(gentle upbeat 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, friends.

Thank you for taking time to be here with me today.

I'm so glad I get the chance to be here with you.

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

So always feel free to have your grownup take a picture or a video of you following along, and they can post them online and hashtag "ninePBS."

We'd love to see your learning from home.

All right, friends, we're gonna go ahead and start with our mindful moment exercise.

If you would like to quickly go and get a piece of paper and a marker, so that way, you can follow along with us today.

Go ahead and do that right now.

All right, I can tell some of my friends are making their way back.

We're gonna start by doing a mindful moment rainbow breathing exercise, together.

Go ahead, if you'd like to draw a rainbow on your paper at home, you can do that, or I'll show you another way to make a rainbow with this activity.

This will help get our bodies and our brains ready to learn, and recenter, so we can focus and learn new information.

So I'm gonna go ahead and start by sharing my screen so you can see the rainbow picture that I have here.

And if you have drawn one at home, you can use that rainbow, or I'll tell you another way to go ahead and do it.

But we're gonna be taking some deep breaths together, in through our nose, and out through our mouth.

So go ahead and sit up nice and straight and tall.

All right.

Okay, if you have a rainbow that you are tracing at home you're gonna take your tracer finger and you're gonna start on this outside red line of our rainbow, and take a deep breath in through your nose, while you trace.

Ready?

Go ahead.

(inhales) And breathe out on the orange.

(exhales) Great job.

Breathe in on the green.

(inhales) And out on the blue.

(exhales) Start back on the red, breathe in, (inhales) and out on the orange.

(exhales) Breathe in on the green, (inhales) and breathe out on the blue.

(exhales) Great job, learners.

If you'd like to keep taking a few deep breaths in and out, you may.

I'm gonna show you here, at the bottom of our rainbow.

It shows us another way we can use a rainbow to do this activity.

It says we can use five things, or list these things, that you can see, four things that you can touch, three things that you can hear, two things that you can smell, or one thing that you can taste.

And you can use your five senses to help you in mindful moments, when you're taking a moment to recenter your body, that way you're ready to learn.

All right, I'm gonna stop sharing my screen.

I'd love to see your rainbows at home that you've drawn.

Another way you can do this activity, friends, is as you're taking deep breaths, you can breathe in with your hands together like this, (inhales) and then breathe out (exhales) and make a rainbow.

And you can do that as many times as you need to, in order to recenter your body.

Okay, friends, now that our bodies and our brains are ready to learn, let's talk about what we need to do to be successful when we're learning at school.

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

So we'll talk about some strategies that we've learned together, so far.

First thing, go ahead and check in with your bodies right now, friends.

Are you in a smart spot?

A smart spot is a spot that's away from any distractions that might take away from your learning.

Check in with your body again.

Are you showing whole body listening, or body basics?

This might look different for everyone, but it might look like sitting up straight and tall, having your eyes on the speaker, having listening ears, having a quiet mouth, and an open and ready heart, so that you are able to learn.

Something else that we've talked about learning at school is helping us to make smart choices.

Sometimes, smart choices are called green choices.

Can you say that, friends?

Green choices!

Great job.

Some of the green choices we've talked about together so far, were using gentle hands, working together as a team, sharing, trying your very best, keeping your hands to yourself, and remembering to use your words.

Some new green choices might be, playing with a friend, and being a buddy to someone, and also, waiting patiently.

I know that can be really hard sometimes, but sometimes you just have to wait patiently for your teacher's attention, or your grownup's attention, or waiting for your turn to play with the materials.

Some red choices that we've talked about together so far, were things like having an out-of-control body, using mean or unkind words, taking all the materials so no one else can play, using your hands instead of your words, taking others' turns when you're playing a game together, or talking over someone instead of waiting patiently for your turn to speak, or listening to their words.

Some new red choices this week, friends, might be running away.

That is so dangerous, to run away from your teacher or your grownup.

It definitely makes us feel really scared, because we don't know if you are being safe.

So it's important to never run away from your grownup or teacher.

Another red choice might be, breaking or destroying classroom materials.

These materials are here for everyone to learn.

So we don't want to use our classroom materials or toys in an unsafe way, or a way that makes it to where no one else can play.

I say, you say, friends, "we are in control of our body and our choices!"

Great job, learners.

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

As I've mentioned, we're here to talk about letters and sounds, and we have practiced all our letter sounds, and working with our letter sounds, so we're gonna keep working and learning more this week.

Our objective for learning goal is, I can.

Can you say that really nice and loud?

Let me hear you.

I can!

Ooh, very good.

Understand and hear short vowels in words.

Great job, learners.

So let's go ahead and start by warming up our brain.

Go ahead and tickle your brains, and let's shake out those wiggles.

Be ready to learn.

We're gonna start by reviewing what we've talked about together so far.

So we're gonna start with our letter sounds.

All right, friends, we're gonna sing a song that I've taught you before, but try to just jump in whenever you feel comfortable, or if you know any of these letter sounds.

All right, friends, are you ready?

Let me hear your letter sounds, nice and loud.

♪ A says a, a ♪ B says b, b ♪ C says k, k ♪ These are letter sounds ♪ D says d, d ♪ E says e, e ♪ F says f, f ♪ These are letter sounds ♪ G then says g, g ♪ H then says h, h ♪ I says i ♪ J says j ♪ K says k ♪ L says l ♪ And M says mm-mm-mm-mm ♪ N says n, n ♪ O says o, o ♪ P says p, p ♪ These are letter sounds ♪ Q says q, q ♪ R says r, r ♪ S says s, s ♪ These are letter sounds ♪ T then says t, t ♪ U then says uh, uh ♪ V says v ♪ W says w ♪ X says x ♪ Y says y ♪ And Z says z-z-z-z ♪ Now we're all done ♪ With 26 letters ♪ Letters come together to make words ♪ Wow.

I am so proud of you, learners!

That was amazing.

I can tell some of you are really learning your letter sounds.

All right.

Now we're gonna go ahead and take those letter sounds that we just practiced so nicely, to be able to continue to warm up our brain, and practice working with some of those letter sounds.

All right.

We're gonna start by doing rhyming words.

Here's our song.

♪ Rhyming words are words that have the same sounds ♪ ♪ They have to end in the same way ♪ ♪ Rhyming words have the same vowel sounds ♪ ♪ And the same sounds at the very end ♪ Great job.

I can tell some of you have heard that before.

So we're gonna start by doing two rhyming words.

So I'm gonna say the two words, you say them back to me.

And then we're gonna shout out the rhyme, the part of the word that sounds the same.

The vowel sound, and the sound that comes after it.

All right, ready to try, friends?

Go ahead and say the words, hook, cook.

Great job.

Do you hear how those are rhyming words?

Yeah.

And what is the rhyme you hear in hook and cook?

Great job, ook was our rhyme, there.

Let's try another one.

Say the words, woke, soak.

Yeah.

What's the rhyme in those two words?

Oak.

Great job!

Say the two words, keep, leap.

Great job.

And our rhyme in those two words is?

Eep.

Very good.

Say the words, chomp, stomp.

Great job, learners.

And the rhyme in chomp and stomp is?

Omp.

Very good.

Last one, say the words, hand, sand.

Great job, friends.

And the rhyme in hand and sand is?

And.

Very good!

If it's feeling a little tricky for your brain, that's okay.

Keep practicing with me, friends, and we know that practice makes progress, and you'll get better and better.

All right, now I'm gonna give you two words.

You'll say them back to me and tell me the very first sound you hear.

Let's practice.

Say the word, give.

Great job.

Shout out the first sound you hear in give.

Yeah, if you said, "g, g," you're absolutely right.

Let's try another one.

Say the word, rest.

And the first sound you hear in rest?

R, you're right.

Say the word, crayon.

And what is the first sound you hear in crayon?

K, k. Good job.

All right, say the word, marker.

Yeah.

And what's the first sound you hear in marker?

Mm, very good.

All right, last one.

Say the word, button.

Yeah.

And what's the first sound you hear in button?

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

It's the b, b, sound.

Very good.

Now we're gonna practice picking out just the last sound you hear.

So I'll say two words, you say them back, or, say the word and you'll say it back and then tell me the very last sound you hear.

All right, let's try it.

Say, leg.

Yeah.

And the last sound in leg is?

G, g. Very good.

Let's try another one.

Say the word, neat.

Yeah.

And the first, I'm sorry, the last sound you hear in neat?

T, t, t. Very good.

If you said the letter T, you're absolutely right.

Letter T makes that sound, but make sure you give me the sound, and not the letter.

All right.

Say the word, maze.

Very good.

And the last sound in maze?

Z, very good.

Say the word, said.

And the last sound in said?

Yeah, if you said, "d, d," you're absolutely right.

Last one, learners.

Say the word, win.

Yeah, great job.

And the last sound you hear in win?

N, very good.

I'm so proud of you, friends.

You are amazing.

Like I said, if it feels tricky, just keep practicing with me and we'll get better and better, the more we practice.

We've also together talked about syllables.

And, if you remember, ♪ Syllables ♪ Are the beats ♪ In words ♪ Syllables ♪ Are built around ♪ A talking vowel Great job.

We did a song to help us with syllables, and then we'll talk more about our vowel sounds.

Okay.

It went like this.

Jump in if you feel comfortable.

♪ Syllables are the beats in words ♪ ♪ Syllables are built around a vowel ♪ ♪ Vowels are A, E, I, O, U ♪ And then sometimes Y ♪ But you must ♪ Hear the vowel ♪ And each vowel ♪ Gets a clap ♪ Oh, syllables are the beats in words ♪ ♪ Syllables are built around a vowel ♪ Let's do it one more time, learners.

♪ Syllables are the beats in words ♪ ♪ Syllables are built around a vowel ♪ ♪ Vowels are A, E, I, O, U ♪ And then sometimes Y ♪ But you must ♪ Hear the vowel ♪ And each vowel ♪ Gets a clap ♪ Oh, syllables are the beats in words ♪ ♪ Syllables are built around a vowel ♪ Very good, learners.

As you heard in our song, vowels are super important letters.

They are the letters, say this with me, A, E, I, O, and U.

Very good.

These letters can make short sounds, or they can make long vowel sounds.

We're only gonna focus on the short vowel sounds first.

All right, and last week we learned some songs that we'll sing again.

And, if you're listening, you can hear some really great examples of words that have these vowel sounds.

And if you feel comfortable, try to jump in and sing along with me.

All right, friends, we'll start with short A, short A says, a, a, see, my mouth is nice and wide.

A, and my tongue is flat.

All right, ready?

♪ A, a, short A ♪ That's your sound ♪ A, a, short A ♪ That's your sound ♪ A in cat and a in rat ♪ A in map and a in cap ♪ A, a short A ♪ That's your sound ♪ A, a, short A ♪ That's your sound Great job!

And, if you were listening, you might have heard words like cat, rat, map, cap, in our song.

Very good.

If you'd like, you can try to write your own short A at home, too.

All right, our next one is short E. Short E says, e, e. My mouth is a lot more closed.

E. My tongue is against my bottom teeth, there.

All right, are you ready?

Try to sing along, if you remember!

♪ There were 10 in the bed ♪ And the short E said, e, e, e ♪ ♪ E, e, e ♪ Bed, e, e ♪ Red, e, e ♪ Wet, e, e ♪ And jet, e, e ♪ There were 10 in the bed ♪ And the short E said, e, e, e ♪ ♪ E, e, e Very good, learners!

And if you were listening or singing along, you probably heard words like, bed, red, wet, and jet, all have that short E sound.

Very good.

All right, if you're writing along at home you might have written short A and E, and now we're doing short I.

If you can see some of the words on the chart, you can write those at home, too.

All right, learners, ready?

♪ Mary had a little pig ♪ I, i, i, i, i, i ♪ Mary had a little pig ♪ That made the short I sound And then you can switch it out.

♪ Mary had a little wig ♪ I, i, i, i, i, i ♪ Mary had a little wig ♪ That made the short I sound And then you can switch it out again for words like lip and sip.

All of those have the short i, i, i vowel sound.

You see how my mouth is still pretty closed.

I, i, but this time my tongue is raised up a little bit.

Now, if you're writing along, write your short O.

Short O says, o, o.

Look how round my mouth is.

O, o.

And my tongue is really flat and the sound is coming out from the back of my throat.

See if you can sing along or hear some of these words.

Ready?

♪ The short O has the o, o sound ♪ ♪ Like dog and log and frog ♪ The short O has the o, o sound ♪ ♪ Pop goes the short O Very good, learners.

So if you were listening or writing along at home, you might have heard words like dog, log, frog, and ♪ Pop goes the short O Very good.

And if you're writing along, your last short vowel sound is U, and it says, uh, uh, uh.

So not quite as wide as my, o, o, o, I closed my mouth a little, uh, uh, uh, and my tongue is relaxed.

All right, learners, ready?

♪ Found a short U ♪ Found a short U ♪ Short U has the uh, uh sound ♪ Bug and rug ♪ Pup and cup ♪ Short U has the uh, uh sound Very good.

If you were listening or shouting 'em out or writing 'em along at home, you might have heard words like bug, rug, pup, and cup.

Great job, learners.

All right, let's review one last time.

Say it, A says a, a.

Good.

E says e, e. I says i, i. O says o, o. U says uh, uh.

Very good.

And if you're listening for long vowel sounds like some of these ones you see on my chart over here, they would say their name.

They would say their letter name, like A, E, I, O, U.

But we'll focus on that another time.

I'm gonna share my screen so we can practice some of our vowel sounds.

Okay, learners.

You can see, I have A, E, I, O, and U at the top, here.

Let's practice sorting some picture cards with the right vowel sounds.

Sorry, I'm trying to get my thing nice and straight.

There we go.

All right, friends.

Here, you see a picture of what?

Shout it out for me.

Yeah.

Looks like a container with a?

L, i, d. Blend it.

Lid.

What short vowel?

I, i, i. Yeah.

Short I.

Very good.

Okay, what's this a picture of here, friends?

Oh, very good, I heard some learners saying it is a f, a, n. Fan.

And it has a?

A, a, a, which is?

♪ A, a short A, that's your sound ♪ Very good.

All right.

What's this a picture of, learners?

Yeah, this is a top.

T, o, p. Which one has the, ♪ O, o sound like dog and log and frog ♪ Yeah, short O, very good.

Okay, what's this a picture of, learners?

Yeah.

It looks like a s, uh, n. Blend it.

Sun.

Very good.

Which one has the uh, uh sound?

♪ Short U has the uh, uh sound Very good.

All right.

And let's do one more.

Oh, yeah.

What's this a picture of, here, learners?

Yeah, that looks like a n, e, t. Blend it.

Net.

And, ♪ There were 10 in the bed ♪ And the short E said ♪ E, e, e ♪ E, e, e Very good, learners.

All right, really quick before we go.

What's this a picture of, here?

Yeah.

A f-r-o-g. Frog.

So it would be the short O sound.

You're absolutely right.

And here we have?

Yeah.

What is this?

It's pointing to the part underneath the flower, is a s-t-e-m. And so it would be short E. Last, but not least.

Let's do this one here, friends.

What is this friend doing?

Yeah.

Very good.

J-uh-m-p.

Blend it.

Jump.

Great job, friends!

I'll stop sharing my screen.

We did our rainbow breathing exercise today, we talked about red and green choices, and we reviewed all our letter sounds, did a letter warm up, and practiced our short vowel sounds.

I'm so proud of you!

Kiss your brains!

(lips smooch) And I'll see you next time.

Bye.

(gentle upbeat music) - [Announcer] Teaching in room nine is made possible with support of Bank of America, Dana Brown Charitable Trust, Emerson, and viewers like you.