(cheerful music) - Good afternoon, learners.

Welcome back to "Teaching in Room 9," our region's largest classroom.

My name is Julia.

I'm a second grade teacher at The Soulard School.

And here for "Teaching in Room 9," my lessons focus on letters and sounds.

Welcome back, learners.

Thank you for being here together with me.

And I'm excited for us to go ahead and get started and do some learning here together.

As always, friends, we love to see our learners at home following along with us.

So if you'd like, feel free to have your grownup take a picture or a video of you following along, and then you can post it online and #ninePBS.

All right, so we're gonna start with our mindful moment exercise here together.

And we will be getting our bodies and our brains ready to learn.

We're gonna do that by taking a few deep breaths.

And this time we're gonna be doing our best pumpkin breaths to help us get our bodies ready to learn.

This will focus our brains only on our breathing and allow us to really focus and be present in the moment.

Do you have a pumpkin at home?

This could be a real pumpkin or one just for decoration.

If not, no worries at all.

If you do, go ahead and grab it.

If not, I will show you another way that we can do this activity.

All right, so if you're a friend that has a pumpkin at home, we're gonna be taking a deep breath in through our nose, and you see these lines or grooves on the pumpkin?

Give me a yes if you can see them.

Yeah, I can see them and feel them, too.

So as you breathe in, you're gonna slowly trace one of those grooves all the way up.

And as you breathe out, you're gonna slowly trace the groove all the way down.

Okay.

And if you are one of my friends that doesn't have a pumpkin, that's okay.

You're gonna take a deep breath in through your nose, and you're gonna build a great big pumpkin above your head.

And then as you breathe out, (blows) you're slowly gonna pretend like your pumpkin is decomposing or starting to break apart.

And you'll do that at least three times here together with us.

It might take you a little bit longer if your pumpkin is kind of big like mine, or it might be a little bit quicker, you might make your way around the pumpkin faster, if you have a smaller pumpkin.

No worries either way.

All right, are you ready to go ahead and try our pumpkin breathing here together?

All right.

Get your pumpkin if you have one.

Find a groove that you'd like to start at.

Take a deep breath in through your nose.

And breathe out.

In through your mouth.

(breathes gently) Out through your mouth.

(indistinct) And out through your mouth.

Amazing job.

Go and set your pumpkin down.

Thank you so much.

That was amazing.

I'm really proud of you, friends, whether you were tracing the grooves of your pumpkin, or creating a pumpkin above your head and helping it to decompose, you did a wonderful job.

And I can tell that you're more ready to learn and centered right now.

All right, friends, now that our bodies are ready to learn, let's take a minute to talk about getting ready to learn at school.

We want to give ourselves all the right tools to be able to learn our best.

So far here together, we talked about being in a smart spot.

That's a way from any distractions that might take away from our learning.

Can you say that with me?

Smart spot.

Very good.

Now take a second to check in with your body.

Are you in a smart spot right now?

All right, then we talked about body basics, also called whole body listening.

This is what our body looks like and what our body should be doing any time it is a time for us to listen and to learn together.

And we practice that by doing a mirrors on activity.

So just a reminder, when I say mirrors on, you're gonna start copying and following along with everything I say and do until I say mirrors off.

Do you think you can do that with me?

All right, let's go ahead and try.

Mirrors on.

I think you can do a better job.

Let's try that again.

Mirrors on.

Very good.

I can listen with my whole body.

My eyes are on the speaker.

My ears are listening.

My mouth is quiet.

My heart is ready.

And my body is calm.

Mirrors off.

That was incredible, friends.

So this is what our bodies should be doing when we're seated in a chair at the carpet for circle time in a line, ready to leave the classroom.

When we're learning at home or at school together.

Or any time your teacher is asking for you to listen or maybe about to give a direction.

Whole body listening might look a little different for each person, depending on what their bodies and their brains need.

But it is important to show the speaker who is talking that we want to hear their words.

So that way it makes them feel respected and cared for.

Then we started talking about problem solving solutions.

When we are at school, we will be learning together with our friends.

And sometimes we might have some big feelings and get into an argument or a conflict with a peer or classmate.

This is normal.

But we want to have the right tools to work through these issues in a way that is safe and respectful for all.

So far, we talked about a lot of different ones.

So I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen.

All right, so you can see here.

It says problem solving solutions.

The first one we talked about was ask.

You can see this friend here looks like they have all the toys there.

So if this friend would like a turn with one of the animals, you should start by using his words and asking.

Take turns.

This is really important to remember when you're playing a game.

You want to play fairly, or else it's not very fun to play.

Walk away.

This is an important one to remember if those big feelings are starting to bubble up.

Maybe you need some space to work through those feelings.

So you might want to walk away to give yourself the space you need.

Or if you see a friend is maybe being unsafe with their body or needing some time to calm down and work through those feelings, then you might want to walk away from them and give them the space they need.

Say, "Please stop."

It is important to use our words and tell someone when we don't like a behavior that they are doing,.

But we can say it in a kind way without yelling at our friends.

Ignore.

I can see all these friends on the circle are trying to focus on what they are doing.

This friend here looks like they are needing a little bit of time to work through their feelings.

So instead of giving this friend attention, they're giving that friend space and continuing to ignore the behavior and paying attention to what they are doing.

This one says apologize.

Here, this friend is saying, "I'm sorry."

Sometimes you might make a choice that's not very strong in the moment and make a mistake and hurt someone's feelings.

Sometimes you might hurt someone's feelings without even meaning to or realizing it.

Either way, it's important to apologize and say, "I'm sorry."

That shows that we care about the person whose feelings got hurt.

Say how you feel.

This is so important, friends.

To use your words.

To talk about the feeling that you have.

You want to talk about how that behavior made you feel.

I felt sad when you ignored my words.

Or I felt sad when you took that away from me.

Okay, using your words to name the feelings and the behavior, rather than blaming the person.

We talked about this one.

It can feel so tricky and so hard, but this one is just wait.

It is hard to have patience, friends, but sometimes we just have to wait for the adults in the room to be ready to hear us, or maybe to take turns with something.

I know it's tricky, but it takes practice.

And then get help.

This is what you want to do if you have already tried some of these problems solving strategies already.

Maybe you've used your words or tried ignoring the behavior or walking away, and you still are having a hard time working through an issue.

Then it's important to get help.

There are adults all around you who love and care for you and want to help you when you have a problem.

Okay.

Then this is our new one here today: share.

I can see these two friends look like they are sharing, working together to use these classroom art materials.

It is important to remember we have to share sometimes, even if we don't want to.

All right, this is a good one.

It says make a deal.

Looks like these two friends were able to use their words and come up with a solution to the problem.

When you make a deal with someone, that's working your way through the problem and coming up with an idea that helps you to solve the problem and that works best for both people.

It might be hard to figure out how to make a deal at first, but with practice makes progress.

And adults are there to help you talk it through and to help you come up with ideas that are fair for everyone.

And last but not least is this one here today.

It says play with someone new.

Sometimes even your closest friends at school might need a little bit of extra space that day, or maybe friends you normally play with are having a hard day, or maybe just want to have some space from you that day.

That is okay and totally normal.

If you are having a hard time working through a conflict with a peer, or maybe you're getting into arguments with a friend that day, maybe just try playing with someone new.

You don't want to waste your whole recess time arguing with a friend.

Just try to play with someone new, and maybe you'll even make a new friend.

All right, I'm gonna stop sharing.

Now that we went through some of those problem solving solutions, I want to remind you, friends, how amazing and incredible you really are.

So we're gonna say some positive affirmations here together.

That way it kind of puts our head and our heart in a really good space to begin our learning or begin our day.

So I'd like you to repeat after me really nice and loud.

Do you think you can do that?

All right, let me hear you, friends.

I can be anything I want to be.

I am an important person in this world.

I can dream dreams and make them come true.

Every new day is a chance to improve.

I can learn from my mistakes.

I can take risks and do hard things.

I can learn from others, and they can learn from me.

I can make smart choices.

I control the good that happens to me.

I am kind.

I am respectful.

I am loved.

You're very loved, friends.

Thank you for doing that with me.

All right, now that we've prepared our bodies, our brains, and our hearts to learn, we've reviewed some tools to help us be successful when we're learning in school, now we're ready to learn.

As I mentioned, we're here to learn about letters and sounds together.

We have practiced working our way through the alphabet, learning and practicing all our letters sounds.

Then last week we practiced being able to listen to a word and pick out just the beginning sound.

This week, our learning goal, or objective, is, can you say this after me?

I can know the ending sound in a word.

Very good job, friends.

This really takes us nicely into next week, where we will be listening for and identifying rhyming words.

And those are the sounds that sound the same at the end of words.

So this will help us to practice.

All right, first we discussed together the difference between letters, words, and sentences.

And we had some songs.

♪ Letters make sounds and come together to make words ♪ Very good.

♪ Words are made up of letters and sounds ♪ ♪ They come together to make a word ♪ ♪ Words have meaning ♪ And they then come together ♪ To form sentences that we can read or write ♪ Very good.

Then we reviewed parts of a book.

We have a song that goes along with that, too.

Okay, so here you can see my chart.

It says parts of a book.

Very good.

In your book, you have a front cover, a back cover, and a spine.

Where is your spine?

Do you now?

Yeah, it's in your back.

Your spine helps your body stand up nice and straight and tall.

The spine of a book does the same thing.

The spine and the covers, the front cover and the back cover, holds together all those wonderful pages.

And on those pages is where you'll find the sentences that came from the author's mind.

And in those sentences, you'll find words.

And in those words, you'll find letters.

On the front cover of a book, you'll see the title; the author, who wrote the book; the illustrator, who drew all the wonderful pictures.

And that is it for our parts of a book.

Amazing job.

All right, now it's time for us, friends, to practice and review our letter sounds here together.

Can you sing after me?

All right, let's see if you can remember all of them.

Some of our letters have soft and hard sounds, so they'll make more than one.

And then some of our letters, like our vowels here, have a short vowel sound and a long vowel sound.

So they also make more than one.

Okay, are you ready?

Let's go.

♪ The A says aa aa aa aa aa ♪ And A says A A A A A ♪ The B says buh buh buh buh buh ♪ ♪ The C says kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh ♪ ♪ And its says ss ss ss ss sss ♪ The D says duh duh duh duh duh ♪ ♪ And E says eh eh eh eh eh ♪ And it says ee ee ee ee ee ♪ The F says ff ff ff ff ff ♪ And G says guh guh guh guh guh ♪ ♪ And it says juh juh juh juh juh ♪ ♪ The H says (exhales) ♪ And I says ih ih ih ih ih ♪ And it says I I I I I ♪ The J says juh juh juh juh juh ♪ ♪ And K says kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh ♪ ♪ And L says ull ull ull ull ull ♪ ♪ The M says mm mm mm mm mm ♪ And N says nn nn nn nn nn ♪ And O says oh oh oh oh oh ♪ And O and ooh If two Os go together, they make the ooh sound.

♪ The P says puh puh puh puh puh ♪ ♪ And Q says kwah kwah kwah kwah kwah ♪ ♪ And R says er er er er er ♪ The say S says ss ss ss ss ss ♪ ♪ And it say zz zz zz zz zz ♪ The T says tuh tuh tuh tuh tuh ♪ ♪ And U says uh ♪ U says ew ew ew ew ew ♪ And V says vv vv vv vv vv ♪ And W says wuh wuh wuh wuh wuh ♪ ♪ The X says ks ks ks ks ks ♪ And Y says yuh yuh yuh yuh yuh ♪ ♪ And it says ih and ee and I ♪ And Z says zzz Amazing job, friends.

You probably heard in there, too, that the S can make the zz sound at the end as well.

All right, friends, so I want to practice focusing on our ending or our final sounds.

We're gonna start by singing some familiar songs here together.

These songs have rhyming words that rhyme at the end.

This helps us to take our learning a step further, where we all practice hearing just the very ending sound and not the whole rhyme.

We learned a song together that helps us to understand rhyming words.

It goes like this.

♪ Rhyming words are words that have the same sounds ♪ ♪ They have to end in the same way ♪ ♪ Rhyming words have the same vowel sound ♪ ♪ And the same sounds at the very end ♪ Very good.

Now, have you ever heard the song "Down by the Bay?"

Give me a me too if you have.

Amazing.

I want you to turn your listening ears up, learners, turn them up all the way, and I want you to listen for the rhyming words.

And we'll talk about them at the end.

All right, and if you know the words, sing along with me.

(slaps) ♪ Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow ♪ ♪ Back to my home I dare not go ♪ ♪ For if I do, my mother will say ♪ ♪ Did you ever see a goose hugging a moose ♪ ♪ Down by the bay ♪ Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow ♪ ♪ Back to my home I dare not go ♪ ♪ For if I do, my mother will say ♪ ♪ Did you ever see a whale with a polka dot tail ♪ ♪ Down by the bay ♪ Did you ever see a fly wearing a tie ♪ ♪ Down by the bay ♪ Did you ever see a bear combing his hair ♪ ♪ Down by the bay ♪ Did you ever see llamas wearing their pajamas ♪ ♪ Down by the bay Yay, that was amazing, friends.

Who heard, give me a me too, who heard some rhyming words in that song?

Yeah.

There's lots of them.

Shout out a rhyming word pair that you heard.

Oh, very impressive.

I heard a learner at home say.

♪ Where the watermelons grow ♪ Back to my home, I dare not go ♪ Grow and go rhyme.

Nicely done.

What's another one, friends?

Oh yeah.

♪ Have you ever seen a goose hugging a moose down by bay ♪ Very good.

Goose and moose have those same ending sounds.

Oh, I heard another friend say.

♪ Did you ever see a whale with a polka dot tail ♪ Very good, whale and tail have those same ending sounds.

Oh, good memory.

I heard a friend say.

♪ Did you ever see a fly wearing a tie ♪ Fly and tie rhyme as well.

And then good.

♪ Did you ever see a bear combing his hair down by the bay ♪ Very good.

And the very last one was.

Llamas and pajamas.

Or maybe you said it llamas and pajamas.

They have the same ending sounds.

You're absolutely right.

I am so impressed with you, friends.

Nicely done.

All right, I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen.

And we are gonna spend the rest of our time here together, friends, looking at these different word cards.

Now, I want you to look at the picture here and tell me what do you see.

I see the letters here already for me.

Buh, ah.

We're gonna be looking at short vowel sounds.

What comes at the end of this word?

Oh, good, I heard a friend say this is a bag, guh guh.

Which letter makes guh sound that you see here?

Very good.

G says guh guh guh.

Very good.

I like these cards 'cause if you flip them over, you can see on the back that it was a bag, and it even points an arrow to the G. If it was an err sound at the end, that would be a bar, like a chocolate bar.

If there was a tuh tuh at the end, that would be a bat, like this cute little friend here.

Let's practice another one.

What picture do you see here?

It looks like this friend is kind of carrying a.

You see a T-O.

Yeah.

This is a toy.

A toy, yuh yuh.

What letter makes the yuh sound, friends?

Yeah, Y makes the yuh yuh sound.

You nailed it.

I'm so proud of you.

Turn it around, we saw that it is in fact the Y.

If it was a puh puh P, it would be a top.

If it was a wuh wuh sound, it would be tow.

Like this car is getting towed.

All right, let's do another one here together.

All right, this is a type of sandwich.

It's got ss uh, what do you think?

What letter and sound goes at the end of this to make this word?

Very good.

I heard a friend say sub, buh buh.

B makes the buh sound, okay?

And then let's turn it over.

And we can see sub.

If it was a mm, that would be a sum, which is the answer to an addition problem.

If it was the nn, it would be a sun.

Very good job, friends.

I'm gonna stop sharing my screen.

You did an incredible job here together.

We did our pumpkin breathing to get our bodies ready to learn.

We talked about learning at school and some problem solving solutions.

We said our positive affirmations, practiced our letter sounds, and looked at rhyming sounds and the very last sound that comes in words.

I'm so proud of you.

Kiss your brains.

You're amazing.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.

(cheerful music) - [Announcer] "Teaching in Room 9" is made possible with support of Bank of America, Dana Brown Charitable Trust, Emerson, and viewers like you.