(upbeat happy music) - Good morning, super readers.

- Wait, don't start yet!

I'm sorry, I'm here.

I'm here but, you know, I've been working on my Earth day project.

- Oh!

- Hey, that looks really nice.

- For the super challenge.

- I like that.

- Because the Cyber Chase, Green It Up challenge is going on.

We're learning all about things to help us celebrate Earth Day and all the things that are good for Earth.

Because, remember, on April 23rd, we're gonna have a huge culminating celebration at MTM on the river, which is also known as the Fresno County Sportsman's club.

And you and your class can learn all about different ways to learn about what we can do to help take care of our earth.

Like learning about pollinators and why they're important, and we can learn about recycling and planting flowers and why we might wanna do that.

And then together, you and your class can decide what project you want to create.

We're doing a poster and we're gonna do some learning about all of these and do some writing.

And then you take your poster on April 23rd to have it displayed at the giant Cyber Green It Up event.

- How exciting!

That sounds like so much fun.

And it would be so fun to see some of our super readers there.

- Oh, I would love it.

Oh, and something super exciting.

Look, you guys Digit is gonna be there.

- Oh my God.

- Live and in person!

- That's awesome.

- I know, isn't that fun?

- That's super fun.

- Oh my gosh.

I just can't stop thinking about it because we're gonna have so many fun things to do.

- I know that you guys are all wanting to think of ideas.

- Yeah.

- But you know what?

Our super readers are ready for us to start.

- Oh, that's true.

Let me go put this away.

Hey, if you wanna know more about our earth day challenge, go to valleypbs.org and they'll have information there for you so you can share it with your teacher and your classmates.

Okay, hold on, I'll be right back.

- Okay, alright.

So, thanks for joining us in our Valley PBS classroom.

I'm Mrs. Nix.

- I'm Mrs. Vang.

- I'm Mrs. Hammack.

- The is a place for us to learn, practice and- - 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 we're gonna do a little bit of blending, and I know super readers we've practiced this a bunch of times.

We're gonna do it on our arms today.

So we're gonna say and tap out the different sounds and then blend them together.

Alright, so get your arms out and here we go.

- Four, four.

Four.

Nicely done.

Alright, how about this one?

More, more, put it together, more.

Nice.

Okay, how about a tricky one?

Ready?

- Okay.

- Got it.

- S P or T - Oh, okay.

- S P or T sport.

- Sport?

- Sport.

Speaking of sports - Is it time?

- I think it's time for us to do a little stretching and a little, maybe dancing.

- Yes, I can't wait.

- We'll get some music going and we're gonna start, I think this one's called, what's it called?

- Play ball.

- Play ball, right?

Yes, yes.

So, let's stand up, get ready for the music.

That music is coming and once that music comes, get your arm- - There we go.

- Right.

Our fingers in.

- Okay.

(jazzy music) Oh, I almost started the song too soon.

- [Singer] ♪ 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 get the bat ♪ ♪ Play ball, play ball ♪ ♪ Batter up ♪ ♪ 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 get the bat ♪ ♪ Play ball, play ball ♪ ♪ Batter up ♪ - Yay, I love that.

- So much fun, right?

- Yes, gets our brains going.

- Yes it does.

- And I think we're ready.

- I think so.

- Let's start with our focus phonics sound of the week.

- Alright we'll see you later.

- See you in a bit.

- So boys and girls, or super readers, remember, this week we are working on the or sound.

What sound is it?

The or sound, that's right.

Remember, if you look at my coin card, the or sound can be spelled three different ways.

Help me spell them.

O A R says or, good job.

O R says or, good job.

And O R E says or, good job.

So the sound or can be spelled three different ways.

Now I have some letters and some more or's and letters that's gonna form some word up here, and I want you guys to help me blend it out just like we did earlier with our phonemic awareness.

So, help me blend them.

But, oh, you guys are asking where our friends are.

Friends, can you come help us?

- Good morning Mrs. Vang.

- Here they are!

- Morning super readers!

- We would never start without you guys.

Okay, are you guys ready?

- Oh, yes, let's do it!

- Okay, help me blend these letters.

Ready?

- Form, form!

- Form!

- Good job.

What's the word?

- Form.

- Good job, that's right.

Like we were gonna form that baseball team, you guys remember?

- Yeah, that would be fun.

- Oh, that would be super fun.

Okay, let's continue.

Let's see if you guys can help me blend this word.

Ready?

This says wore, wore.

- Wore.

- What's my word?

Wore.

- Wore.

- Oh, I wore a hair bow!

- Oh, yes.

- Good job.

That's a great sentence, Rita.

Okay, last word, are you ready?

- Oh, wait, wait.

- It just says, or, O R E. - It looks like you forgot to put some other letters there.

- You guys, I was trying to trick you, but guess what?

I don't think I could cause you're right.

O A R, that's a way to spell the, or sound.

But guess what?

This can be a word also.

Did you guys know that?

- What?

- What?

Oh my gosh!

Oh, I can't even imagine.

- That's so crazy.

- And guess what?

O R can be a word itself also.

- Oh my goodness.

- Oh my goodness.

- These are different spelling patterns but they can also make a word.

- Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a second.

Okay, O R means like this or that.

- Oh yeah!

- But, what does O R E, what does that mean?

- Good thinking.

O A R is the oar.

Have you guys ever been out to a river or a lake or sometimes you might need a boat?

Cause an oar is, what's an oar?

- Are those those stick things that go out the side of the boat.

- Yes, and you use it.

That's an oar.

- Oh, I've seen those I just didn't know what they were called.

- That's what they're called.

- They're called an oar.

- They're called an oar, O A R. - And that's how we would spell it.

So some of our spelling patterns can actually be words, and that's okay.

- That's so cool.

- That's amazing.

- Okay, but I'm gonna have you guys help me build some words, are you guys ready?

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- And, you know what?

Today we're really just gonna be working with this O R E, ore. - Okay.

- Okay?

And I'm gonna tell you guys a bit of a trick, you see that E at the end?

- Mm hmm.

- Ore has that E, and usually when I see that E with the O R E that or sound is usually at the end of a word.

So if I wanna just spell the word like, core, core, do you guys hear that or at the end?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah.

- So how would I spell core?

- Well, there's two letters that make the sound, so it could either be a C or a K. - Well, let's see, here's the C, core- - Oh, that's right!

- And here's the K. Oh, that doesn't look right.

You're right, good job.

- I think it's that one.

That's right, good.

Core, core.

- Core.

- Good job.

Now, what if I wanted to spell the word score?

Do you guys hear that?

Score.

Oh, how would I build that word?

Score.

- I think you just gotta put an S at the front.

- Why did you say that, Rita?

- Cause that's a blend.

- That is a blend.

- And we already have the K sound so we just have to add the beginning.

- Good thinking.

So we already have core, we added the S and that SC became score.

Good thinking.

Now, okay, I'm gonna challenge your brains.

Are you guys ready?

What if I wanted to build the word shore?

Shore, like a bottle washed up on shore.

- Oh, well you don't need the S and the C. Well, you really just don't need the C if you wanna be technical.

You have to put a S with an H to make it say the shh.

- Oh, yep.

Yep, that makes the sh sound.

- Good job.

The S and the H together makes that sound.

And now my new word is shore.

Good job at building these words together.

Oh, you guys are so smart, you're becoming such great super readers.

Okay, I'm gonna have my super readers at home read this sentence with me and I'll see you guys later.

- Bye.

- Okay, bye.

- Bye.

Okay super readers, it's your turn now.

Help me read the sentence with our or sound.

Are you ready?

Okay.

I used to live on the north shore.

There's our word, shore.

How did you do?

Awesome reading, super readers.

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

- Okay, super readers, we've been working on our high frequency words.

We have sure, began, better, learn, right, and guess.

Today, we're gonna focus in on the word guess.

This is another one of those tricky ones that you just kind of have to lock into your brain.

Let's spell it, and if you have something to write with, write it too.

G U E S S, guess.

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

Can you, hmm, how old he is?

Can you guess how old he is?

I bet you could come up with some good sentences for the word guess also.

Today, we're gonna do a word sort.

Now, you can do sorting in a lot of different ways, we're just gonna look at one and then I'll tell you some variations.

So here, we're gonna sort by the number of letters, three letters, four letters, five letters, six letters.

So here's what you can do, you could put these just on some cards or paper, like I have them, and then you choose one of your words.

Began, let's count the letters, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

This one has five letters so that means I'm gonna put it here in the column, I'm gonna make a nice straight column of five letter words.

Let's see what our word today was, was guess.

Let's count how many letters guess has.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Oh my, look at that, another five letter word.

And we could keep going and do all of our words and sort them, and then see which category has the most.

Now you could also sort them with words that have an E in them, or words that have two syllables, or one syllable, there are a lot of different ways that you could do this game at home with a partner, with a team, by yourself.

It's just a fun way to just work with your high frequency words and get more familiar with them so that you become excellent readers and writers.

All right, today we're gonna hear a story about great inventions.

And then we're gonna talk about how those inventions have helped us.

So pay close attention and I'll see you back here in a few minutes.

- Great inventions.

What inventions do you use in your daily life?

What would your life be like without them?

You use inventions all the time.

An invention is something new.

Inventors are curious people, they figure out how to solve problems.

An inventor can imagine a new thing that will help make peoples lives easier.

What would life be like without telephones?

People used to communicate by sending letters.

If the letter was going far away that meant it could take weeks to get important news.

People also sent coded messages called telegrams.

Telegrams came quickly but you had to learn special code to send them.

Over a hundred years ago, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

It carried people's voices to far away places.

Soon people could make calls from their homes and jobs, they could share news, make plans, order goods, and much more.

But people needed to call from other places too.

New inventors made cell phones that could call from anywhere.

Today, cell phones can also send text messages and help you go online.

(calm music) How would you read at night if it weren't for electric light?

The light bulb is another invention that changed the world.

For many years people used fire to make light, burning wood, candles, and oil, made a dim smokey light.

Lights that burned gas came next.

Gas lights cost less and gave off more light, but they were dangerous.

Breathing the gas made people sick, gas lights sometimes caused fires too.

People needed a bright, safe light.

Then an inventor made street lights that used electric sparks.

They were safer, but they didn't last long.

People needed an electric light that would last a long time.

In 1879 Thomas Edison found a way to make a light bulb that was both safe and long lasting.

His invention let people see at night while they worked, played, and studied.

Today, inventors still work to improve the light bulb.

The newest light bulbs give off less heat and use less energy, and like Thomas Edison's light bulb, they last a long time.

Can you picture a world with no cars?

The invention of cars changed the way people lived.

Long ago in America, most people traveled by foot, by horse, or by train.

People who walked or rode horses could go anywhere, but travel was slow.

Riding a train was faster, but people could only go where trains went.

In 1893, the first gasoline powered car in America was invented.

Now people could drive anywhere there was a road.

But first cars were made slowly, one by one.

The work was complicated, the cars cost a lot of money.

Then in the early 1900's Henry Ford changed the way cars were made.

He invented the assembly line to make cars.

A person who is part of an assembly line makes only one part of the car, other workers make other parts of the car.

The workers can do their work very quickly.

Because Ford's assembly lines made cars quicker, his model T cars were less expensive than other cars.

Many people had enough money to purchase one of these cars.

Now people could live in one place and drive to work someplace else.

Many people still do this.

Cars have let us travel far.

Do you use a computer in class or at home?

Computers help us in many ways.

They help us to write and send messages, they help us find information quickly, they help doctors know what is wrong with sick people.

Who helped create this very useful machine?

Computers did not just have one inventor, they had many.

The first computers in America were used in the 1940s and early fifties.

They were huge.

They filled whole rooms at colleges and businesses.

Inventors imagined that one day people would use computers in their homes.

They look for ways to make parts smaller and easier to use.

They invented the micro chip, this tiny device allows computers to do more and take up less space.

People could own personal computers.

The first personal computers were heavy, most stood on a desk or a table in a person's home.

Then inventors figured out how to make computers smaller and lighter.

Laptop computers are easy to carry around.

People continue to invent new computers and programs that let us use computers in new ways.

It is fun to imagine what computers of the future might do.

- Awesome.

So, was there anything that maybe you listened to today that perhaps you didn't know before?

I have a few questions to kind of guide some of our thoughts today.

So when I'm thinking about these great inventions let's think about that very first card.

And that first one says, here's my question, how did the invention of telephones change people's lives?

So when you think back, what did we learn about?

What did we have before telephones?

That's right, we only had mail and so you had to write a letter.

Let's say something really exciting happens and you wanna tell your friend about it but they live far away.

You couldn't call them, you'd have to write them a letter, put a stamp on it, put it out in the mail, the mail person would have to come and take the mail over to your friend's house.

It might take a few days.

So sharing good news took a long time.

With the telephone, now we can just call our friends and let them know all of the fun things, right when it happens.

It's a pretty amazing invention.

What about when we talked about the light bulb, how did the light bulb makes people's lives better?

Can you imagine having a life without a light bulb?

I didn't live during that time either, I can't imagine not having light bulbs.

But you know what?

They used to not have them and they had candles or gas lanterns.

And so all that smoke inside the house wasn't good for their lungs.

And so they went through and they were able to invent a light bulb, and that really helped because then they could do their work at night or they could play, and they were able to see inside their houses.

And you know what, there were a couple of other things that we talked about too and I want you to think about how the car made a difference, and maybe you could share with a friend about the computer and how that has changed.

Did you know that some computers were bigger than our rooms?

They were ginormous!

And now what do we do?

We carry them around on our smartphones.

Pretty amazing.

Speaking of amazing, I want us to switch over and talk about some writing.

When I think about inventions, it's always fun to get a little creative, right?

What could you invent to make life easier?

So just like these other inventions we were just learning about, what could we invent?

So I have a topic sentence here.

"There are many things I could invent to make my life easier."

But you know what?

It's always so much more fun to do this with a friend.

So I'm gonna have our friends come and join us and help me come up with some inventions that maybe can make our lives a little bit better.

So Ricky and Rita, do you guys wanna come and join and help our super readers?

- Yeah, that would be fun.

- Alright.

- I've been thinking about this!

- Oh my goodness, Ricky's got all kinds of silly inventions, right?

- That's my invention!

And since I'm going first I'm gonna say first, is that okay?

- I love it.

We've been practicing those transitions, so that's great.

Thanks for doing that.

- Okay, here's my invention.

First, I invent and backpack with wings so I could fly.

- Wow, that would be amazing!

- That would be incredible.

- Alright, Rita, do you have something?

And maybe we could have a transition word for you too?

- Yes, well I just wanna say that, clearly that Ricky is a inventor cause he uses his imagination.

I said that earlier in the week.

OK, so I was thinking too.

I said, next I could invent a robot that would do all of my homework.

- Oh, that would be amazing, right?

And you know what?

Here we go.

So, let's read those two together.

So there are many things I could invent to make my life easier.

First I could invent a backpack with wings so I could fly.

Next I could invent a robot that would do all my homework.

Maybe there's one more, have one more Ricky?

I know you've got lots of creations.

- I like that idea, but guess what?

I would, oh, I guess I'll say finally.

- Finally, perfect.

- Finally, I would invent a robot that would do my chores!

And I would call it Chore Bot.

- Chore Bot, that's awesome!

- Oh, that like that a lot.

- Oh, I love it.

And you know what?

- Do you like that?

- I do.

And I'm gonna say thank you for coming and hanging out with me.

And I think our super readers, we're gonna read this and we'll see you in just a little bit.

So have a great one.

- I'm gonna go make some more inventions.

- Absolutely.

So there are many things I could invent to make my life easier.

And I would love to know what your ideas.

So, you could make a paragraph that looks just like this.

So, great job.

And then you could add a concluding sentence like, these are some great inventions that I could come up with.

So, wonderful, wonderful job.

I think our day is just about over, right?

- Yeah.

- Yep.

- Alright.

You know what, so speaking of inventions, did you know that when the chair was invented, the inventor's friend wanted to know, what does the chair do?

- I bet he said, you better sit down for this.

- Oh, what a corny guy!

Have a great one.

Thanks for being with us today on Valley PBS.

Bye, bye.

- Bye.

- Bye.

(upbeat music)