(cheerful music) - Hi, friends.

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 so much for being here with me.

I'm so excited that I get to be here with you and do some reading and writing here together.

We always love to see our learners following along with us at home, so always feel free to post pictures or videos of you following along at home online and #ninePBS.

All right, welcome back, friends.

I hope you're having a really great start to your week so far.

I'm really excited that we get to be here together.

We're gonna start by doing another mindful moment exercise that helps get our bodies and our brains ready to learn.

Today we are going to be taking some deep breaths here together, just like we did together last time.

This time we are gonna use our hand as a tool to help us with our breathing.

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

We're going to inhale, or breathe in, as we trace one side of our finger.

So you're gonna have your hand out and put your fingers, stretch them out really nice and wide.

And as we take a deep breath you're gonna use your other finger from your other hand.

And we'll breathe in like this, (inhaling) on one side, and breathe out (exhaling) on the other.

And then breathe in, (inhaling) and out.

(exhaling) In, (inhaling) and out.

We're gonna go all the way around our hand.

And we will probably do it again as we are finished.

Are you ready to try here together, friends?

All right, let me see.

Put your hand up nice and big, stretch out those fingers.

Oh, very good.

I can see a lot of my friends have put their hand out nice and wide.

All right, now get our other pointer finger from our other hand ready to go.

Are you ready to take some deep breaths here together?

Okay, go ahead and sit up nice and straight and tall.

And take a deep breath in through your nose, (inhaling) and out through your mouth.

(exhaling) In through your nose.

(inhaling) Out through your mouth.

(exhaling) Through your nose.

(inhaling) Out through your mouth.

(exhaling) Through your nose.

(inhaling) Out through your mouth.

(exhaling) In through your nose.

(inhaling) And out through your mouth.

(exhaling) Very good, friends.

I can tell you're really focused on your breathing.

Tracing your hand, we're gonna come back to the other side of our hand and start all over again.

Taking those deep breaths in through your nose as you trace one side of your finger, and out through your mouth as you trace the other side.

Make sure you're going slowly so you really get to take those deep breaths in and out.

Are you ready?

Let's try it again.

Breathe in.

(inhaling) And out.

(exhaling) And in.

(inhaling) And out.

(exhaling) In.

(inhaling) Out.

(exhaling) In.

(inhaling) Out.

(exhaling) In.

(inhaling) Out.

(exhaling) Now you can relax your hands, friends.

That was amazing.

I'm really proud of you.

You did such a great job.

All right, now that our bodies and our brains are ready to learn, we're going to be talking again about letters and sounds.

Learning and practicing our letters and sounds helps our brains get ready to be amazing readers and writers.

We got our bodies and our brains ready to learn, but let's take a minute to talk about getting ready to learn at school.

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

If you joined me last time, you might remember that we talked about a smart spot.

Give me a "Yes" at home, or a "Me too," if you remember talking about smart spots.

Wonderful.

I can tell some of my friends were here with me last week.

Or you can give a "Me too" if you've heard of that before.

Nicely done.

So just to review for my friends if you weren't so sure, a smart spot is a spot that's away from any distractions that might take away from our learning.

Go ahead and check in with your body right now.

Are you in a smart spot?

Go ahead and get into a smart spot if you're not already.

Make sure your body is comfortable.

Maybe you need a jacket if you're feeling a little chilly in your home.

Or maybe you wanna try to move away from the distracting sound.

Now, today I wanna talk about something called body basics, or whole body listening.

So this is what our body looks like and what our bodies should be doing when it's time to listen and learn.

We're gonna practice whole body listening by doing one of my favorite activities, which is, of course, mirrors on.

So when I'm say "Mirrors on," you are gonna copy everything I say and do until I say "Mirrors off."

Do you think you could do that with me?

Let's go ahead and try, learners.

Mirrors on.

Oh, I didn't really hear you so great.

Let's try it again.

Mirrors on.

Much better.

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 really good.

So just to review again, when I said "Mirrors on," you copied what I said and did.

We talked about, I can listen with our whole bodies.

Our eyes are on the speaker, so whoever is talking.

This might be your teacher at school, a mom, dad, or guardian you have at home.

This might be one of your friends at school.

We wanna have our eyes looking at whoever is talking.

Then, of course, our ears have to be listening.

In order for us to hear the words that another person is saying, our mouth has to be quiet.

When our heart is ready, that means we have an open heart and mind and we're ready to listen to what somebody else has to say.

And we also have to have a calm body.

If our body isn't calm, it makes it hard for us to listen.

Would you like to practice mirrors on again?

All right, let's do it.

Mirrors on.

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.

Let's do it again but a little faster.

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.

My body is calm.

Again.

My eyes are on the speaker.

My ears are listening.

My mouth is quiet.

My heart is ready.

My body is calm.

One more time.

My eyes are on the speaker.

My ears are listening.

My mouth is quiet.

My heart is ready.

My body is calm.

Mirrors off.

Wow, that was amazing.

I can't believe you kept up with me.

That was incredible.

All right, let's take a moment to make sure we're sitting in body basics.

Are your eyes on me?

Are your ears listening?

Is your mouth quiet?

Is your heart ready to hear what I have to say?

And is your body calm?

Very good, friends.

Again, we wanna make sure we're listening with our whole body because it shows the speaker, whoever is talking, that we want to hear their words, and it helps to make them feel respected and loved.

All right, now that we've prepared our bodies and our brains to learn, we found a smart spot, and we practiced what whole body listening looks like, we're ready to learn.

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

So today our learning goal, or our objective is, I can know my letters and sounds.

Will you say that with me, friends?

Repeat after me, really nice and loud.

I can...

I think you can make it louder than that.

Again, I can...

There we go.

Know my letters and sounds.

Very good, learners.

All right.

So if you remember from last week as well, we talked a little bit about the difference between letters, words, and sentences.

But if you weren't with me, that's okay.

Let's go ahead and review together.

These are letters.

We're gonna put our letters here.

Letters make sounds and come together to make words.

Okay.

Then we have words.

These are words.

They're gonna go right here.

Words are letters and sounds.

They make sentences and have meaning.

So you can't just put a bunch of random letters together.

It has to have meaning.

And there's lots of different patterns for the ways that letters come together to make a word.

Lastly, we have, these are sentences.

A sentence is a group of words that have meaning.

So our letters would be the smallest, then the letters come together to make words.

That's our medium size.

And then sentences would be the biggest.

Let's go ahead and practice sorting some letters, words, and sentences.

Are you ready, learners?

Okay.

What about this here?

Is this a letter, a word, or a sentence?

Very good.

I heard some friends say this is a word.

I can see letters have come together.

Anybody know what this word is?

Yeah!

Very good.

I'm impressed, friends.

It's the word can.

Cuh-ah-nn.

Blend it.

Can.

Very good.

So that is a word.

I can see that you're doing an amazing job.

All right, what about this here?

Is this a letter, a word, or a sentence?

Shout it out for me really loud.

Yeah, I heard friends say this is a letter.

Very good.

Anybody know what this letter is?

Yeah, the letter C. C can make two sounds, cuh, cuh, cuh.

Let me hear that for me, friends.

Nice and loud.

Cuh, cuh.

Good.

And the letter C also can say ss.

Amazing.

All right, what about this here?

Is this a letter, a word, or a sentence?

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

This is a letter.

It's the letter what?

(laughs) Wow, learners, you're right.

This is a letter D. D says duh, duh.

I can tell this letter looks a little different from my other letter I had, the letter C. The letter C was lowercase.

This is an uppercase, or capital, letter D. Both are letters but they come in two different ways, right?

We can have big capital letters and smaller lowercase letters.

All right.

What about this here?

Is this a letter, a word, or a sentence?

Yeah, very good.

This is a letter, and it's what letter?

Shout it out.

Amazing.

Yeah, this is a letter A.

A says ah, ah.

It can also say ay, ay.

Right.

What about this?

Is this a letter, a word, or a sentence?

(laughs) Wow.

Yeah, you're right.

This is a word.

Anybody know what this word is?

Oh, I'm really impressed.

I heard a friend or two say this is the word see.

See, like I can see that you're following along really nicely.

Ss, ee.

More than one letter has come together to make a word and it has meaning.

Very good.

What about this here?

Whoa, this is really big.

Which one was really big?

Was it the letters, the words, or the sentences?

Yeah, you're right.

This is a sentence.

The sentence is the biggest.

We have letters that come together to make words, and then we bring the words together to make a sentence and it has meaning.

Let's read this sentence together.

I can see letters.

Very good.

So we're gonna put this down with our sentences.

All right.

What about this right here?

Is this a letter, a word, or a sentence?

Yeah, you're right, this is a word.

This is the word the.

The.

Very good.

All right, what about this one here, friends?

This is a what?

A letter, a word, or a sentence?

It's pretty small, right?

Yeah.

This is a letter.

Very good.

This is the letter?

Shout it out.

B.

Very good.

This is an uppercase B.

B says buh, buh.

Like in bear or ball.

Very good.

All right, what's this one here, friends?

Letter, word, or sentence?

Yeah, very good.

This is a word.

A word.

I've got two letters that came together to make the word wuh, ee, we.

Very good.

All right.

What about this here, friends?

Whoa, it's pretty big again, isn't it?

Which one is it?

A letter, a word, or a sentence?

Yeah, this is a sentence.

Again, our sentences are the biggest.

We have letters that come together to make words, and the words come together to make a sentence.

Let's read this sentence together.

I can hear sounds.

Very good.

So I can see letters, I can hear sounds.

Amazing.

Now I really wanna try to stretch your brain.

I'm gonna try to trick you.

What do you think?

Is this a letter, a word, or a sentence?

What?

It's not any of those things?

(laughs) You're right.

This is a what?

Oh, right!

This is a number.

This is the number three.

It's not a letter, a word, or a sentence.

Okay, I've got another one here for you.

Are you ready?

What's this one?

A letter, a word, or sentence?

What?

It's not any of those again?

What is this?

Oh, you're right, this is a shape.

This is a?

Square, very good.

All right, last one.

What about this, friends?

(laughs) Yeah, you're right.

This isn't a letter, a word, or a sentence.

This is a symbol.

It either means the pound sign, or you see it when you see hashtag, like #ninePBS.

Very good, friends.

I'm super impressed.

We also, when we're learning about reading and writing and letters and sounds, we wanna make sure we understand certain parts of a book.

So look at my chart right here.

It says, "Parts of a book!"

I can see a learner is here ready to read her story.

We have a front cover, a back cover, the title of the story, the author is who wrote the story, the illustrator is who drew the pictures, and then you have this spine that holds together the book and all the pages inside.

Now, I have a song for us to practice parts of a book.

Are you ready to hear it?

Some of my friends might recognize it.

I've done this song here together with us before.

If you don't, that's okay.

Turn your listening ears up all the way and just try to listen and think about the words that I'm singing.

The tune is to "The Ants Go Marching".

♪ When we first learn how to read ♪ ♪ We look at books ♪ When we first learn how to read ♪ ♪ We look at books ♪ We have the front and back covers ♪ ♪ And then you have a spine like mine ♪ ♪ The spine holds books together ♪ ♪ And keeps them straight and tall ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, boom ♪ On the front cover you'll find the author ♪ ♪ The author is who works so hard ♪ ♪ To write the book ♪ And then the illustrator ♪ Is the one who drew all the pictures ♪ ♪ And you have a title ♪ That is ♪ The name of a book ♪ Boom, boom, boom ♪ Between the covers of the book ♪ ♪ You'll find the pages ♪ On the pages are the letters ♪ That make words ♪ The words then form the sentences ♪ ♪ That came from the author's mind ♪ ♪ They will tell a story ♪ Or teach ♪ Us facts ♪ Imagine that ♪ Boom, boom, boom ♪ When we read we always go from left to right ♪ ♪ When we read we're always sure ♪ ♪ To touch each word ♪ Each time we start at the capital letter ♪ ♪ Reading every word ♪ Until we get to the end ♪ Period ♪ And then we did it ♪ Boom, boom, boom ♪ Once we've read the book ♪ From front to back, it's done ♪ ♪ But hold on, just you wait ♪ There is much more fun ♪ Let's talk about what we just read ♪ ♪ Do we understand the words ♪ What was the author trying to say ♪ ♪ To us ♪ This day ♪ Boom, boom, boom, boom Very good listening, friends.

I can tell you were listening with your whole body.

Very good, friends.

So we reviewed all our parts of a book.

We know that we gotta start at the beginning of the sentence and go from left to right, from the capital letter to the end period.

We know that the sentences have meaning, and books can teach us facts or entertain us, or give us something really fun to do as it tell us a story.

All right, let's go ahead and start by reviewing some of the letters that we learned together here last time, and then we're gonna learn some new letters here together today.

All right.

Here we have the letter A.

♪ The A says ah, ah, ah, ah, ah ♪ ♪ And it says ay, ay, ay, ay, ay ♪ Very good.

Then we have the letter B.

♪ The B says buh, buh, buh, buh, buh ♪ ♪ And C says cuh, cuh, cuh, cuh, cuh ♪ ♪ And it says ss, ss, ss, ss, ss ♪ Very good.

♪ 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 fuh, fuh, fuh, fuh, fuh ♪ Very good, friends.

Those were all the letters we learned together last time.

Let's go ahead and sing our new letters today.

First we have the letter, anybody know?

What is it?

Yeah, this is the letter G. ♪ The G says guh, guh, guh, guh, guh ♪ ♪ And it says juh, juh, juh, juh, juh ♪ Very good.

We've got our uppercase G. Kinda looks like a C but it has a little line in.

And then the G is a circle with a long hook around.

♪ The H says huh, huh, huh, huh, huh ♪ Very good, yeah.

It's kinda like you're trying to warm up your hands.

Huh, huh, huh.

Amazing.

♪ And I says ih, ih, ih, ih, ih ♪ ♪ And it says I, I, I, I, I Very good.

Certain letters are really super special letters, like the letters A, E, I, O, and U, and they get to have really important jobs and make more than one sound.

♪ The J says juh, juh, juh, juh, juh ♪ ♪ And K says kuh, kuh, kuh, kuh, kuh ♪ ♪ And L says ul Very good.

If you remember from last time, we also did "Wheels on the Bus".

Let's do it for just a couple of these letters.

Oh, but the tune is "The Wheels on the Bus", but the song is "The Letter on the Bus".

♪ The letter on the bus says guh, guh, guh ♪ ♪ Guh, guh, guh ♪ Guh, guh, guh ♪ The letter on the bus says guh, guh, guh ♪ ♪ All through the town ♪ The letter on the bus says ih, ih, ih ♪ ♪ Ih, ih, ih ♪ Ih, ih, ih ♪ The letter on the bus says ih, ih, ih ♪ ♪ All through the town It also says?

What was it?

Do you remember?

Wow, you must really be paying attention.

I says ih and I.

♪ The letter on the bus says juh, juh, juh ♪ ♪ Juh, juh, juh ♪ Juh, juh, juh ♪ The letter on the bus says juh, juh, juh ♪ ♪ All through the town Last one, let's do the letter L. ♪ The letter on the bus says ul, ul, ul ♪ ♪ Ul, ul, ul ♪ Ul, ul, ul ♪ The letter on the bus says ul, ul, ul ♪ ♪ All through the town (laughs) I'm really impressed.

You've been listening with your whole body and following along so nicely.

I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen and we're gonna practice some of these letter sounds with our animal puzzle again.

All right, friends.

Okay.

I've got this letter right here.

Anybody remember what this letter is?

Yeah, it's the letter juh, juh, J.

Now, does juh, juh, J match with the iguana or the jellyfish?

What do you think?

Yeah, the jellyfish.

Juh, juh, jellyfish.

Very good.

All right.

Does the kuh, kuh, kuh, K match with the ih, ih, iguana, or the kuh, kuh, kangaroo?

Yeah, you're right.

The kuh, kuh, kangaroo is the same kuh, kuh, K in the beginning.

Does the letter I that says ih and I match with iguana, ih, ih, iguana, or a ul, ul, lion.

What do you think?

Yeah, it's not the lion, it's the ih, ih, iguana.

All right, last one.

Does the letter G, guh, guh, guh, match with the guh, guh, gorilla, or the huh, huh, hippo?

Yeah, you're right, it's the guh, guh, gorilla.

Let me hear your best gorilla sound.

(imitating gorilla rumbling) Very good.

(laughs) All right, friends.

Thank you so much for all your hard work today.

We reviewed our letters, words, and sentences.

We talked about parts of a book, we reviewed our letter sounds, and we're all the way through the letter L. So we'll work on some more letters together next week.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

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.