB Foundation.

[bright music] - Hi everybody, my name is Maria and this is my son- - Miller.

- Miller.

And Miller is- - 10.

- Almost 11.

And this is our puppy, Hopper.

And Hopper just loves to sit with us when we're doing anything.

And Hopper is almost four-years-old.

So today we're going to read a book to you.

And the name of the book is "Brave Miss Muffet".

Okay, and it's written by Dori Graham and illustrated by Kyle Beckett.

Now, when I was little, there was a nursery rhyme and I don't know if you heard it as much when you were little.

When I was little, there was a nursery rhyme called, "Little Miss Muffet".

And the way it went was Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet eating her curds and whey.

And there came a spider and sat down beside her and frightened Miss Muffet away.

And that was the nursery rhyme I heard a lot when I was little.

Now this book is called "Brave Miss Muffet".

So I don't think she gets frightened away in this book.

And I think we'll learn a lot about what it takes to be brave.

So Miller, when do you feel brave?

When do you feel like you need to be brave?

- At my soccer games.

- At your soccer games, right.

And I've seen you playing very well at your soccer break out games and I know it takes a lot of bravery and I'm really proud of you.

- Thank you.

- Okay, so let's start reading about brave Miss Muffet.

This, my dear reader, is the story of Little Miss Muffet.

Little Miss Muffet sat on her- - [Miller] Tuffet.

- [Maria] Eating her curds and whey.

Mm, these curds are- - Delicious.

- Delicious.

Curds, I don't know if I've had curds.

Have you had curds?

No, I don't really think I've had curds.

Along came a spider.

A what?

And it sat down beside her.

It sat where?

Where did it sit?

- Beside her?

- Beside her and frightened Miss Muffet away, boo.

Wait, does she get frightened away, Miller?

- No.

- Wait, what's going on here?

Little Miss Muffet, aren't you afraid?

I don't think she's afraid.

And this is quite a interesting spider.

- Yeah.

- Right.

Okay.

No way, I like- - [Miller] Spiders.

- [Maria] Look at all those long, lanky- - [Miller] Legs.

- [Maria] Let's count them.

- [Miller] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

- So the eight legs do not frighten Miss Muffet.

Well, this won't work.

I can't tell this story if you aren't afraid of spiders.

Mm, how about this?

Okay, let's try this.

Let's try another part of the nursery rhyme.

You ready?

Little Miss Muffet- - Muffet.

- [Maria] Sat on her- - [Miller] Tuffet.

- Eating her curds and whey.

- Whey.

- [Maria] Along came a- - Tiger.

- Tiger.

- [Maria] This is going to frighten her because he's growling.

It sat down beside her.

- Beside her.

- [Both] And frightened Miss Muffet away.

- Do you think it's going to frighten Miss Muffet away?

- No.

- It's trying to pull her away.

Oh boy, what did she say?

- [Miller] Oh, a kitty.

- Oh, a kitty.

No, no, no, he's a tiger and he's supposed to be scary.

And let me tell you something, if you're ever at the zoo and you see a tiger, do not say oh, kitty.

Okay?

- Don't.

- This is just a book.

But he's so sweet and fluffy.

Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.

Skat cat.

I'm gonna try again.

Okay, oh-hoo.

This might frighten her.

It would definitely frighten me.

Miller, would it frighten you?

- 100%.

- Would it frighten, well, let's see if it's going to frighten you.

Okay, Little Miss Muffet.

- [Miller] Sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey.

After awhile, she met a crocodile and- - A crocodile and she is sitting in that crocodile's mouth.

Remember, this is a book.

- She looks a little bit scared right there.

- She looks a little scared.

So it looks like she's trying to be brave.

It looks like she's trying to be brave.

- The dog is definitely scared.

- [Maria] Oh, Miss Muffet, decided to stay.

Crocodiles are so cool.

No, they're not, they're scary.

Look at all those ferocious- - [Miller] Teeth.

- [Maria] You're supposed to be running away in all-consuming- - Terror.

- Terror.

Well, hi there, toothy buddy.

You're such a sweet buddy, buddy.

Oh, this is- - Hopeless.

- Hopeless.

Aren't you afraid of- - Anything?

- Not really.

It doesn't seem like she is.

How about snakes?

- Nope.

- Nope.

Bears?

- Nope.

- My goodness.

Sharks.

She said, "Nah."

Dragons?

- Nope.

- [Maria] Wait, did you say dragons?

Yes, a dragon.

Would you be afraid of a dragon?

Did I finally find something that will scare you?

A dragon of my very own?

I've always wanted a dragon ever since I was a teeny, tiny little girl.

This is- - So exciting.

- So exciting.

How big is it?

Does it fly?

Can I ride it?

I wonder where I can find a dragon saddle?

- Maybe a horse saddle would work too.

- Maybe but it totally has to be bigger 'cause dragons are huge.

I can't work like this.

How am I supposed to tell the story if you aren't afraid of- - [Miller] Spiders, tigers, crocodiles, snakes, bears, sharks, or dragons?

- I don't know.

I guess you'll have to tell a different story.

A different story?

Like what?

Brave Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet eating her curds and whey.

No matter what terror was used to scare her, she couldn't be frightened away.

It doesn't sound as fun as the other one, does it?

Well, ain't that the truth?

It is the truth.

It's not as interesting as the other one.

Now, about that dragon- - The end.

- The end.

What a lovely book.

[bright music] [cat meowing] - Scat cat.

- Scat cat.

- That cat, I hate when he bothers us.

- I know.

- Oh my goodness.

But you know what I realized?

Scat and cat have the same sound in the middle.

What is that sound that they both have in the middle?

- A.

- What do you mean?

What is A saying?

- Aa.

- Oh, it's making a short A sound?

- Yep.

- Pretty cool.

Hi friends, my name is Anna.

- And my name is Jordan.

- And we were just about to do some work on the short A sound.

Would you like to do some work with us?

Yeah, okay.

Let's get our ears ready to listen and play with some sounds.

It's rhyme time.

So when words rhyme, they sound the same, from the vowel sound, all the way through to the end of the word.

So for example, words like cut and hut rhyme because they both say ut at the end of the word.

- And just like hat and cat because they both have two same vowel and consonant, which is A and T. - And what does A and T say?

- At.

- Awesome.

So what we're gonna do is if these words rhyme, you're gonna give us a thumbs up.

If they don't rhyme, you're gonna give us a thumbs down.

And we're gonna remember that words that rhyme sound the same from that vowel sound all the way through to the end of the word.

So let's start off with an easy one.

Jordan gave you one.

Do these two words rhyme, cat, hat?

That's right, they rhyme.

How about bat, sat?

They do.

How about these two words, map, mop?

Nope.

How about tap, pat?

Oh, listen carefully.

Tap ends in the ap sound.

And pat end in the at sound.

So do ap and at rhyme?

Nope, so that one's a thumbs down.

Good try though.

Last one, do these two words rhyme, cab, nab?

Let's listen, cab ends in the ab sound and nab ends in the ab sound.

So do they rhyme?

- Nope.

- Cab, ab.

- Yes.

- Yes, they do.

They both end in that ab sound.

You gotta listen very carefully, right.

They both have that ab in cab and the ab in nab.

Okay, before we get into our real phonics work, let's review some letter sounds.

We're gonna show you some letters.

We want you to tell us the letter name and then the sound that they represent.

So, for example, what is the name of this letter?

- C. - C. And what sound does it represent?

[k noise] Awesome.

Do you wanna show them one?

- Yep.

What's this one?

- Oh.

- It's B.

- B, and what sound does B represent?

[ba noise] - Ba, awesome.

Let's do, what letter is this?

- It's T. - And what sound does it represent?

[t noise] Awesome.

You wanna show them the next one?

Okay.

- What sound does this represent?

- Oh, what sound does that represent?

Well, hopefully, you think it's the letter D. So it represents which sound, Jordan?

[duh noise] - Duh, awesome.

Tell me the letter name?

- M. - And what sound does it represent.

[mm noise] Awesome.

- What is this letter?

And it is P. And the sound is [puh noise].

- Beautiful.

Okay, how about, what is the letter?

[nn noise] What's the letter name?

- N. - And what's the sound?

[nn noise] And notice when we make that nn sound, our lips are apart [nn noise], so like a nice little smile.

Versus when we make that mm sound, our mouth [mm noise], our lips were together.

All right, here's one.

Why don't you take it and ask them what the letter.

- This is S. - And what sound does it represent?

[ss noise] Awesome.

Okay, we are ready to start building some words.

So A the short sound is Aa like apple.

Say Aa Aa apple.

- Aa Aa apple.

- We hear the short A sound in the middle of many words, like rat, bat, cab, and lad.

A makes its short sound because it's a closed syllable, or the vowel is closed in.

Kind of like a door is shutting and making it say its short sound.

So let's say it again.

Aa Aa apple.

- Aa Aa apple.

- Okay, now what we're gonna do is Jordan's gonna help us build some words.

So the first word I want us to build is the word cat.

What sounds do we hear in the word cat?

So first, let's stretch it, cat.

Now let's tap it, kuh, Aa, tt.

- Cat.

- All right, so which letter's gonna represent that kuh sound in cat?

- C. - Okay, so let's put our C at the start of our word 'cause we already have our Aa there 'cause that's not gonna change.

That's gonna stay the same.

All right, so kuh, and what's that last one?

- And T. - All right, so put that there.

And let's make sure we're right.

Let's do some continuous blending.

So let's start with the first sound and you're gonna follow my finger and blend it all the way through.

Let's go, kuh-Aa-tt.

Let's do it a little faster, kuh-Aa-tt.

Read it.

- Cat.

- Cat, awesome.

Now, let's turn cat into bat.

What would we need to do, Jordan?

- You just change the C into B.

- All right, so do it for us.

Put it there.

You wanna put the next one up?

Go ahead.

- Now it's bat.

- Now it's bat?

Let's blend it to make sure.

First we'll do it slowly, and then we'll get a little faster, and then we'll read the whole word.

Buh-Aa-tt.

A little faster, buh-Aa-tt.

Read it.

- Bat.

- Bat.

All right, now let's turn bat into bad.

- Which we only change the T. - Oh, okay.

And then what do we need to change bat into bad?

- D. - All right.

Come on, let's blend it, buh-Aa-dd.

Buh-Aa-dd.

- Bad.

- Bad, awesome.

Now let's turn bad into mad.

Okay, how would we do that?

- Just change this into M. - Okay, so we're changing that buh sound into what sound?

- Mm.

- Mm, okay.

- So change it to this one.

- We need the M to represent Mm.

Okay, let's go.

- Not Nn, Mm.

- All right, let's blend it through.

Mm-Aa-dd.

A little faster, Mm-Aa-dd.

Read it.

- Mad.

- Awesome.

All right, now let's turn mad into map.

- We just change this.

- Okay, so we're getting rid of the duh.

- D. - And we're, oh, okay.

- Not D, P. - [laughing] Not D, P. All right, so let's blend through.

Ready?

Mm-Aa-pp.

A little faster, Mm-Aa-pp.

Read it.

- Map.

- Map.

All right, now let's turn map into sap, which is that sticky stuff that we see in trees.

So how do we turn map into sap?

- Change the M into S. - Okay, so we're changing the M into Ss.

- Yeah, not Mm, Ss.

- Right.

Okay, let's blend.

Ss-Aa-pp.

A little faster, Ss-Aa-pp.

Read it.

- Sap.

- Okay, now here's a tricky one.

How would we turn sap into snap?

[Jordan snapping] Mm, how would we do that, Jordan?

Sap into snap.

Where do you hear a sound being added?

- So first, we take off the S. - We take it away.

We don't need it anymore for snap?

- No, we still do.

- Oh, we still need it.

Oh, okay.

Oh, but what's that sound we hear?

- Nn.

- Nn, okay.

Oh, you put the blend at the beginning.

So now let's blend through this word.

Sn-Aa-pp.

Sn-Aa-pp.

Read the word?

- Snap.

- [snapping] Just like that.

Awesome, job.

- Yeah, not Mm, Nn.

- Correct.

[bright music] - Hi, my name is Tomio and today, I'm gonna teach you some soccer moves.

Let's start with dribbling.

Try to use the laces of your shoe and not the toe.

You must be thinking, why not the toe?

Well, you have a lot more power in your laces than your toe.

And also, don't try to use one foot only, try to use two because if you just use one foot, it's gonna get tired.

And then you won't be able to run.

[bright music] - Hey there, friends at home.

Me and Lily, we're in the middle of a problem.

- Yeah, the problem is that you took the last sheet of our favorite sparkly paper.

That's not fair.

- Well, I only took it because I wanted to write a letter to my grandma.

She loves when I write letters on our favorite sparkly paper.

- Well, I want you to write a letter to your grandma but what about my grandma?

She likes the sparkly paper too.

- Yeah, that's true.

Friends at home, do you see the problem?

- How can the two of us share this one piece of paper?

- Oh, I have an idea.

I remember that we got this paper from Mr. Marcus, who lives next door.

What if we just asked him for more?

- Yeah, but remember, he's in Michigan visiting his cousin.

- Okay, so we know that we can't get more paper from Mr. Marcus.

But what if we made some more?

- I love that idea.

[fun music] All done.

- Whoa, Lily.

That looks so good.

I really like all the swirls of glitter that you have.

- [Lily] Isn't it beautiful?

- It is beautiful.

But I'm a little worried that it won't fit in an envelope and that it might be hard to write on.

- Oh, I didn't think of that.

Well, maybe it can be a rug.

- Lily, I just got another idea.

So we have one sheet of sparkly paper left.

What if we just share it?

- Share it?

How would we do that?

Our grandmas don't live in the same place?

- No, no, no, we can make this one piece of paper into two.

Here, I'll show you.

I can fold it in half and crease it really good, so it's easier to tear, and then rip, we have two pieces of paper.

- Omar, you're such a problem solver.

And look, they're the same size.

Now we can both write letters to our grandmas on beautiful, sparkly paper.

Omar, I'm so happy you figured out a way we could share our last piece of sparkly paper.

Thank you for being a good friend.

- Of course, Lily.

I was just trying to be fair.

- Fair, yeah, like when we play games, we take turns.

- Yeah, that's actually what's so great about games is that they're designed to be fair.

Games have rules that make sure everyone who's playing has the same chances.

- Yeah, well, I don't always love rules but I do love games.

Do you have a game we can play?

- Lily, you know I do.

Friends at home, it's game time.

It's a card game.

It's called Who's Got More?

Let's get our materials.

We use 10 dot number cards.

Let's shuffle them first.

Then each pick five cards, but no peeking.

But wait, something's not right.

What do you think, friends at home?

Do we have the same number of cards?

- [Lily] Oh, I'm sorry.

I just got so excited to play.

Looks like I took one too many.

- [Omar] Okay, so now we have our materials ready and we have the same number of cards.

We're ready to learn how to play Who's Got More.

It's simple, on the count of three, flip a card.

Then compare the number of dots and think, Who's Got More?

Let's play.

- One, two, three, flip.

- I'll count to see.

I have one and you have one, two, three, four, five.

Five, that's more.

Five is more than one.

- One, two, three, flip.

- Okay, I got one, two, three and you got one, two, three, four.

I think four is bigger than three.

- One, two, three, flip.

- I got four again.

I have one, two, three, four and you got one, two.

Four is more than two.

- One, two, three, flip.

- [Omar] I got one and you got one, two.

Two is bigger, yeah.

- Two is more.

- One, two, three, flip.

- Let's count together.

- [Both] One, two, three, four, five.

One, two, three.

- Five is more.

I loved that game.

Omar, you're so right, rules do make games fair.

- And fairness makes play fun.

- It sure does.

- Well, you know, I've got an idea for a game and this game is about dancing.

But instead of figuring out who's got more, we're gonna figure out how to make the same number.

- Same number.

Oh, like when we had to each have the same number of cards.

- Exactly.

In this game, which I call Movement Match, pay close attention to the number of movements that I make because you're gonna have to make the same number.

Friends at home, Lily, you're gonna have to match me.

Okay, ready?

[foot banging] [whimsical music] Ready?

[hands clapping] [whimsical music] Okay, ready?

- Ready?

[hands clapping] [whimsical music] Ready?

[feet thudding] [whimsical music] - Friends at home, how do you play fairly?

How does being fair make it easier to be a good friend?

- But Omar, our letters to our grandmas.

- Oh, right.

Friends at home, we gotta run.

We gotta mail these letters.

See ya.

- Hi, my name is Ceucynth.

My husband, Roberto, and I have three kids, Ian, Zoe, and Lucas.

My kids and I love to read together.

The kids are in different reading levels but we make it fun for all of us.

We put the phones away.

We each choose a book and read for 20 minutes and then we'll talk about it.

- A paper of himself.

- Yeah, like a paper of myself.

- [Ceucynth] Another activity we love is having one of the kids read it for all of us.

- The falls are beautiful.

- We act out the story to make it fun.

- There can be no strings.

- It's great when the kids can help each other.

- Ian, do you know what console means?

- Council?

- I love to encourage them to discuss the story.

What do you think is happening?

- Lakes will never melt and neither will the ice.

- Reading is so valuable because it's a way that we can be together and make a connection, have our fun time, and we learn from each other.

[bright music] - Hi friend.

My name is Travis.

I'm an animal interpreter here at the Memphis Zoo in Memphis, Tennessee.

Did you know that everything, from a fish to a bird to a snake, a lizard, even spiders and scorpions are all considered animals?

Everything, from the smallest ant to the biggest blue whale are all animals like us.

There are a few very simple things that we all share with these wonderful creatures, like how we can feel emotions like happiness, being sad, or sometimes angry.

They grow up too and get big and strong to thrive in their wild homes.

And some have families and personalities that are both similar and different from our own.

So come with me and some of my animal friends here in the zoo we'll show you that we're really not so different after all.

There are thousands of different kinds of birds, everything from tiny sparrows to big hawks, like the red-tailed hawk.

And just like how I'm using my voice to talk to all of y'all, birds use their voices too to talk to other birds.

But theirs sounds a bit different.

They do calls or even sing songs to each other.

They also use their bodies to speak to each other as well.

Just like us, birds feel things.

And while they might not be telling everyone how they feel using their voice, they can do so using their bodies.

Some birds feel dirty.

They take baths in puddles of water or bird baths in our gardens.

Some birds get scared of other animals, so they'll call for their friends to warm them of any potential dangers in the area.

And some birds can get really sleepy.

They'll fluff their feathers up, bury their heads in their bodies, and go to sleep where they feel safe and comfortable.

When I was a kid, I really loved playing with toys and making up stories.

Valentine the turkey vulture isn't telling stories with her toys but she is still playing with them and using her mind.

She loves pulling at things, using her strong beak to tear at boxes.

In the wild, she'll be using those same strategies to get to any tasty snacks that might be a bit hidden.

Some birds, like crows and ravens, have even been seen to surf on the air by holding a leaf or a twig in her feet.

When our friends or family get sick, we try our best to help them feel better.

Parrot hawks will do the same thing.

If a member of their flock gets hurt, they'll bring them food so they can rest.

Now that we've seen how birds feel emotions, they'll play around, or even help each other out, we can better connect with our feathery friends.

So the next time you see one out in the world, imagine if you were one too.

This is Bisquick.

He's a pancake tortoise.

And like other turtles, snakes and lizards, he's a reptile.

And while reptiles are covered in scales instead of hair like we are, we can look at reptiles and see that we have a lot in common.

Some reptiles love to explore.

Some tortoises are always on the move, looking for food, making sure their homes are safe.

Some reptiles, like a lot of snakes, don't like to explore as much.

They like to bask in the sunlight and take long naps until they get hungry and hope food comes to them.

Crocodiles, some lizards, and many other reptiles are amazing parents.

Crocodile moms protect their nests, sometimes not even moving until they hatch.

And when they do, she'll carry them on her back until their big and strong enough to survive on their own.

Isn't it interesting though, while your family might be different than a crocodile, but we both have caregivers help us live and grow.

We are very lucky here at the zoo because we get to work with Monty, the Ball python.

Monty here is 38-years-old, which is pretty old for a snake.

Monty also only has one eye.

But Ball pythons have a special skill where they can see how hot their prey is.

They also have a forked tongue they could use to sniff out where their smelly prey might be.

So while Monty here might look a bit different than other Ball pythons, she is just as capable as any other snake.

As we saw, reptiles can show emotions, just like us and our bird friends, and they can have amazing families too.

And while there are many different kinds of birds and reptiles that come in all shapes, colors, and sizes, all of these wonderful animals are enjoying the world we live in, just like us.

Mammals are animals that are covered in fur and sometimes hair.

And did you know that humans are mammals too?

We're actually distant relatives of primates, like gorillas and chimps.

And you're probably more used to seeing cats and dogs, but all mammals can be just like us, having fun, having feelings, and having their own special families and lives.

Picture a dog playing with a ball or a cat stretching in a sunbeam.

The dog is probably happy and playful.

The cat is probably sleepy.

And just like you and I can get nervous or scared sometimes, mammals can too.

Porcupines will raise their quills up and show up how big and pointy they are when they get nervous.

And some mammals, like rats and other rodents, live in large families.

While some others like opossums, bears, and wild cats likely more by themselves.

We saw earlier how birds, like crows and vultures, play.

And other animals, like mammals, love to play too.

Big cats, like lions, when they're young will playfully pounce on each other and play fight.

This helps 'em gain the skills they need to survive in the wild.

As they get older, some mammals prefer to nap instead of playing and that's fine too.

There are thousands of different kinds of mammals in the world and there are hundreds of different families they can have.

Some live in large groups called colonies, like these meerkats, where they help each other.

Some live with just a friend or even a relative.

And some animals prefer to live by themselves.

No matter how large their families are, mammals are amazing animals, and helping each other out doesn't stop at just friends they know.

Beavers are famous for their homes called lodges and their dams.

And when it gets cold, you can find them housing other animals, like frogs and chipmunks, in their lodges too.

This is my favorite animal in the entire world.

This is the Virginia opossum and they can sometimes have a huge family.

Sometimes mom can have 13 kids.

But once they all grow up, they tend to go their separate ways.

They might spend the rest of their lives by themselves.

They're a perfect example that no matter where you come from, you can live life in your own unique way.

Just like humans have so much diversity, but we're also humans, mammals are the same way.

Just think about how many different types of dogs there are, but they're all still dogs.

And there are animals that will change their color with the changing seasons, but sometimes the same animal can change its entire look.

But no matter what they look like, they're still the same wonderful animal.

We learned a lot about our mammal friends here today.

We learned that there are thousands of different kinds of mammals with hundreds of different kinds of families.

They can all show emotions, they can have friends and family, and they all like to play around and do things like you and I like to do.

So sometimes it's cool to think that we share something in common with our furry, four-legged friends like Opal here.

Now that we've seen some of the amazing animals here at the zoo, we could see that we're not so different after all.

I mean not just mammals, we talked about, we saw reptiles and birds too.

Everything from the smallest ant to the biggest blue whale, we all share something with.

And just like these animals help each other in the wild, there are a few simple things we can do to help them just by putting our trash in the right places or just leaving wild animals be.

Or always we can make sure that these wonderful creatures can share all the joy this world can bring.

So I wanna thank you for joining me on this journey.

I hope you had fun today, I know I did.

Bye.

[speaking in foreign language] - Like a paper of himself.

- Yeah, like a paper of myself.

[speaking in foreign language] - The falls are beautiful.

[speaking in foreign language] There can be no spring.

[speaking in foreign language] - Ian, do you know what console means?

- Council?

[speaking in foreign language] - What do you think is happening?

- Lakes will never melt and neither will the ice.

[speaking in foreign language] [bright music] - Hi everyone.

My name is Yakir and I'm a teaching artist for National Dance Institute.

Today, I wanna create exciting beats with you.

We're gonna first start with a very basic, plain rhythm.

Then we're gonna learn how to create a musical lasagna and put all these layers on top of a very simple beat and make it more exciting, more flavorful, and more fun to dance to.

But first, before we start, let me introduce to you my friends.

This is Jasmine.

Jasmine is a dumbeck.

Isn't she gorgeous?

And she's originally from Egypt.

And a dumbeck is one of the most celebrated drums of the Middle East.

And I'm sitting now, it's one of the only instruments that you can actually sit on it to play it, on Claudio.

Claudio is like a horn, like a horn in a box.

As you can see, Claudio is basically a box, a beautiful box with a little hole to get the sound out.

But you sit on it and play it.

[rhythmic drumming] So Claudio and Jasmine and I are gonna take you on a journey, the musical lasagna journey.

Who does not like pasta, lasagna and sauce?

First, let's start with a very simple beat.

Now, I'm gonna play it from Jasmine and Claudio, but you can grab anything that you can find around the house that makes two different, distinct sounds.

In a drum, there is a low sound and a high sound.

Very, very different.

In Claudio, it sounds like this [drumming].

A low and a high.

And a beat is basically just a pattern that keeps repeating and makes you wanna move.

Let's start with a very simple beat that's gonna go like this.

Low, high, low, low, high.

Low, high, low, low, high.

A one sound and the other sound.

Let's try this on Claudio.

[rhythmic drumming] All right, that's a great start.

Now, grab whatever you have and now let's add to it.

Let's try first with Jasmine.

I have a free hand over here, so that hand is gonna play what I call running, where that's basically the sauce.

We have a plain pasta dish and now we need the sauce.

Here is our pasta dish [rhythmic drumming].

And now we have to decide what kind of sauce we're gonna put on that plain bowl of pasta.

So I'm gonna add these running sixteenths.

It just feels like running to me.

In music, you pronounce them like this, onie and a twoie and a threey and a fourie.

Onie and a twoie and a threey and a fourie.

Onie and a twoie and a threey and a fourie.

Like that.

Now let's see what happens when we take those 16 notes, which is our sauce, and add it to the main dish, to the pasta, which is [rhythmic drumming].

Okay, let's try it.

First, before that, I just have to comb my eyebrows to make sure they're pruned before the performance.

All right, here we go, on Jasmine first [running beat].

Woo hoo hoo, it's so exciting.

You know, those running sixteenth notes, they make the beat move forward, propel it.

Make it kind of like so exciting to follow and to move to.

Let's see how that sounds with Claudio.

I don't know why it helps but it does.

Here we go.

This is our plain dish of pasta [rhythmic drumming].

It's kind of cool on its own.

Yeah, we feel like moving but what happens [running beat].

Ah, this is great.

Now another important part about our dish or our musical lasagna or our pasta bowl is to add spices.

Now spices are a personal touch.

Some people like a lot of sauce, some people like no black pepper, and some of my friends just put a whole lot of Parmesan cheese on everything they eat.

But that's personal taste.

My favorite flavors come from cymbals and I have some with me.

I have a little, tiny finger cymbal and you kind of place it on your fingers like this.

And now, let's play the beat and see what happens.

We're gonna play our basic beat first and then add the running onie and a twoie in it.

[rhythmic drumming] Now that adds a lot more flavor, right.

Now we're gonna add the running [running beat].

Onie and a twoie and a threey.

It sounds good, right?

Now the truth is that many people like more than one spice on top of their dish.

So why don't we do the same?

I have another cymbal right here.

This one is for my foot.

Now I place it right here and now I can make part of the beat with my foot [bells clanging].

How cool is that?

Let's try that with the foot and a finger cymbal and Claudio at the same time.

Let's start from plain and build it up.

[rhythmic drumming] [bells clanging] [running beat] Woo hoo hoo, we are really creating all of these beautiful textures, layers, and spices.

Now that we have this flavorful bowl of pasta with sauce and spices, we're almost ready to eat.

But the most important thing for me when I'm eating is company.

So wait one second.

I'm gonna call my children to come and join us and add a little extra spice to the rhythms that we have so far.

Okay, I have my children here.

This is Robbie.

Robbie, what did you bring?

- I brought a box and an upside down plate and I've got two Sharpies.

And I'm going to make a running beat.

One high sound one [clanging] with the upside down plate.

And one low sound one with the cardboard box [thumping].

- Nice.

Can you do like a little bit on this and then switch, so we hear the difference?

[Robbie clanging and thumping] Yeah, it makes me wanna move.

Okay, Shaunie, what did you find?

Oh, this is Shaunie.

Shaunie, what did you find?

- I have a cheese grater and a fork.

- Okay.

You can grate all kind of stuff, not just cheese.

- Yeah, well yeah.

- Yeah.

- So I'm making these two sounds [scraping and tapping].

- It's like a slide, click, click, slide, click, click.

Nice.

I wanna play, you know what I'm thinking?

I wanna play my foot cymbal, my finger cymbal, and Claudio.

But I'm not gonna start right with all of that, I'm gonna build into it.

So now, we have to teach our friends that there is also another aspect of the beat that's called the drum break and that sort of signals when things start and when they end or when they kind of change and it sounds like this.

[rhythmic drumming] And now we'll cue when Robbie starts, he's gonna come in first.

And then we'll also cue when Shaunie comes in later.

And at the end, the third cue will be when we finish.

So you grab whatever you found and join us.

Here we go.

[rhythmic drumming] This is just a plain bowl of pasta.

Now I'm gonna add the running.

Robbie, won't you join me.

[Robbie clanging and thumping] I'm gonna add my cymbals [clanging].

Shaunie, won't you join us.

[scraping and tapping] Ah, this feels good.

Anything else you'd like to add?

- I love cheese.

- Oh, thank you for that.

Would you like to add anything?

- That was spicy.

- Oh yes.

Even Zoe thinks that, okay.

We had so much fun adding flavor and spices to our beat.

And now it's time to eat.

- It tastes like pee.

- [gagging] I'd much rather have a bowl of pasta.

See you next time.

[bright music] - Welcome to Let's Learn Living History.

I'm Miss Cheyney from New York Historical Society.

Today, I'm wearing a very typical outfit that women in the 18th century would've been wearing.

It's called an English gown.

And you'll notice that there are no zippers on this gown.

There aren't even any snaps or buttons.

I'm just pinned in with straight pins.

Today, we're gonna learn about a very special group of women, the she-merchants.

They're from 18th century New York.

That's about 250 years ago.

Now, to get started, we need to learn some definitions.

The first one is merchant.

Now a merchant 250 years ago, imported goods, meaning bringing goods from around the world to sell here in New York, exported goods, meaning taking goods produced here in New York and selling them around the world.

They also warehoused goods, meaning storing them, usually in a large warehouse.

And they also just simply sold them, sometimes in a store.

Just a regular store in the 18th century.

Last definition we want to learn about is she-merchants.

And a she-merchant is just a female merchant.

It wasn't very creative, was it?

A famous she-merchant was Mary Alexander.

And she specialized in haberdashery.

I love that word.

Haberdashery is just anything extra you add onto your clothes to make them look pretty.

Things like ribbon or fancy buttons or lace.

It all can be added on to add a little something extra to your clothes.

Now, we actually have something in our collection here at New York Historical Society that was from Mary Alexander and that was her sample book.

Take a look at this page from her sample book.

You'll notice that there are some beautiful colors represented here, a lot of different types of fabrics and lace.

You'll notice that there's even some silver lace.

Did you know that lace could be made from metal?

I bet someone who wore a gown that had this haberdashery would look fabulous.

Now we're gonna take a look at some of the items she-merchants were selling.

We're gonna start over here.

This is a porcelain bowl.

Can you guess where this porcelain bowl was imported from in the 18th century?

If you said China, you're correct.

Chinese porcelain was the most popular.

So much so that it was just referred to as China.

Now this is a custom made bowl.

This means that the person who had this made had to go through two different merchants, as well as an agent that went in between the two merchants to get this custom made.

Very, very expensive.

Most Chinese porcelain was expensive because it came all the way from China.

Next item, take a look.

Can you guess what this item is?

If you said sugar, you're correct.

Now this is how sugar was transported in the 18th century, in a cone shape.

This sugar was produced in the West Indies, in the Caribbean, places like Jamaica.

Now sugar was produced using slave labor.

Enslaved persons, meaning people who were owned by other people.

Now in order to get the sugar off of this cone, you have to use something called a sugar nipper.

And you just snip it off or you simply can take a knife and scrape off the sugar to make your cake.

This one I think will trip you up a little bit.

Take a look.

What do you think this item is?

No, it's not chocolate.

I got you.

This is actually a tea brick.

Now tea in the 18th century was stored in bricks like this so that they could be transported more easily.

Can you guess where this tea comes from?

If you said China, you're correct.

And again, this would be very expensive as well because it comes all the way from China.

But it was very popular here in New York.

Next item, I'm sure you know what this is.

Yes, it's a ribbon.

Another example of haberdashery, my favorite word.

Very soft.

This is a silk ribbon and this comes to us from France.

Next item.

Can you guess what this is?

Mm, it smells so good.

They're spices.

We have some cinnamon here and we have some cloves as well.

They smell so good.

In the 18th century, these came to us from what's now modern-day Indonesia and it was a colony of the Dutch during the time.

Now we're going to participate in an activity.

I'm gonna show you an item and you can decide if you would like to purchase it and I'm gonna tell you how much that item costs and you can pass me the money and I'll pass you the good.

Now we're gonna talk about coins in the 18th century because all of these items cost different amounts.

We're gonna first start with the coin that is worth the most.

First one is a gold shilling.

And can you believe that a gold shilling was actually made with real gold.

Then we have a silver shilling.

Do you know what a silver shilling was made of?

That's right, silver.

And then we have a haypenny.

How much do you think a haypenny was worth.

Half of one cent.

That's such a small amount.

Next, we're gonna take a look at the largest coin, the Spanish real, and it is made entirelh of silver, so it would be worth more than the silver shilling because it's a lot bigger than the silver shilling.

Is everyone ready to purchase some items that she-merchants were selling?

Well, let's begin.

First item is this beautiful, custom made porcelain bowl that comes to us all the way from China.

This was custom made for General George Washington, our first president.

Now, I think this one, a very expensive item, would've been a gold shilling.

Would you like to purchase this item?

If so, I would need one gold shilling, please.

That is a gold shilling.

Here is your item.

Next, we're selling the tea brick from China.

Beautiful Chinese tea.

Anyone ready for tea time?

One shilling.

All right.

Yes, that is a shilling.

Here is your tea.

Next, we're selling the ribbon, Mary Alexander's specialty.

Anyone wanna add a bit of haberdashery to their lives?

Now this is going to be a haypenny.

Remember, half of one cent.

Any takers?

A haypenny.

Yes, this is a haypenny.

Here is your ribbon.

Next, we're selling the spices.

We have some cinnamon and we have some cloves from modern-day Indonesia.

Any takers?

This one will be a Spanish real, very expensive.

Yes, this is a Spanish real.

Here are your spices.

Lastly, we have this cone of sugar.

Even though people in the 18th century used a lot of sugar, we're going to choose not to sell this item in our store today because it was produced with enslaved labor in the 18th century.

There are other options though to sweeten up your tea, like maple sugar or honey.

Mm, delicious.

Look at that, all cleaned out.

Thank you for joining us for Let's Learn Living History.

- [Announcer] Funding for this program was provided by the JPB Foundation.

[bright music]