(upbeat music) - Hi, 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, friends.

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

So if you'd like, have your grownup take a picture or video of you following along at home, and then they can post it online and hashtag #ninePBS, or always feel free to send them into the PBS station.

All right, friends, as always, we're going to go ahead and start by doing our Mindful Moment here together.

Today, we're going to be doing something called Rainbow Breathing.

Can I get a "me too" if you also like rainbows?

Yeah, definitely, me too.

I love rainbows 'cause they are so beautiful.

So I thought this would be a great exercise for us to do, to get our bodies and our brains ready to learn, and also add a little beauty into our day.

All right, so we're going to start by taking some deep breaths here together.

And this time we're going to be be making a beautiful rainbow in front of us 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 start by pushing our hands together.

So I'd like you to sit up nice and straight and tall, and you're going to push your hands together just like this.

So I'm pushing them, but not too hard, and I'm starting right here in front of my chest.

And you're going to take a deep breath in through your nose.

(Julia inhales) And lift your hands up, up, up as you're breathing in through your nose.

And then you're going to breathe out.

(Julia exhales) Make a beautiful rainbow.

And we're going to do this three times.

Are you ready to try it together?

Okay, let's go ahead.

Breathe in through your nose.

(Julia inhales) And out.

(Julia exhales) Good job, breathe in through your nose.

(Julia inhales) And out.

(Julia exhales) One more time, breathe in through your nose.

(Julia inhales) Up, up, up.

And breathe out through your mouth.

(Julia exhales) Great job, learners.

You really made some beautiful rainbows.

Now that we are ready to learn here, friends, we are going to be talking about letters and sounds together here today.

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

Since we got our bodies and brains 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 together, we have talked about being in a smart spot that is away from any distractions that might take away from our learning.

Take a second to check in with your body right now.

Are you in a smart spot?

If not, go ahead and get into a smart spot right now that's away from anything that would take away from your learning.

Then, we also talked about body basics or whole-body listening.

This is what our bodies should be doing when we are seated in a seat or a chair, at the carpet for circle time, in a line getting ready to leave the classroom, or when we're learning at home together or at school or any time your teacher is asking for you to listen or about to give a direction.

Showing whole-body listening when a speaker is talking shows them that you want to hear their words, and it makes them feel respected and cared for.

And we did this by practicing a mirrors-on activity.

And as always, when I say, "mirrors on," you're going to copy everything I say and do until I say, "mirrors off."

Are you ready to try?

Mirrors on.

I think you can do a little better than that.

Let's try that again.

Mirrors on.

Oh, 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 fantastic, friends.

So today, I wanted to talk a little bit about some problem solving solutions.

So when we are at school, we'll be learning together with our friends, right?

Sometimes we might have some really big feelings and get into an argument or conflict with a peer or a 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 to all.

So I'm going to go ahead and share my screen so you see these here.

So I can see this little friend here and it says, "Problem Solving Solutions."

This is important, friends, because you want to be able to be a problem solver.

Can you say that with me?

I can be a problem solver.

Yes, you can.

Okay.

What do you see in the picture here?

Oh, very good.

I'm hearing some friends say they see a little friend right here.

And it looks like he has a lot of toys around him.

and then there's another friend a little bit farther back.

Do you think that maybe this friend might want to play with some of those toys?

Yeah, I think so too.

So it says up here at the top, "ask."

Ask.

This is so important to use your words.

Say that with me, friends.

I can use my words.

Very good.

And just ask for a turn.

Now, what do you see in this picture here?

Oh, very good.

Hearing people say that they see two friends here.

Looks like they're playing a game.

All right, go ahead and read this with me, friends.

Take turns.

Yeah, that is so important when we're playing a game to take turns and make sure we're playing the game fairly, or else it's not very fun to play.

We also want to take turns with any classroom materials too, so that everyone has a chance.

Last one here, friends.

What do you see in this picture here?

Yeah, I heard some friends say "two shoes" or "two feet."

Absolutely.

Let's read the top here, it says, "walk away."

This one is really important, but can be kind of hard to do, especially if you are upset or angry in the moment.

It's really important to walk away when you're feeling really upset in order to give yourself and your body a moment to calm down, focus, and self-regulate, or get our body back to where we are ready to talk to our friend about the problem.

You might want to walk away if you see a friend at school that's not making a smart choice.

We want to make sure we're always doing whatever we can to make sure we're having a safe body and being respectful to the teacher and our friends at school.

Very good, friends.

I'm going to stop sharing my screen.

Now, I also want you to know that you can do anything that you set your mind to.

And you can absolutely be a problem solver and use some of those strategies we talked about today.

So I'd like to also do a few affirmations, which are just nice things that we can say to help get our mind and our heart in a good space that we feel confident and ready to go each day.

So you're going to repeat really nice and loud after me.

Are you ready?

I can be at anything I want to be.

I think you can do a little bit better than that.

Let's try that again.

I can be anything I want to be.

Whoa, that was much better.

I am an important person in this world.

Very good.

I can dream dreams and make them come true.

Good.

Every new day is a chance to improve.

Yeah, absolutely ,friends.

Very good.

It's important to remember, it's okay if we have a day that feels a little bit tricky or hard.

But every day you get a new chance of fresh starts to have a really great day and to make it even better than the day before.

All right, very good, learners.

So now that we've prepared our bodies and our brains that we're ready to learn, and we reviewed some tools to help us be successful when we're learning in school, now we're ready to start talking about letters and sounds.

So our learning goal for today is, "I can," will you say that with me?

I can know my letters and and sounds.

Very good, friends.

So we've been working on new letters and sounds each week, and also reviewing some things that we've learned together so far.

So one of the things we talked about together is the difference between a letter, a word, and a sentence.

Okay, so let's go ahead and sing this little song to help us remember.

The first one is to the tune of B-I-N-G-O.

♪ Letters make sounds and come together to make words ♪ Do you think you could try singing that with me?

Let's do it again.

♪ Letters make sounds and come together to make words ♪ Wow, that was really good.

And then the next one is to the tune of If You're Happy And You Know It.

♪ 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 ♪ Whoa, I think you can sing that one with me too, let's try it.

♪ 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.

♪ Wow, really good job, friends.

Okay, let's go ahead and practice with a few examples here.

Okay, I'm going to hold it up and you tell me, is that a letter, a word, or a sentence?

Amazing job, learners.

You're right, this is a letter.

What letter is it, do you know?

Wow, yeah, you're absolutely right.

I heard some friends say this is a letter G. G, this is an uppercase G. G says, (sounding out letter).

And it says, (sounding out letter).

Very good.

And remember too, letters are going to be the shortest 'cause it's just one of the letters of the alphabet.

Then words are a little longer, and sentences are the longest.

What about this?

Letter, word, or sentence?

You're absolutely right.

This is a word.

I see two letters, T-O, come together to make the word "to."

To, like "I am going to the park."

Amazing job.

All right, what about this one here?

Whoa.

I notice here that this was really big, right?

And the biggest ones are?

Yeah, very good, a sentence.

Let's read this sentence together.

I can hear sounds.

Very good.

All right, what about this one here?

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

Yeah, you nailed it.

This is a word.

I see two letters, G-O, that come together to make the word "go."

And last one, is this a letter, a word, or a sentence?

Yeah, this is the shortest one again.

This is a letter.

What letter is it?

Shout it out.

Yeah, it's the letter H says, (sounding out letter).

I always think like you're warming your hands.

Very, very good, friends.

All right, we also talked about parts of a book, and you can see the parts of the book right here.

The front and the back cover, and then the spine that holds them together, the pages inside, and then on the front cover, you'll find the title, the author, who wrote the book, and the illustrator who drew all the pictures.

All right, we're going to sing our song here together.

If you've heard it before and you think you can jump in, feel free to sing along with me.

Otherwise, just turn those listening ears up and listen to the words.

The tune is 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 ♪ ♪ 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 straight from the author's mind ♪ ♪ They will tell a story or teach us facts, imagine that ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, boom ♪ When we read, we'll always go from left to right ♪ ♪ When we read, we're always sure to touch each word ♪ ♪ Let me start at that 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 Amazing job, learners.

You did such a great job.

I'm so proud of you.

All right, now we're going to review some of the letters and sounds we've learned here together so far.

We're going to do it by playing a matching game.

Would you like to play the game with me?

Awesome.

So I'm going to share my screen here.

All right, so I'm going to show you a card, and then you're going to tell me or point to on your screen where's the lowercase version of that letter.

So what letter is this?

Yeah, it's the letter G. And here is our lower case G. ♪ The G says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ And it says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good.

What about this one?

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

This is the letter A.

And here it is.

I see some friends at home pointing to the letter A.

♪ The A says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ And it says (sounding out letter) ♪ I am so proud of you, you're doing so good.

What about this letter here?

Amazing, you're right.

This is the letter E. And its lowercase friend is right above it.

♪ The E says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ And it says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good.

All of our letters so far have had more than one sound.

Okay, what letter do you see here?

Let me squish these together.

Oh, very good.

You're absolutely right.

This is the letter K. And here's its lowercase friend.

♪ The K says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good, that one only has one sound.

What letter is this?

Yeah, this is the letter L. Here's a lowercase case friend.

♪ The L says (sounding out letter) ♪ See how my tongue is pushed forward there and sticking between my teeth.

(sounding out letter) What about this one?

Yeah, you're right, letter H. And H lowercase is right above it, right there in red.

It's the letter H. ♪ The H says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good.

All right.

What letter is this?

Yeah, you're right.

This is the letter B.

B says, (sounding out letter).

Here's our B.

Sometimes friends might get it confused with this one here.

This is not a lowercase B.

We'll talk about that letter here in just a second.

♪ The B says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ And J says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good.

J has a little hook with a little dot above it.

Normally, the dot is not attached, but we can understand that here looking at the letter.

Only a few left, what letter is this?

Yeah, you're right, it's the letter C. The lowercase C looks just like the uppercase C but smaller.

♪ The C says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ And it says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good.

All right.

How about this one?

Very good.

This the letter I. I, just like the J, has a little dot above it too.

And normally, it would not be attached.

♪ The I says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ And it says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good.

Two more.

Okay, which one is the lowercase friend here?

Is it our orange friend or our green friend?

Oh, very good learners.

You're right, it's the green friend, very good.

Our letter F says, (sounding out letter).

All right, last one.

And I think we know this is our letter D. The lowercase D looks a lot like the letter B, but letter B faces this way, letter D faces this way.

♪ And D says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good, learners.

All right, I'm going to stop sharing my screen.

Amazing job, we reviewed all of the letters we've already learned so far.

Today, we're going to do letter, starting with letter M. The M says, (sounding out letter).

My lips are pushed together and they kind of tingle when I make that sound.

♪ And N says (sounding out letter) ♪ Do you see how that looks a little different from the letter M?

M says, (sounding out letter).

My lips are closed.

N says, (sounding out letter).

And my tongue is touching the roof of my mouth.

♪ And O says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ And it says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ And it says (sounding out letter) ♪ It says "ooh" when it's attached to another letter.

♪ The P says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good.

♪ And Q says, (sounding out letter) ♪ See how my mouth is kind of doing a lot there.

It's going (sounding out letter).

So you can see, I kind of get some air in my mouth there.

(sounding out letter) And it's always next to its friend, U.

Last letter today.

♪ The R says (sounding out letter) ♪ Very good.

We also did The Letters On The Bus, so let's practice a few of these doing that.

♪ The ♪ Which one am I going to choose ♪ ♪ The letter on the bus says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ The letter on the bus says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ All through the town It can also say, "oh, oh, oh."

When I say the short O, that sound is coming right from the back of my throat.

♪ The letter on the bus says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ The letter on the bus says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ All through the town ♪ The letter on the bus says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ The letter on the bus says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ All through the town Last one.

♪ The letter on the bus says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ The letter on the bus says (sounding out letter) ♪ ♪ All through the town Yay!

Nicely done, learners.

I am so proud of you.

So I'm going to share my screen, and we're going to practice some of those new letter sounds using the animal puzzles that we've been using together so far.

And then we'll be all done learning together here today.

All right.

Here is the letter.

Which one is this?

Yeah, you're right.

That is the letter R, and it says, (sounding out letter).

We just sang about it.

Now, I see this cute little narwhal.

We're listening for that first sound we hear.

Narwhal.

Does that match with the (sounding out letter)?

Or, does the raccoon match with the (sounding out letter)?

Which one has the same beginning sound?

Narwhal or raccoon?

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

Raccoon has the same sound in the very beginning.

Amazing job.

Now, here we go.

This is the letter Q. Q says, (sounding out letter).

Now, listen for the beginning sound.

Which one has the same (sounding out letter) in Q?

Is it a quail or a penguin?

A quail or a penguin?

Shout it out really nice and loud, friends.

Yeah, you're right.

It is the quail.

Quails, as you can see, are a type of bird.

And they have this little kind of poofy, feathery thing on the top there, a quail.

Very good.

All right, now I've got the letter P. Which one matches with the letter P, having that (sounding out letter) sound the beginning?

Is it an octopus or a penguin?

What do you think, friends?

Oh, you are so smart.

I heard friends say penguin.

You're absolutely right.

Penguin has a P. All right.

Now, I see some pictures here.

I see an octopus and a mouse.

Okay, which one does the letter O match with?

A mouse or an octopus?

I cannot get anything past you, learners.

You're absolutely right.

Octopus goes together here.

O says, (sounding out letter), and O says, (sounding out letter).

All right, now I've got that cute little narwhal and the mouse.

Listen to my sounds again.

Mouse.

Narwhal.

There we go.

Which one has the (sounding out letter) sound in it?

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

Narwhal.

And the mouse.

Now, those are a little bit tricky sometimes, but if you look at your mouth and you really listen for that sound, you can hear the difference between M and N. Very good, friends.

Again, today, learners, we practiced the difference between letters, words, and sentences.

We reviewed parts of a book here.

We reviewed the letters and sounds that we have learned together so far, and we matched up lowercase and uppercase letters, and then we learned our letters M through R and practiced them with our puzzle.

Thank you for your hard work.

I can't wait to see you next week.

Bye.

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

(upbeat music)