(happy, upbeat music) - Hi, friends and welcome back to Room Nine, St. Louis's largest classroom, And as always, I'm Mr. Cotton, and you know me as a kindergarten teacher at Bermuda Elementary School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District which is right here in St. Louis in North County.

Yeah, some of you go there, too, don't you?

Yep.

So to my old friends, I see you and I welcome you back.

To my new friends, welcome.

Well, today's episode is actually for first grade science, but here in Room Nine, we know that all of us can learn and grow together.

Yeah, that's right.

Like our stuffed animal friends, ourselves, Mr. Cotton, and our grownups.

So are you ready to find out what we're going to do today?

All right, well, before we get started on what our objective is, let's check in with each other.

So last episode, I apologize, but Mr. Bear, he was sick.

Mm-hm, he wasn't feeling too well, but he is so much better now.

So everybody, let's say hi to Mr. Bear.

(in high voice) Hi, guys!

I'm so glad to see you!

Oh, he's got a big bright smile on his face.

So before we check in, why don't you go get your stuffed animal friends or your favorite doll or an action figure or whatever you'd like to bring or it can be your grownup or brother or sister with you.

Hurry up.

I'll give you this amount of time.

Do you have him or her?

Oh, I can't wait for you to learn and turn and talk to them about what we're going to learn today.

All right, so Mr. Bear is going to hang out back here so he can listen with his ears on what we're going to do today.

All right, so, friends after today's episode, myself, you, and your stuffed animal friends will be able to identify ways in which parents and babies interact with each other to help the babies survive.

Wow, so in our photo gallery walk like we did last week we are going to notice and wonder about some animals who have their moms and their babies or their dads and their babies and what do they do to protect the babies so that the babies do not die from predators or from the weather?

You ready to notice and wonder with me about that?

Yeah, so we're going to go into some of the books and we're going to look closely at some of the real pictures and you are going to turn and talk to your friends and Mr. Cotton about what you notice with your eyes and what we wonder, because as we know, it is starting to turn spring and the weather's starting to get warmer.

I bet some of you have felt it outside, and that means when we listened to our book about birds and migrating a week or two ago, they talked about coming back in the springtime so we can see the babies.

But right now, unfortunately, if I walk around in my neighborhood, I'm not really going to see a lot of animals.

So we'll just imagine, but I challenge you whenever you go to a park or a pond or some environment where there might be some animals, really take a look and see what the mamas and the parents do with their babies.

All right, and then we're going to come back and we're going to read "Baby animals in cities."

Yeah, 'cause we're in St. Louis and you're in a part of St. Louis, too, and you might see these raccoons, right?

Or other animals, squirrels, all around your yard or your neighborhood.

So before we go on our photo gallery walk, I'm going to give you a high five fist bump and a hug.

Are you ready?

All right, here it comes.

One, two, three, high five.

Here's your fist bump.

And a virtual hug from me to you.

I'm so glad you joined us.

So are you ready to get started?

Let's take our notice and wonder walk in our photo gallery walk of our books.

All right, I'll see you soon.

Come along with me.

Hi, welcome back.

So just like last episode, for those of you who might be new, we will probably not be joining Mr. Cotton outside today.

We know that some of our episodes, Mr. Cotton has shown you around his apartment, we've done scavenger hunts.

We've done notice and wonder walks outside in a park or in the city.

So today we are going to do part two of a photo gallery walk with some books with real pictures to help us identify ways in which parents and their babies work together to help all in the family survive.

So without further ado, we are going to see some pictures from our book that we're going to read later, so that way we can pull some information from our post-its from the book that we're going to read later today.

We're also going to pull from some photo gallery walks from last episode's book, where we learned about how animals adapt to their environments, if it's cold what do they have on them to help them survive and stay warm.

And then we're going to go to another book about birds and nests and things that we haven't really talked about.

All right, so you ready to get started?

Well, friends, let's get started with a notice and wonder gallery walk with birds, nests, and eggs.

I want you to take a close look at this picture and notice everything around it.

I'm using my eyes and my brain to see that there's so many different colored birds.

And we see eggs.

We see different types of nests.

We see a mom maybe laying on her eggs.

We see another mom or dad maybe going to gather materials to build the nest.

So what are you wondering about these birds?

Yeah, all the birds in the pictures have some type of nest or a shelter for the babies to stay warm and to survive and to be protected.

Yeah.

What's that you say?

Yeah, this mama cardinal and this other mama bird are laying on the eggs.

Why are they laying on the eggs?

Mr. Bear, tell me.

Yeah, have your stuffed animal friend.

Why are the mama birds laying on the eggs?

What's that?

What did your friends say?

Mr. Bear told me, he told me that it helps them keep warm so they can hatch.

Did you say that, too?

All right, well, let's keep noticing and wondering through some other pictures in this bird book.

Hmm, I'm flipping through some pages.

Oh, well, let's take a closer look at these nests.

We know, or we talked about, and we wondered if mama birds or papa birds laying on the eggs will help them hatch.

Well, what about in this picture?

These robins are gathering something.

Look closely.

Oh, yes, they have to gather food for their babies and for themselves.

So that way when the babies hatch out of the eggs, they have food to eat.

What about you?

Tell your grownups who are next to you.

What did you do when you were a baby?

How'd you get your food?

Did Mom feed you?

Did you get it out of a bottle or a spoon, baby food?

Yeah, I remember when I was young, I had like a bib and I was in a highchair, or have you been in a highchair?

Do you have brothers and sisters in highchairs?

You help them, don't you?

So these parent birds are gathering worms and food to help them with their babies.

Let's see what else.

Oh, and here's just another picture that I wanted to show you of a mourning dove and look it, it's the mom or the dad.

What do you notice?

Yep, laying on the eggs so they can hatch.

So that's one way that parents and babies interact, even before the babies are born.

Well, what's that you asked Mr. Cotton?

What about when they are born?

I'm so glad you asked.

Thanks, Mr. Bear.

He was telling me in my ear and I'm glad you said it, too.

So let's take a look at our book from last week, "Baby animals in the rivers."

I know that we went through some, some pictures last time where we talked about how the babies could survive with their moms and dads.

So I want you to take a look, a real close look.

It might be a little hard to see, at this alligator, this mom or dad alligator, and look at the babies.

What are they doing?

Tell your friend.

(laughs) That's right.

Let's read it.

It says, "These baby alligators hatched on land.

Their mother carried them to water but many hatchlings must find their own way to their water homes.

Most reptile mothers do not look after their babies."

Oh, what's that?

Yeah, these babies are lucky that their animal mom or their mom is helping them get through the water.

So we wondered if birds have to gather the food, they have to lay on the eggs, I wonder if the crocodiles do they, oh, well there's eggs, yeah, but I wonder if they lay on them?

They might, might have to find it out.

But we also just learned, I noticed and wondered that maybe parents have to carry their babies on their back or in their pouches or somewhere on their body so that way they don't fall or get hurt.

Let's keep looking.

Oh, look at these pictures.

Oh, look at this mama otter and baby otter.

Oh, look at this mom tiger and baby tiger.

What are they doing?

Tell your friend.

Don't shout it all at once.

What are they doing?

They're eating, they're hunting, you're right.

So maybe animal parents have to show or teach the babies how to hunt and get their food.

I think this baby otter was successful with mom, huh?

They got their fish.

I know, it's kind of gross.

Ugh, yeah, let's not look at that picture anymore.

Well, I wanted to also show you this picture because we talked about birds and having nests and their shelter.

Well, what about these beavers?

What are they building?

Yeah, I'm noticing that their home is underground, under water.

Did you think about that?

Maybe the babies and the kids have to help their families build their shelter together and work as a team.

Oh man, you're so smart.

Kiss your brain.

(smacks lips) Excellent, and finally, let's do a little photo gallery walk with the book we're going to read today and let's take a closer look.

Now, the book that we're reading today is all about animals in the cities.

How many of you have seen some raccoons by your house?

Mm-hm, I've seen them in the city and they kind of, sometimes they're in the alley or they're by trash.

I wonder if they're trying to get food.

I don't know, let's find out.

Well, let's take a close look at these foxes.

Now I'm noticing, oh, yes, I'm noticing that birds have to eat the worms and bugs but these fox babies are, what are they drinking from the mom?

How many of you have a dog or cat at home?

Raise your hand.

Oh yeah, Mr. Bear doesn't, yeah, he doesn't have a dog or a cat.

No, he's his own little person.

But yes, look at the babies.

They're feeding from mom.

They're getting their milk because foxes are mammals.

They don't hatch from eggs like reptiles and birds, do they?

No, they come out of their mom's stomach just like we do.

We're mammals, too.

So we have to feed off, yep, you feed off like the bottles or baby formula, and then the foxes are getting milk from their mom.

So we noticed that birds have to gather food and twigs to build their shelter and to feed their babies.

They have to lay on the eggs to keep them warm.

We've also noticed and wondered about certain mammals having to hunt to get their food.

So that's how parents teach their babies in order to survive, to get their food on their own.

Now friends, what happens, and I know some of you know this, what happens when our animal friends don't have their shelter anymore?

Us humans might tear it down or break it or we might hunt them.

What happens?

What are the, what are the animals supposed to do?

Oh, and this is unfortunately a problem.

I want you to notice.

Why are these cow in the middle of the street?

Do you see deer in the middle of a street?

Look at this city.

The deer are just right among the people.

That's kind of scary, isn't it?

Ooh, I don't know if I'd want a deer come charging at me.

I don't know about you.

Yeah, oh, and these monkeys around the world, ah, and these polar bears, look at them.

We think of polar bears in the ice and snow and up in the Arctic.

Look at these polar bears.

They're going toward the cities because they have to find food from the trash.

I'm noticing that they're not in their habitat, are they?

Remember animals' habitat is where they live and where they get their food and where they survive.

So now we have a problem in our earth.

We have polar bears and we have other animals that are going into our cities and they're kind of taking over our environment.

But I don't know.

What's that you say, Mr. Bear?

Yeah, what are you feeling?

He's feeling sad, mm-hm, because we know that some of us and our families or our people that we might know, if you think about it, in our history we've tore down trees and forests.

We've invaded the animals' homes, haven't we?

Mm-hm, so we have to do a little bit better at protecting that natural environment, don't we, for our animals.

Well friends, I'm so glad you noticed and wondered so many things about animals and their homes and how parents and babies can interact with each other to help each other survive.

And unfortunately, at dire times, which means in times where we really need it, the animals, the parents and babies have to travel to where humans live to try to get trash.

Maybe that's why we see our raccoons and opossum and deer coming into our neighborhoods.

So I'm going to let you think about that.

And I challenge you: What are some ways that you can help your environment?

How can you help your neighborhood?

Think about it.

Tell your friend, tell your grown-ups.

All right, well, I can't wait for you to come back to the classroom and we'll read our book, "Baby animals in the cities" so we can tackle that problem and we can talk about what we learned.

All right, I'll see you soon.

Hi, welcome back friends.

So let's discuss what we noticed and wondered.

So I wrote down a few things that we talked about and what we turned to our friends and our grownups about.

So let's start with about this word "gathering."

Parents and babies gathering things.

What were they gathering?

Tell me.

Yeah, the birds were gathering, birds were gathering, were finding worms, worms and bugs, bugs for food.

Maybe like twigs or things for their shelters.

Yeah, they were gathering.

"Gathering" means to pick up and load up, so they were picking up the food to go back.

They were picking up twigs or other things to build their nests.

The beavers were gathering the wood and the twigs to make their, to make their shelter in the water.

Great thinking with gathering.

What's that?

Oh, Mr. Bear wants to say the next thing.

Mr. Bear, read it.

What's that?

Hunting!

Who remembers about hunting?

Yeah, the parents teach, oh, let's say that.

Yeah, the parents teach, right?

Teach the babies how to hunt.

Very good.

What kind of animals were doing the hunting that we saw in our photo gallery walk?

Yeah, we saw the tigers, the lions, Yeah.

Maybe birds.

Yeah, some predator birds might do that, like hawks or owls.

Yeah, so hunting is a way that parents and babies can work together, all right?

Then another thing that we talked about is building shelter.

What were some things that the parents were doing to build shelter to help the babies survive?

Yeah, so the nests in the trees helped, oops, helped the baby birds, the nest in the trees, away from predators that are on the ground, yeah.

Even I saw like, so like, we can say high up, right?

So not on the ground.

And then some of them, I don't know if you noticed this with your eyes, but some of them were inside the trees, inside the hollow part of the tree to protect them from the outside cold air maybe.

So the shelter is to protect from predators.

Uh-oh, that's scary, right?

Predators, and the, you guessed it, the weather, the wind, the cold, right?

All right, and finally, on my last post-it note, it says to travel or migrate.

We talked about that in a couple episodes ago.

What does it mean to migrate?

What are the birds doing when they migrate?

They're traveling, they're going somewhere, they're going warm.

So baby, or so even after the young is born, sometimes, like we saw with the polar bears, sometimes they have to travel in packs to survive.

I know that elephants do this.

So it's kind of like one big whole family, travel in packs to protect right, to protect and be, to be powerful, right?

'Cause if they were by themselves the predators might come and get them.

So they travel in packs to protect and also to find food.

If they, if there's none in their environment.

And we saw that from the raccoons, we saw that from the deer, we saw that from the polar bears.

So let's find out more, if we can add more to our post-it notes from our book, "Animals in the cities."

I bet we'll find out more about traveling to get what they need.

Maybe building shelter in the city.

We'll find out.

But before we do, it's time to sing a song with Mr. Bear 'cause he's so happy.

All right, remember, get your bodies under, get your bodies ready, 'cause we might be clapping.

We might be snapping.

We might be shouting hooray, but not too loud.

All right, ready?

♪ If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands ♪ ♪ If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands ♪ ♪ If you're happy and you know it ♪ ♪ Then your face will surely show it, like Mr. Bear and I, ♪ ♪ If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

♪ Mr. Bear, what should we do next?

Okay.

♪ If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet ♪ ♪ If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet ♪ ♪ If you're happy and you know it ♪ ♪ Then your face will surely show it ♪ ♪ If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet.

♪ All right, one last one.

♪ If you're happy and you know it, shout hooray ♪ Hooray!

♪ If you're happy and you know it, shout hooray ♪ Hooray!

♪ If you're happy and you know it ♪ ♪ Then your face will surely show it ♪ ♪ If you're happy and you know it, shout hooray.

♪ Hooray!

All right, thanks, Mr. Bear.

All right, give them a high five.

All right, thanks, Mr. Bear.

All right, he's going to go listen.

All right, he's ready for our story, too.

All right, friends, again, this book is a non-fiction book and it's called "Baby animals in cities."

The author is Bobbie Kalman.

She wrote all the words and remember just like last episode, Crabtree Publishing Company let me, or gave me permission to read it to you.

So we will not read all the pages because we've kind of looked at some of them during our photo gallery walk, but we also see a table of contents.

So if we're doing some wondering about gathering food, hunting, building shelter, travel and migrate, let's see if some of the chapters tell us about that.

Hmm, one of the chapters says, uh-oh, "Losing their habitats" and that's what we talked about to find food.

So let's go to the first chapter, "Losing their habitats."

Oh, there's the fox.

Oh, there's the chipmunk.

So a habitat, boys and girls, is a place in nature.

"Plants and animals live in habitats.

Many kinds of wild animals have lost their habitats because people have built cities on lands where animals once lived."

We just talked about that, didn't we?

"Some animals have become endangered because of this, which means they are in danger of dying out in the wild, and the wild is a natural area where people do not live."

Like the woods or the forest where we don't really have cabins and houses.

So this says: "Much of the forest where this mother fox and her kits lived have been cut down."

As you can see by the logs behind them, they don't have a shelter.

"This fox family will have to find a new place.

Will it be in the city?"

I don't know.

"Moving into cities."

This is how animals have had to adapt to their environment.

"Some kinds of animals adapt or adjust easily to living near humans.

Animals that have adapted to living in urban environments," which is here in St. Louis or cities, "include squirrels, chipmunks, rats, mice, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, and many kinds of birds."

Ooh, that's a lot.

"Now, as cities grow bigger and bigger, they take up more land and animals then are forced out of their natural habitats.

They move into the cities to find food."

You guessed it.

"Living in cities often causes problems for both the animals and the humans."

It says, "Many squirrels and chipmunks find food easily in the parks and people's backyards."

Do you have squirrels or chipmunks near you?

Maybe this weekend or after this episode, you can go find some.

All right, let's see another chapter.

"Pets in the city."

What?

Oh, let's go to this one.

Where do they live in the cities?

Let's find out.

"Well, animals need food and water, but they also need shelter."

♪ Dun, dun, duh.

What we talked about in our notice and wonder walk.

"Shelter protects them from bad weather and keeps their babies safe from predators."

Bad weather and predators.

Man, you are super duper smart.

You could have written this book all by yourself.

Couldn't you?

Kiss your brains.

(smacks lips) Super smart, great job, scientists.

"Cities have parks and other natural areas where some animals find shelter.

Other animals find shelter in people's backyards or even in their homes."

What?

Oh, I don't want a squirrel in my house or a skunk in my house, oh gosh, oh, no.

It says, "Skunks often live under people's decks or garages."

Don't climb, don't go under your decks if you have them.

"This skunk family has found shelter in a backyard of a house.

Most cities have trees and where there are trees, there are squirrels.

The mother of these squirrel pups keep her babies safe in a nest high up in the tree."

We even talked about that with the birds and the hunting and the, and how they are high up, right, high up in the nest in trees.

Cool, all right now, "Pets in the city."

Who, how many of you have pets?

So we know that there are also pets in the city.

I'm not going to read all the pages but we'll look at the pictures.

Some people have horses, bunnies, walking the dogs, cats.

Those aren't wild animals anymore, are they?

Well, last but not least, let's find out about how we can help animals stay, how we can help them survive, how humans can.

"There are many people who help animals in cities.

Some work in the zoos, teaching people about endangered animals, some work in animal shelters that house homeless cats and dogs, and others help wild animals that are injured in the cities.

Find out how you can help animals in your city."

So many cities have zoos where we see those animals that we really don't see in our yards.

Some wildlife groups help endangered animals breed, so that way they can keep, breeding means keeping the species going so there'll be more and more of them, so they don't die out.

And these red wolf pups were just born.

So wolves, now they're breeding them so that way there's more and more of them, so they don't die out.

And then here are some dogs at the homeless shelter for dogs where you can adopt pets.

I know some of you've heard about that.

And this squirrel, aww, look how little that squirrel pup is, is being fed.

And a baby owl protected by the humans are being helped by volunteers at a wildlife center.

"Wildlife centers take care of animals that have been injured or lost their parents.

Baby animals that are injured or whose parents are dead cannot survive without help."

So friends, I want to thank you so much for joining us today.

I hope that you've learned about some ways that maybe you can help the animals survive, and also remember, today, we were able to identify ways in which parents and babies interact, play with each other, teach each other so that they could survive and not die out.

I'll see you next time.

'Till then, this is Room Nine and Mr. Cotton's class.

Bye, I'll see you soon.

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