- [Female Narrator] Ready to learn?

- Hi.

- Hi.

- [Female Narrator] It's time to share a story, read and write.

- Let's read it back.

- [Female Narrator] Discover science, sing.

♪ Somewhere ♪ - [Female Narrator] Play and so much more.

- Cupcake.

- Very good.

- [Female Narrator] Stay tuned for lessons and activities.

- We're gonna start making some words.

Isn't that fun?

[playful music] - [Female Narrator] Funding for this program was provided by the JPB Foundation.

[playful music continues] - Hi friends, welcome to story time with me, Miss Darlene.

Today's read aloud is called "Small World".

Words by Ishta Mercurio and pictures by Jen Corace.

In this book, the main character takes us on a wonderful journey as she explores the world while she grows and grows.

And stick around, after the read aloud, I'll show you how you can make a really cool hanger mobile using the parts of the story.

So, if you're ready, let's have fun reading.

When Nanda was born, the whole of the world was wrapped in the circle of her mother's arms.

Safe, warm, small.

But as she grew, the world grew too.

Wow, can you remember when you were this small?

[Miss Darlene giggles] It became the circle of her loving family.

Above all, of giggling playmates and slides and swings and whirligigs and tumbles through the grass.

Nanda got bigger and bigger, but as she grew, the world grew too.

It became a sway of branches, scaffolds of steel and cables and cogs and odds and sods and coasting through the nights.

Nanda got bigger and even bigger, but as she grew, the world grew too.

Do you see where Nanda is in the photo?

Yeah.

There she is.

Looks like she's sitting on a train.

All by herself.

No longer wrapped in the circle of her mother's arms.

That's because she's getting bigger, just like you.

It became a sun-kissed maze of wheat, pinecone-prickled mountains and the microscopic elegance of fractals in the snow.

It soared through a symphony of glass and stone.

Look at how big Nanda has grown now.

It spooled through spirals of wire and foam, a human powered helicopter lifting toward the sky.

Wow, Nanda has grown so big and she's gotten into so many different things.

When she was a little girl, she played around the dinner table or at the playground, but now she's playing in school with friends, building and making things.

Isn't it cool to grow bigger?

Nanda got bigger and bigger and bigger, but as she grew, the world grew too.

Look at Nanda now.

Wow, I know you can't wait til you can get bigger, so you can do some of the things that Nanda's doing.

I wonder what you will explore.

It became the roar of twin engines, a glittering ocean far below and the curve of the planet beneath her.

Hmm, if the planet is beneath her, where do you think Nanda's going now?

Well, I see a picture of a rocket ship.

Could she be going out of space?

Wow, that's exciting.

On a day when Nanda was bigger than she had ever been before, her feet touched foreign soil.

Her ears heard a crackle of voices, she gazed out into ink-black space and and saw...

I wonder what did she see.

What can you see?

I see a forest, moonless and deep, distant suns twinkling, marbled planets orbiting, specks small in the distant night.

Wow.

What has Nanda become as she has gotten bigger?

What do you notice in the picture?

Well, from what I know, people who travel to outer space are usually astronauts, so maybe Nanda grew up to be an astronaut.

That's amazing.

What will you grow up to be?

And the Earth softly glowing, a circle called home, safe and warm and small.

Wow, Nanda grew up to be an astronaut.

Even when she was really tiny, she was exploring the world around her and using that to think of new ideas and new places to go.

I'll show you how to make a hanger mobile.

The materials you'll need for this activity are a hanger, any size will do, some crayons or markers or pencils, anything that you feel more comfortable drawing and coloring with, some colored paper, some white paper, it's okay if you have no colored paper at home, you can always use white paper and color your drawings to your liking, a pair of scissors that you'll ask a trusted adult to help you cut with and some tape to tape your shapes to your string that you will tie to your hanger for the mobile.

Okay friends, let's get started.

In the story, Nanda explored all different types of things, like rocket ships and, ooh, even foreign places, like the moon and the stars.

So, we can think of some of these things that we can make and add to our mobile.

So, one of the things that I noticed was that Nanda was an astronaut as she grew bigger.

So, I'm gonna use my white paper, since I know astronauts wear white suits.

And it's okay if you're not the best artist, you can always draw using shapes.

I know that the top of an astronaut's uniform is a round circle for their helmet.

And then, I can draw her body on the bottom and her legs.

Remember, a space suit is pretty big.

And arms.

And I'm just gonna give her a little bit of a cover on her helmet and I'm gonna color in her skin on her face using another big circle on the inside and Nanda looks pretty happy when she's exploring, so I'm gonna draw her features and I'm gonna give her a great big smile.

I'm gonna use a black marker for this one.

There we go.

[Miss Darlene giggles] So you're gonna cut out your shape.

- [Female Narrator] Ask a trusted adult for help using scissors.

- That we're gonna tie to our hanger for the mobile.

Next, while Nanda was exploring another planet, she looked back at home, so I'm gonna use this green paper to draw a nice circle to make the Earth.

Here we go.

Not too big because I'm gonna put other things on the mobile, as well.

And I've had some water on it that we can see from far away, so I'm gonna draw some blue pockets of water on Earth [pen scribbling] Now I'm gonna cut this out and this is gonna be a big beautiful green Earth with lots of bodies of water.

I'm gonna cut this out, as well.

[scissors cutting] I'm also gonna add in some stars because she noticed beautiful bright stars as she was exploring a foreign planet in the story.

And again, you do not have to be a perfect artist.

I am not, but I am trying my best.

And you can make as many stars for your mobile as you would like.

Just remember, no star is exactly the same, so it's okay if they look different.

[Miss Darlene giggles] So again, you can ask a trusted adult to help you if you need to, to cut out your beautiful stars.

Another cool part of the story that I'd like to add to my mobile is when Nanda took off in her rocket ship.

So, I'll start off using my yellow paper and I'll draw a tall triangle shape and two other triangle shapes on the side and that will be my rocket ship.

And I'll even make some fire coming out of the ends.

Don't forget to decorate it.

And they're gonna need a window.

[crayon scribbling] Once you have all of your shapes on your string, you're just going to tie each string to the long half of your hanger.

And I'll show you, it's just one little loop that you'll make.

It's almost like just tying your shoelaces, but if you need help, remember, you can always grab a trusted adult.

Make a knot and there you have one part hanging off of your hanger.

Wow, I just can't wait to hang up my hanger mobile somewhere around my house that will remind me to always keep dreaming as I get bigger.

I hope you enjoyed today's story and as always, keep reading.

Bye bye.

- Hi movers and shakers, this is Violet and I'm here with my friends Kasey and Jeremy and we're gonna sing a song with you.

It's called "Row, row your boat".

Do you know that one?

I think some of you do.

So, we're gonna sing the song in a special way today.

The first time, we're gonna sing it all together, or in unison, the second time, we're gonna do it as a round, which means we're gonna sing the exact same thing as each other and as the first time, but we're gonna start at different times.

So, sing along with me.

♪ Row, row, row your boat ♪ ♪ Gently down the stream ♪ ♪ Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily ♪ ♪ Life is but a dream ♪ ♪ Row, row, row your boat ♪ ♪ Gently down the stream ♪ ♪ Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily ♪ ♪ Life is but a dream ♪ ♪ Row, row, row your boat ♪ ♪ Row, row, row your boat ♪ ♪ Gently down the stream ♪ ♪ Gently down the stream ♪ ♪ Merrily, merrily, merrily ♪ ♪ Merrily ♪ ♪ Life is but a dream ♪ ♪ Row, row, row your boat ♪ ♪ Life is but a dream ♪ ♪ Gently down the stream ♪ ♪ Merrily, merrily, merrily, ♪ ♪ Merrily ♪ ♪ Life is but a dream ♪ ♪ Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily ♪ ♪ Life is but a dream ♪ That was so much fun.

Thanks Jeremy, thanks Kasey, thanks everyone.

[playful music] Hi friendsa, welcome back.

My name is Miss Nicole, it's so nice to see you again.

Today, we're going to be working on our blends, which are heard at the end of words.

These are called the final blends and today we're going to be working with the N-G blend and the N-K final blend.

We're also going to be doing a little bit of work with the inflection I-N-G ending, which we add on to a verb to show an action that is happening at this moment.

We have a lot of work to do and I'm very excited to be here with you.

If you would like to do some of the work with us, all you'll need today is either a dry erase board, like I have and a marker or you could even use pencil and paper.

If you have your letter cards that we've used in the past, those would be great too.

You can have a trusted adult go get those things for you while we begin our first activity.

Okay, for the first activity, what we are going to do is just rhyming.

All you need are your ears and your mouth if you're going to respond back and I'm going to be listening.

So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to say three words, I want you to listen to the words and tell me which two words rhyme or sound the same at the end of the word.

Okay?

Here we go.

Listen to the first three words, they are ring, string and rink.

Ring, string, rink.

Ring and string rhyme, great.

So, now, I want you to think what's another word that rhymes with ring and string?

Wing, like a bird has a wing.

Good.

Wing, string, ring, they all rhyme.

Great work.

All right, want to try one now?

Okay, listen to the three words and tell me which two rhyme Sang, thank, hang.

Say them to yourself.

Sang, thank, hang.

Which two rhyme?

Nice.

Sang, hang.

Now can you think of two words that would rhyme with sang and hang?

You can work with someone that's at home.

Sang, hang.

What word would rhyme with them?

Bang.

That's a good one, right.

all right.

And what about rang?

Rang, sang, hang, those all rhyme.

Nice work.

All right, here's another one.

Listen to the three words and tell me which two rhyme or sound the same at the end.

Sink, blink, swing.

Say them to yourself, repeat.

Sink, blink, swing.

Nice work.

Sink, blink.

Yup.

Can you think of two words that rhyme with sink and blink?

Wink, nice.

How about think?

Good one.

All right, the last set.

Listen to the three words and tell me which two rhyme.

Tank, dunk, sank.

Tank, sank.

Awesome.

Can you think of two words that rhyme with those?

Bank, that's one.

How about plank?

A plank is like a wooden board, you might see it on a pirate ship.

Okay, awesome work with our rhyming.

Now, I want to introduce you to our letter sound card.

Here we see a picture of a swing.

Have you gone on one recently?

A lot of fun.

All right, let's say the word again.

Swing.

Hear the ending?

N-G.

Swing.

Let me write this on my board here and let's take a look at the word.

S-W-I-N-G. Now, I'm underlining our blend at the end.

The N-G makes the sound ng.

Swing.

Ng.

If you look at my mouth, you'll notice that my tongue actually works the most to make the blend of those two letter sounds.

Watch.

Ng.

Ng.

Ng.

So my tongue is actually pressed up to the back of the roof of my mouth and that's what makes that ng sound.

You can try it at home, lots of fun.

Okay, now, let's look at another word, the word is ring.

Ring.

So, for the word ring, it ends just like the word swing.

Okay?

R, ing.

Ng.

So, this is a blend, they're two letters that just come really close together to make that blend sound.

Ring.

Good.

All right, and now, let's look at another one because there's another ending that makes a similar sound like we saw on my letter sound card here.

N-K also sounds very similar to the N-G. Nk.

Nk.

Nk.

Good.

So, for this one, let's write the word think.

Think.

Notice the N-K blend at the end.

We have the diagraph T-H that makes the sound th.

The I, i, and then the we blend the N-K, nk.

Th, i, th, i, nk, think.

Very good.

All right, now, I want to talk a little bit about that inflection ending because right now, we are thinking about the final blend sounds and words, right?

So I'm going to add another ending onto this word, think.

And we're going to make the word think, ing.

Now, with the inflection ending, I-N-G, which we're adding on to it, we have the word think, which is a verb because it's something that we can do, but because we are thinking right now together, that's an action word that's happening right now, so we add that extra I-N-G to show that it's happening right now.

Thinking.

Can you think of another action word that we can add the I-N-G onto it, like we're doing it right now.

Good.

Maybe reading.

We are writing, we are watching TV.

Those are all inflection endings, okay?

Be sure to try and use them in your words today or even when you're reading or writing later on.

Try using an inflection ending to show a verb that's happening right now.

Excellent work.

All right.

Now, we're going to be building some words that have a final blend in them.

The first word is the word r, u, ng.

Watch as I blend this word to read it.

R, u, ru, ng.

Ru, rung.

Rung.

Good.

Now, let's make the word blink.

Say blink.

Can you blink?

Good work.

All right, think about the sounds that you hear in the word blink.

What do you hear at the end?

Nk.

Good.

Now let's build it.

And that final blend, N-K.

So, the first two letters, we're going to blend together and then we'll add in the vowel, okay?

B, l, bl, i, blink.

Blink.

Nice.

All right.

And let's do one more.

How about the word singing?

Singing.

We are singing a song.

So, for the first part, we have s, i, ng.

S, ing.

Sing.

But now, I want to make it like a verb that's happening right now.

So we have to use the inflection I-N-G ending on this verb.

When we sing, we're doing an action, so it's a verb.

Then when we add the inflection ending, sing, ing.

That means that it's happening right now.

And that's why we add that I-N-G ending there.

So let's say the whole word, singing.

Singing.

How many times do you hear ing in the word singing?

Two times, right?

Excellent work.

All right, now that we were just able to build those words together, now let's see if we can read some words that have the final blends that we've worked on today and some words that have the inflection I-N-G ending.

All right.

So, I'm going to point to the words and I want you to read them.

Be sure to check for that final blend.

Rang.

Wink, winking.

Try this one.

Drink, ing, drinking.

Try this one.

Trunk.

Trunk.

Good.

A trunk could be a part of a car or maybe something that you store something in in your home.

A trunk.

All right?

Last two.

Good.

Br, i, ng, bring.

And last one.

Good.

This one just has the inflection ending on it, right?

Help, helping, to show that we're doing it right now.

Well friends, I was just thinking about what a wonderful time I had with you today learning about those final blends, the N-G, the N-K and don't forget about that inflection, I-N-G ending.

I hope you continue to practice what we learned here today while you're reading and writing at home or at school.

Take care.

[upbeat music] - I use TV to help my kid learn.

Want to know how?

- [Female Narrator] Pay attention to what your kids watch on TV.

Not all shows are appropriate for your little ones.

[playful music] Watch TV with your kids.

[playful music] Talk about the show with them and apply it to your daily lives.

- The disposable bottles.

- [Female Narrator] After you watch a show, why not related examples throughout your day?

- [Mother Holding Child] Good job.

- [Female Narrator] Read a book or do activities about the theme of the show.

Make TV time into learning time.

- Uh oh, whoa.

[upbeat music] - Hi friends.

It's Nicole from the Bronx Children's Museum.

I hope you're all having a fantastic day and you're really excited to learn some new things.

Today, we're gonna be talking all about water, agua, and where it comes from.

First, we're gonna listen to a song about water, then we're gonna read a book about water and finally, we're gonna do a fun science experiment that you'll be able to do at home or in your classroom.

Let's get started.

Let's listen to our song all about the different animals, plants and water that can be found in our neighborhoods.

Be sure to listen for the part that's all about water and feel free to dance and sing along, too.

♪ We gonna do it like this ♪ ♪ I'm a little green plant ♪ ♪ Growing on the ground ♪ ♪ I came from a seed, big and round ♪ ♪ When all the raindrops fall from the sky ♪ ♪ I stretch my leaves out and I reach up high ♪ ♪ Watch me reach up ♪ ♪ High ♪ ♪ Watch me reach up ♪ ♪ High ♪ ♪ Watch me reach up ♪ ♪ High ♪ ♪ Next part ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I'm a little owl ♪ ♪ I like to fly ♪ ♪ You can't catch me ♪ ♪ 'cause I'm way too high ♪ ♪ When I fly by ♪ ♪ All my friends say ♪ ♪ With a shake, with a shake ♪ ♪ Let's go out and play ♪ ♪ Let's go out ♪ ♪ Let's go out and play ♪ ♪ Let's go out ♪ ♪ Let's go out and play ♪ ♪ I'm a little beaver ♪ ♪ I like to splash ♪ ♪ You can't catch me ♪ ♪ 'cause I'm way too fast ♪ ♪ When I slam my tail ♪ ♪ When my friends come around ♪ ♪ And they tell me stop swimming ♪ ♪ Listen to the birds singing ♪ [whistling] ♪ Listen to the birds singing ♪ [whistling] ♪ Listen to the birds singing ♪ [whistling] ♪ I'm a little turtle ♪ ♪ I like to dig ♪ ♪ You can't catch me ♪ ♪ 'cause I'm way too big ♪ ♪ When I walk past ♪ ♪ You know what my friends say ♪ ♪ Stop with all that digging ♪ ♪ Turtle, mind your business ♪ [whistling] ♪ Yeah ♪ [whistling] ♪ Yeah ♪ [whistling] ♪ Yeah ♪ [whistling] ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Water, water, water ♪ ♪ Near and far ♪ ♪ How we wonder what you are ♪ ♪ Up and above ♪ ♪ Down and below ♪ ♪ How you make the flowers grow ♪ ♪ Water, water, water ♪ ♪ Near and far ♪ ♪ How we wonder what you are ♪ ♪ Up and above ♪ ♪ Down and below ♪ ♪ How you make the flowers grow ♪ ♪ Grow, grow, grow ♪ ♪ And they reach up high ♪ ♪ And they reach up high ♪ ♪ Why they reach up high ♪ ♪ Uh, yeah ♪ Water is an amazing resource that is all around us.

It's in our homes, schools, neighborhoods and it even falls from the sky.

But where exactly does water come from?

To find out, let's read a book, "Water Is Water" and let's see where exactly water comes from and what forms it can take.

"Water Is Water", a book about the water cycle.

By Miranda Paul, with illustrations by Jason Chin.

Read with permission from Roaring Brook Press.

[slow music] [water dripping] Drip, sip, pour me a cup.

Water is water unless it heats up.

Whirl, swirl, watch it curl by.

Steam is steam unless it cools high.

A dragon in a wagon?

A crow kneading dough?

Clouds are clouds unless they form low.

[slow music] Misty, twisty, where is the town?

Fog is fog unless it falls down.

Patter, splatter, what is that sound?

Rain is rain unless on the ground.

Slush in galoshes, splash to your knees.

Puddles are puddles unless puddles freeze.

Glide, slide, put on the brakes.

Ice is ice unless it forms flakes.

[kids playing] Pack, stack, shape it and snack.

Snow is snow unless spring comes back.

[birds chirping] Creep, seep, squish in your boots.

Mud is mud unless there are roots.

Swig, grow big, reach for the best.

Apples are apples unless they get pressed.

Drip, sip, pour me a cup.

Cider is cider until we drink up.

Wow, that book was really great.

I love all the words they used to describe how water moves.

What was your favorite way that they showed water in there?

And how will you use water today in your life?

Water is all around us all over the Earth, but it takes two main forms, fresh water and salt water.

And all the water that we have on the Earth moves around in a circle that we call the water cycle.

Let's start our water cycle at the ocean.

So the water that's in the ocean is actually salt water.

It has salt and other minerals in it.

But when the hot sun comes out over the ocean, it evaporates, or it carries the fresh water up into the sky to form clouds and it leaves behind the salt and the other heavy minerals.

Those clouds, which are now full of fresh water, then move over the Earth and they drop that water when they get too heavy in the form of rain, snow or ice.

Now, when they do that, all of that fresh water collects together in our lakes, streams and rivers and those streams and rivers and lakes, they all move back to the ocean where the water cycle starts over again.

Now, when clouds drop all of that water down onto the Earth, we call that part of the water cycle precipitation.

And that just means that it's raining.

And today, we're gonna do a fun science experiment to explore how rain forms inside clouds.

To do this experiment, you'll need one clear cup, jar or other container, shaving cream or whipped cream, something to make your colored rain, like color tablets, food coloring or water color paints, a pipette or straw, a spoon, a flat tray or plate and a piece of sturdy paper, like watercolor paper.

If you don't have the materials, just follow along.

Let's get started.

To help us do today's science experiment, we have a special guest.

- Who is me, Lori, and I'm four.

And there is a special science experiment that we're gonna do.

- The first thing that we are going to do in our experiment is we're going to take some color tablets, if not, you can use food coloring from home, liquid water colors or even a little bit of paint mixed with water.

So, we're gonna use some color tablets and Lori Ann, will you take these three color tablets and put one in each of our little cups here?

- Sure.

- And remember, these tablets are not for eating, they're not candy, they're just to change our water a different color.

Now we're gonna add a little bit of water to each one and we can use our pipette to do this or if you have a spoon at home, you can use a spoon too.

So now that we have our colors, we need to make our cloud.

So we have a jar of water here and we don't want to fill it all the way up, we want to leave some space for our cloud.

And the water's actually gonna act like our sky or our air and we're gonna put the cloud right on top.

Lori, what do you think we could use to make a cloud?

- Shaving whipped cream or a whipped cream that you put on pumpkin pies.

- Yeah, so we have a jar of shaving cream, so that's what we're gonna use to make our cloud.

And what you're gonna do is you're gonna squirt it right on top of the water.

Can you do that?

- Yes.

- All right.

Yup, there we go.

Wow, that's a big cloud, keep it in the jar.

Lori likes to put a lot of things in.

All right, so now, we're gonna make it rain.

We have our cloud, we have our sky, and so that you can see better, that's why we're gonna use our colors here.

So, we have three colors.

And if you're doing this at home and you have little food coloring drops, you can use those instead, you can even use a little spoon if you'd like, we're gonna use a special science instrument called a pipette.

And to use a pipette, how do you do it?

How do you use a pipette, Lori Ann?

- Squeeze it first and then put it in.

- Yeah.

And then gather up your liquid and then squirt it on top of your cloud.

So, it's important to remember that the reason that clouds rain is because they get so saturated, or full of water that they can't hold anymore and the color goes out the bottom of the cloud.

So Lori, you're gonna have to put a lot more coloring in there because you have such a big cloud in order for it to rain inside your jar.

There, I see some more raindrops starting to make their way down.

Because we have such a big, thick cloud, it's gonna take a little while to saturate the cloud enough for the raindrops to fall through, but I can see some blue raindrops falling through.

Mm hmm.

Remember to squeeze, let go and then you can squeeze again.

Wow, you've got some interesting colors mixing up there, Lori Ann.

Can you tell us what colors you see?

- [Lori Ann] I see blue, pink, green.

- [Nicole] Mm hmm.

- [Lori Ann] And purple.

- And a purple.

So now that we've made our raincloud, we're not quite done yet.

What we can do is we can make a really beautiful rainbow print so that we can remember our raincloud.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take our tray and our spoon and we're gonna scoop some of the raincloud out onto the tray, okay?

All right, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna take a big scoop of raincloud and put it like that.

And then another scoop of raincloud over here.

Now, we're gonna take our paper and I'll do one and then you do one, okay, Lori Ann?

- Okay.

- And we're gonna very gently press on top of our cloud.

And then we're gonna lift up, kay?

And we're gonna press again, just a little bit.

Kay?

And what we're doing is we're gonna make a really beautiful marbled print that will then dry, kay?

And we'll be able to keep that.

All right, press it down gently.

Good job.

Okay and lift up.

Did we get some colors?

Not quite.

Let's try it one more time.

After you've put your whipped cream on, you can use a little towel to wipe the shaving cream off.

Can you do that Lori Ann?

Just wipe up the shaving cream a little bit.

And then, what you'll have is a nice, beautiful rainbow print to remember your rain cloud.

Water is all around us in our neighborhoods and it's so important to both people, plants and animals.

I hope that the next time you see that it rains or snows, you think about where our water comes from as part of the water cycle.

Thanks for joining us and see you next time.

Bye.

[upbeat music] [speaking Spanish] - The disposable bottles.

[speaking Spanish] [upbeat music] - My name is Chris Semelrath.

I'm with the Department of Education and the Office of School Wellness Programs right here in New York City.

I know that physical activity is very important for our bodies and our minds.

I'm here to do some healthy and fun physical activity with all of you.

Today we're going to be talking a little bit about how we can get some exercise while learning at the same time.

Sometimes, when we're sitting still, our brains can look like this.

But when we move our bodies, our brains look like this.

[kids cheering] Let's take a second to think about some of the animals that we've learned about.

We know there are many types of animals on the Earth.

Some live on land, some live in the sea and some live all over.

With a partner, we are gonna take turns naming different types of animals and while we are taking turns naming the animals, we are going to be doing continuous squats.

We are going to stand with our feet shoulder width apart and we're gonna bend our knees and sit back, as if we're sitting in a chair.

Let's try to keep our backs straight and our heels on the ground as we take turns with our partner.

You can also do this if you're already sitting by having your arms right out in front of you and raising them up and down as you take turns with your partner.

No partner?

No problem.

Feel free to participate along with us.

Now, once my partner or I can't think of anymore animals, we're gonna stand in a nice tall mountain pose, stretching our hands all the way up to the sky above us.

Before we do our activities, I want you to, I want to remind you, please, make sure you're in a safe space to move around.

For our first topic, my partner Jack and I, Jack, come on over, say hi to everybody.

- Hi.

- We're gonna be discussing animals that live on land.

We will be doing continuous squats while taking turns naming land animals and when we can't think of anymore, that's right, we're gonna stand in a nice tall mountain pose til the next question.

Jack, you ready?

- Yeah.

- All right.

Ready and go.

- Lizard.

- Horse.

- Lion.

- Dog.

- Cat.

- Buffalo.

- Mare.

- Okay, let's stand in a nice tall mountain, now that my partner and I can't think of anymore land animals.

Great job.

Okay, now what we're gonna do is think about animals that live in the sea.

Again, we will be doing our continuous squat while taking turns, when we can't think of anymore, we're gonna stand in a nice tall mountain.

Okay, Jack, animals that live in the sea.

Ready?

- Shark.

- Whale.

- Dolphin.

- Crab.

- Seal.

- Seal, I can't think of anymore.

Let's stand in a nice tall mountain pose.

Okay.

Wow.

All this activity has my brain active and my heart rate up.

Let's take a little time to cool our bodies down with a breathing technique called heart breath.

Fold both of your hands over your heart, inhale in deeply.

Now, as you exhale, can you feel your heartbeat starting to slow down along with your breath?

Hey Jack, great job today.

Thanks for helping me out.

- Welcome.

- Okay.

Now, thank you all for taking some time to get some physical activity while we talk about all the animals we know.

Remember, when your body's moving, your brain is too.

So, take some time to get some physical activity throughout the day while learning and having fun.

See you guys soon.

[upbeat music] - Hi everyone.

My name is Yakir.

And today, I want to talk about a really exciting instrument.

Ready, give me a drum roll.

[rolling tongue] [imitating explosion] The electric bass.

Electric because it's connected to an amplifier.

On it's own, very hard to hear the instrument.

'Cause it's not an acoustic instrument, like a piano or a drum.

Right?

So you have to connect it to an amplifier, something that will kind of project the sound and capture, these electronics capture the sound and then they move it into an amp and then we can hear it.

So if I turn the volume up now, we can hear it.

[electric bass playing] An electric space, super cool.

Let's start, before we talk about how it sounds and what its role in an orchestra or in a band is, let's talk about the different parts of this instrument.

So, we have the body over here.

And this kind of is where the true sense that the sound of the instrument is created by the vibrating strings resonating from the wood.

So, it needs to be quality wood.

Good quality wood.

These two are the pickups, they're picking up the sound of the vibrating strings, processing it through the electronics and moving it into the amplifier so we can hear it.

So we have the body and the two pickups, very important, and this part is called the neck.

It needs to be smooth so it can be easily, you know, you can move your hand all around the neck very freely.

I like this neck because it's thin, so you can kind of really easily, it's very playable.

And you can see it has, there's a grip on the neck and those are called frets, right?

And there's also markings in specific locations to kind of help guide you, so that you know what note you're playing and where to place your hand.

Over here is the headstock and it has these tuners, which whenever the bass is not in tune, you can turn, you don't have to call a piano tuner.

Oh, it's not a piano, duh.

And then you can just turn them to the right direction, you know, to make sure that the instrument is tuned.

Because when you play a bass that's out of tune, blah, bow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

But when you fix the tuning right, it sounds crisp and clean and complements everything else that's in it.

So, we have the body, we have the pickups, we have the neck and the frets, headstock and the tuners.

Now, when all these parts work together and they're all in tip-top shape, you turn the volume on and you've got yourself an electric bass.

[playing electric bass] Now, the role of the electric bass is very unique.

Because it takes care of the bottom end, the low sounds, it needs to play melodies, right?

But it also needs to be very rhythmic.

'Cause the bass and the drums, they gotta be best friends.

When the bass player and the drummer, they don't get along, the music is not really happening.

It's kind of like the foundation of everything.

So, a bass player has two roles, has to take care of the bottom melody, or the basic structure of the chords or whatever the composer wrote for that bass, but it also has a role, rhythmic role, and it's kind of like the glue between the percussion instruments or drum sets to the rest of the melodic instruments or rhythmic instruments that exist in an orchestra or in a band.

Essentially, it's kind of like the glue of the whole thing.

And when a bass player is really like grooving, uh, it's so satisfying.

I want to play you a bassline, so you can get a sense of what a bassline sounds like.

And let's see if you can even recognize where that bassline's from, what song.

Here we go.

Actually, the volume's up, electronics, headstock, neck, tuners, pickups, work together, okay?

Here we go.

[playing electric bass] Did you recognize the song?

That was "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire.

And then you noticed that it had a melody, right?

But it also had this part, do, do, dee, duh, to, to, day, duh, to, to, day, duh, almost like a drum set that was playing with it, do, do, gah, do, do, gah, do, do, gah, do, do, gah.

So, the basslines, the greatest basslines, they do both.

They have great melody, but they're also very rhythmic.

And that combination is essential to this instrument and it can be, whether the instrument is supporting the band and it has a supporting role, meaning like, it just plays something that is not the melody, or it's leading some melodic part.

For instance, the bass is really cool 'cause it can also do this.

Listen to this thing.

[playing electric bass] Almost guitar-like, right?

It can play beautiful chords and it can play beautiful melodies, it can play slow, right?

And now, the complete opposite of this is if we change the way we're playing and instead of like, in "September", I was playing with my fingers, which was finger style, now if I take my hand and turn it this way and switch into slap bass mode, you're gonna get a very different texture of sound or a very different quality of the sound.

It'll be more rhythmic.

Listen to this.

[playing electric bass] So now I'm like hitting the string with my thumb and plucking it [playing electric bass] on the bottom strings, I pluck them and the top strings, I hit them with a thumb.

Here's a little bassline using slap technique.

Here we go.

Check this out.

[playing electric bass] So now you get a real rhythmic sense.

Almost like a drum set, right?

Now let's talk about the different effects, unique sounds that the bass can make.

You could slide to a note.

[playing electric bass] Or you can slide from a note, down.

[playing electric bass] And another thing is you can use enharmonics, enharmonics are basically foundational aspect of a sound, but you can isolate them by just slightly tapping your finger and not pressing it all the way.

[playing electric bass] Spooky music.

Let's see if we can mix the overtones or enharmonics and then the slide at the same time.

I'm gonna try an experiment.

[playing electric bass] That's pretty cool.

So it creates very different atmospheric sound.

Another cool way to play the bass is by just plucking it with your thumb, like this.

[playing electric bass] And when you're resting your palm, the palm of the hand on the strings, you're muting them a little bit, so I have a different texture.

Here's another bassline that maybe you'll recognize, let's see.

[playing electric bass] See, there it creates kind of a muted, subdued sound, but also has a really strong punch.

I hope you enjoyed these explorations.

We learned so much about the bass, about the different parts of the instrument, of different ways you can make sound.

It's raw in the orchestra or in a band.

So next time you're listening to a song, make sure you tune your ears into the bass, into the low end and check out what is the person that's playing it doing.

Is it playing, is the person playing finger style?

Is that slap bass?

Is he using, do you think it's subdued sound, so he's maybe muting the strings with his thumb?

Is the part very melodic or is it very rhythmic?

So many things to kind of explore on one single layer of music, which is the bass.

I'll see you next time.

[upbeat music] - [Female Narrator] Funding for this program was provided by The JPB Foundation.

[upbeat music]