(bright upbeat music) - Oh, I think that's gonna be a good one.

Oh, that's really cute.

- I can't believe we couldn't find you Mrs Hammack.

- What are you guys doing?

- Here you are.

- I am so excited.

I was just watching a video because "Cyberchase" is gonna... "Cyberchase: Green It Up" is gonna have a special Earth day celebration.

Do you know about Earth day?

- [Mrs Vang And Mrs Nix] No.

- We are gonna learn all about Earth day, and we get to come up with a special project to demonstrate all that we've learned.

And check this out on April 23rd, we get to take our a project and we get to have it displayed out at MTM on the river, which is like the, I think a lot of people know it as the Sportsman's club, but it's gonna be a great big day full of festival and fun.

And they're gonna have wildlife out there.

You're gonna get to plant some plants and do some crafts, but we've gotta get our project going, so I was just trying to watch the video about this project that we're gonna do.

- So that sounds like a lot of fun but does everybody get to do this?

- Everybody gets to do it.

In fact, I'm gonna challenge you and your classroom.

If you wanna participate in the fabulous Earth Day Challenge then you can visit valleypbs.org and get all the information to share with your teacher, because we would love to have all of our Fresno Unified Super Readers come on out, and have fun and demonstrate their learning about taking care of our earth.

It's gonna be so fun.

- Oh, that sounds a amazing, but you know what?

We probably should get started.

- Oh.

- Should we get started?

- Yeah, okay, I'll be right back.

- All right, okay.

So good morning super readers.

Thank you for joining us in our Valley PBS classroom.

I'm Mrs. Nix - I'm Mrs. Hammack.

- Hi, and I'm Mrs. Vang.

- We're so excited that she's back.

- [Mrs. Hammack And Mrs. Nix] Yay.

- So this is a place for us to come learn, practice, and - [All] grow our brains, - to become even stronger readers, writers and thinkers.

So let's get started by warming up our brains with some ear training called daily phonemic awareness.

Okay, so today what we're gonna do is we're gonna do a little practice with categorization.

I'm gonna give you three words, two of them have the same sounds in them but one of them doesn't, it doesn't belong.

- like this game - Kinda like my shirt with the rest of 'em.

(chuckles) All right.

So here we go.

Here's your three words today.

Cart, stack, heart.

Cart, stack, heart.

- Hmm, I think I got it.

- Listen for that middle sound.

- Did you get it?

- I think so.

Because stack has the A, which is different, 'cause cart has the AR and heart has the AR.

- Hey, we learned that sound last week.

- Ah, okay.

- Good listening.

- That was awesome.

All right.

So listen carefully, I've got three more.

Here we go.

More, treat, shore.

More, treat, shore.

- Okay, I got this one.

So more and shore both say ORE, but treat does not say the same sound.

- Mm mm, no.

- So, that one doesn't belong.

- All right, you guys are so smart.

Okay.

here's the last one.

Let's see if I can trick you up on this one.

- Okay.

- Pore, rake, store.

Are you listening too at home?

Pore, rake, store.

Which one doesn't belong or which two go together?

- I got it.

It was really super fast, 'cause I have my listeners turned on.

'Cause I heard pore and store they both have ORE, but rake says A.

- That's right.

- Awesome, I can't get anything past you guys.

- We're wearing our smarty pants.

(sighs) - I'm telling you, it's awesome.

You know what else is really super fun to do?

- Oh, here she goes again.

- And maybe we can like wiggle a little bit.

- I'm pretty sure she wants to dance.

- I kind of think so.

(Mrs. Hammack chuckles) Let's do it.

- So should it be standing up?

- Give yourself a little bit of space.

- Oh, this is a busy one.

- Oh yes.

(upbeat music) ♪ You get the ball and I will get the bat ♪ ♪ You get the ball and I will get the bat ♪ - I love baseball.

(chuckles) ♪ You get the ball ♪ - I'll get the bat.

♪ Play ball, play ball ♪ - Wow.

(upbeat music) ♪ You get the ball and I will get the bat ♪ ♪ You get the ball and I will get the bat ♪ ♪ You get the ball and I'll get the bat ♪ ♪ Play ball, play ball ♪ - Ooh.

- It's out of here.

(upbeat music) - I love it, that was a fun one.

- So much fun, right?

- So much fun.

- Oh, I love baseball.

- Okay, I think everybody's ready.

You think they're ready to learn our new focus sound of week?

- I think so.

- Sounds we'll see you in just a minute.

- All right.

Okay, super readers.

Let's go to our focus sound of the week.

This week we are working on the corn card.

Now the corn card says the OR sound.

Can you guys say that OR, good job.

Now, if you look on my corn card, there are three different ways to spell that or sound.

So we can spell it with the O-A-R, O-A-R says OAR, we can spell it with the O-R because that says OR and O-R-E also says ORE that's right.

Three different spelling for the same sound.

What sound was it or good job.

Now, remember as you're reading, when you see that O-A-R we say OAR good job, when we see that O-R we're going to say OR good, and when we see that O-R-E we're going to say ORE good job.

Now I have some letters here or some words here for us to blend.

Can you guys help me blend these words?

And actually, you know what?

I think I'm gonna ask my friends to come and join us.

Do you want that?

(screams) Hello.

- Hello Mrs. Vang we've missed you so much.

- Oh my goodness.

- We're so glad you're back.

- I'm so glad to be back in our PBS classroom, and I'm so happy to see you Rita, and I'm so happy to see you Tina.

Now are you guys ready to help me blend these words together?

- Mm hmm.

- Oh yeah.

- Okay.

- Let's do this.

- Are you guys ready?

Okay.

Now remember our focus sound this week is that or sound?

You guys ready?

Okay.

So I see it right here in the middle, so my oar gonna be that middle sound.

So help me blend ready?

B-OAR-D What's my word?

- [All] Board.

- Good job board.

- Oh board, like the board had pretty paintings on it.

- That's right board.

Actually, I'm so glad you said that, not like I finished all my homework and I was bored, 'cause that's a different bored with a different spelling.

Did you guys know that?

- No, I didn't know.

- What would that one look like?

- Oh, you know what?

I think we're gonna try to spell that later, 'cause it does have a different spelling.

'cause you remember the or has three different spelling, so we're gonna be learning all the different ways we can spell words with the different spelling patterns.

- Oh, I'm excited, I love to learn.

- I know this is fun.

Okay.

Let's see.

Can you guys help me blend the next word?

- Mm hmm.

- Okay, Tina, do you think you can do it by yourself?

- Okay.

- Okay, ready?

- S-OR-T, sort.

- Good job, sort.

- Oh, that was great.

- I like to sort my Legos by color.

- Ooh, I like that.

- I like that too.

- I love that, great idea.

Okay, Rita, are you ready to blend this word together?

- Yes I am.

- Ready, okay.

Oh, I see.

You see that?

- Yep, that's a blend, that's a blend.

- A blend, good job.

Okay, do you remember what that blend says?

- Yep.

- Okay, are you ready to blend?

- I am.

- Okay, ready?

- Store.

Store.

Store.

- Store, good job.

How'd you guys do at home?

Oh, you guys got it too.

Awesome job.

Thank you friends for helping us blend today.

Can you guys come back and help me tomorrow?

- Oh yeah.

- Okay, Bye friends.

- Bye.

- Okay, my friends at home, I want you guys to help me read this sentence.

Ready?

Our focus sound this week is the or sound.

Okay, are you ready?

Help me read the sentence.

Let's form our letters on the board.

How did you do?

Awesome job super readers.

Okay, now let's go and practice some more with our high frequency words with Mrs. Hammack.

- Good morning super readers.

We have some great words to practice this week.

Let's take a look at them.

There are six this week we have sure, learn, began, right, better.

and guess.

Let's practice with what it might look like in a sentence.

But let me tell you which word we're using today.

This is our word for today.

This word is sure.

Do you see the trick, right?

It does not start with the sh letters, does it?

It does have an S but there's not an H next.

This is one of those words that you just have to lock into your memory of how it looks, because it does not follow our normal spelling patterns.

So let's spell it out loud together.

S-U-R-E. Sure.

Now this one might take some practice.

You might wanna get a pencil or a pen, and you might wanna write it and say each letter, and then as you say the word, sure, give it a little underline.

Maybe do that a few times, that will help get it to be locked in.

Let's see what it looks like in a sentence.

He is sure he will be on time.

What do you think?

Now, there's another word I wanna show you today.

This word is better.

Now this one follows some of our spelling rules.

We could sound this one out.

Better.

So let's spell it.

B-E-T-T-E-R better.

And look at the sentence we have for that one, I hope you feel better.

Great job.

A great way to practice is by writing them as we spell them and read them together, and you could do that at home.

But I have another way to practice, we're gonna play I Spy a high frequency word, doesn't that sound fun?

Oh, I know.

So we're going to ask some of our friends to come and help us because we are going to play I Spy.

Do you know how to do I Spy?

Well, I'm gonna give our friends some clues about the words and they're gonna see if they can figure out which word I'm talking about.

So do you think that'll be fun?

All right.

All right, here's Mrs. Nix, she's gonna be our helper.

Are you ready Mrs. Nix?

- Okay, I think so.

- Okay.

So we always start the I Spy game with, I spy with my little eye, a word with the N sound at the end.

- Ooh, at the end.

- Uh this is gonna be tricky.

I tried one tricky for you because you're pretty fancy.

- Well, it's not sure, and that's what we did today or better.

Ooh, but I see one right here.

Learn.

Is the word learn?

- It could be learn.

Oh, there's another one.

- Is there another one?

- It can't be guess and it can't be...

Uh, could it be began?

- It could be.

Let me give you another clue so that you can decide which one it is.

- Okay.

- All right.

So the, I Spy with my little eye a word with a N sound at the end with two syllables.

- Ooh, learn, learn, learn has one, so it can't be learn.

- Can't be learn.

- Okay, began.

Began.

Ooh, began has two.

- Great job.

- It has to be began.

- That's right, terrific.

- That was tricky, that was good.

- Well, you know, I could tell that you were ready for some challenge.

- I love it.

- But isn't this a fun way to practice your high frequency words.

And it also helps you to be a good thinker about what clues you might give, and you really have to get to know the words to know how to give the right clues.

I think you'll enjoy playing this game and we'll play again.

But right now let's take a listen to our story for this week.

"The Story of the Robot Inventor."

Now, while you're listening, I want you to focus in on what some problems might be.

And then what are the solutions that they come up with?

See if you can find and listen to some problems and then some solutions.

All right, we'll see you back here in just a few minutes.

- [Narrator] "The Story of a Robot Inventor."

Big ideas.

Meet Tomotaka Takahashi.

He invents unusual robots.

How did he get started?

Mr. Takahashi was born in Japan in 1975.

As a child he played with blocks.

He used his imagination to make all sorts of forms and shapes.

Map label Japan.

Later he read comic about a robot named Astro Boy.

The robot looked like a real child.

Takahashi wanted to make robots just like it.

Astro Boy.

Finding out about robots.

In 1999 Takahashi began to study robots.

He took classes to learn how they move.

The robots bent their legs when they walked.

It did not look right to Takahashi, people did not walk that way.

Then Takahashi had an idea.

He made a better robot.

It did not bend its legs when it walked, it moved more like a person.

Making better robots.

In 2003 Takahashi started his own company.

He made many robots.

A short robot climbed up a cliff with a rope.

A bigger robot, lifted a car with its arms.

Another robot rode a bike for 24 hours.

Takahashi began to put his robots in contests.

He made three robots for a sports race in Hawaii in 2011.

The first robot had to swim, the second robot had to ride a bike, the third robot had to run.

The robots had to do these tasks for a week.

For the race there were many problems to solve.

Takahashi made the swimming robot waterproof.

He gave it arms like fins to help it swim faster.

Another robot was able to ride it bike for 100 miles without breaking.

The third robot ran for 26 miles.

What will Takahashi invent next?

Will his robot fly and soar like Astro Boy Will they be his finest?

We can only guess.

We must wait and see.

Tomotaka Takahashi is sure of one thing, his robots will do more and more.

- Wasn't that a great story.

I loved reading about Mr. Takahashi and all of his ways that he went through and had to solve a problem.

Wanna help me figure out what it was, and kind of retell our story, using that idea.

I mean, what was his problem?

Did you see what it was?

Hmm.

Oh, yes you're right.

He was having to create different robots, right?

But why was he having to create robots?

Or what kinds of robots was he having to create?

Do you remember?

That's right.

He had to go through and he was creating robots for a competition.

One of 'em was where he had to, the robot had to be able to swim for a whole 24 hours.

So Takahashi wanted to put a robot in a race, where it had to swim for a really long time.

So if that was what his problem was, was to create this robot, what did he do?

What steps did he take to solve that problem?

Do you remember?

Yes, that's exactly it.

So he had to build a robot that was, or he built a waterproof robot with arms that were like fins, so it could swim in the water, right?

So that was one of the things that he had to do.

And so what was his solution?

Well, he built his robot in a way that could swim, and it had to swim remember for 24 hours before it could stop.

And then when he was all done, what did he do after that?

That's right.

He went back and he wanted to improve upon his invention, that's what good inventors do.

So thinking about inventions and what really good inventors do and what makes a good inventor, let's think about that, and let's try some of it in our writing today.

So I'm gonna turn us over here and read what our writing prompt says.

And it says, what can you tell about what makes a good inventor?

Now I started us out with a topic sentence.

So read this with me.

There are many ways you can tell someone is a good inventor.

But you know what?

I'm gonna need some friends to come along and help me out, and come up with some different ways that we can tell someone is a good inventor.

So friends, do you wanna come and help?

Let's see Rita.

- I love to write.

- Ricky, Hi, Ricky.

How are you?

- Ricky is back.

- Oh, I'm so excited.

- Hi, Mrs. Nix.

I've been reading a lot.

I'm so excited to write with you today.

- Ah, that's great.

Well, can you help our super readers come up with some different ways that we can tell someone is a good inventor?

What are some different ways?

- Oh, sure, sure.

Yeah, yeah.

'Cause first they have to use their imagination to come up with an idea.

- They do have to use their imagination.

I love that, so let's put that up here.

First, they use their imagination and I love your transition word right there too.

Great job.

- Been practicing that.

- You're doing such a nice job.

So there are many ways you can tell someone is a good inventor.

First, they use their imagination.

Ricky, do you have an idea?

- I do.

And I even have a transition word.

My word is next.

- That's a great.

- It's a great one.

It's a good one, isn't it?

Next.

So here's my center.

Next, good inventors will try to find solutions to a problem and not give up.

- Oh, that's true, that's true.

- Isn't it?

I mean, I don't think that they ever really give up and even when they find their solution, just like Takahashi went back and he still wanted to make it better, even though he had an answer to his solution.

That's a great one.

So next good inventors will try to find solutions to a problem and not give up.

How about another one?

Can we think of another?

- Yeah, I got one.

- Okay, what do you have?

- Well, finally, they'll try to find ways to improve their inventions.

- Yes, that's exactly it.

Just like Takahashi did in our story we just read.

- Mrs. Nix.

- Yeah - I know 'cause we're running out of time, but we could maybe even add more ideas before we use my sentence, if we had time.

- Oh absolutely.

Absolutely, we could.

We could add all kinds of ideas and then we could just put a concluding sentence right there at the bottom.

I bet you'll know how to do that at home and be able to help us.

But now I'd wanna kick it over to one of our awesome friends.

Who's gonna tell us about a book.

We'll see you in a second.

- My name is Olivia Huff, and I will be telling you about this great book called "How to Catch a Mermaid."

It's when some kids think they see a mermaid so they try to catch it.

This is one of my favorite pages.

When one of them, they think a clam will catch her, because when she sees the shiny brand new necklace, they think she's gonna grab it, and the clam will snap on her, but she switched it with the rock.

This is another favorite page.

This is when they think that if they play a funky beat the mermaid will come and they'll catch her.

But instead she saves them from the sharks, 'cause it attracts sharks.

This page is my favorite, because even though they're trying to catch her, she's still nice back.

So if you want to see what happens in the end of this book, get it at your library.

Thank you for coming to Valley PB Kids.

Thank you, bye.

- Thank you so much, Olivia.

How to catch a mermaid, now I have to figure out and read the book so that I know how, - I love that.

- To catch a mermaid.

Great, great job.

- I guess I haven't read that book yet, and I can't wait.

- I haven't either.

- Ricky, did you like that one?

- Mm hmm, I love, but guess what, I got a joke for you to today.

- Oh I can't wait to hear it.

- What do they call the guy who invented Denim pants?

- I don't know - A genius.

(chuckles) - Oh, you're so silly.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you back here at Valley PBS tomorrow.

Bye bye.

(bright upbeat music)