(Cheerful piano music begins)
♪ You are the best you the world will see! ♪
♪ Come along now and share you with me! ♪
♪ Let's learn something new and share feelings too, ♪
♪ 'Cause these are the things to do to be the best you. ♪
(Cheerful music continues)
- Hi possum! Hello friends!
- Ehhh Hi, Auntie Lena.
- Ooh. Possum... is everything all right?
- I'm... I'm... I'm just so mad!
- Well, I can see that you're upset.
So first let's take a deep breath and try and calm down.
Breathe in.
Two, three...
and out...
two, three.
Good, Possum.
Now tell me what's made you so mad today?
- Well, at school, we had to choose a partner for our art
project and Turtle chose Woodchuck to be her partner
instead of me.
- Well, why did that make you mad?
- Because I wanted Turtle to be my partner.
We're always partners, and I thought Turtle was my friend.
- You don't think Turtle is your friend anymore?
- No. Well, if Turtle is my friend,
why didn't she pick me to be her partner?
- Well, did you ask her?
- I...uhh, No.
I was too mad!
- Well, if you ask,
you might find out that Turtle had a reason
for picking Woodchuck
and that she didn't mean to hurt your feelings.
- But Auntie Lena, I don't wanna forgive Turtle.
- Well, that's not like you Possum, but I can understand.
It can be difficult to forgive a friend when your feelings
are hurt.
That's why we talk to our friends and tell them how we feel
instead of keeping it all inside.
- Uhh, I don't know...
- Do you wanna hear a story that I think will help you?
- I guess.
- It's called Eagle Boy by Richard Lee Vaughn.
It's about a coastal village boy
who was left behind by his people.
- Really?
- Yes!
But the boy survives and he learns about the importance of
forgiveness.
Let's listen to the story with our friends at Kent Library.
(magical chime and cheery music)
- Hi, this is my dad, Judge Masaniai.
- Hi, This is my daughter, Tai.
And we're here at the Kent Library Reading Eagle Boy.
A book by Richard Lee Vaughn,
and illustrated by Lee Christensen.
Along the rugged shoreline of the Pacific Northwest,
a village stood on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.
Eagles with snow white heads and sleek dark bodies swooped
over the village with razor sharp talons
they snatched silver fish from the water.
The people of the village did not like the eagles.
"Eagles steal our fish!" They cried.
"Fly away! Fly away!"
Yet one boy, an orphan, loved watching eagles
dip and soar above the ocean waves.
Whenever the boy returned from fishing,
he always gave a share of his salmon to the eagles
"Eat!" he would yell,
tossing fish into the air for the eagles to catch.
"You should not feed the eagles" scolded the people.
"But the eagles are my friends!" he replied.
The people called him Eagle Boy.
Eagle Boy was a good fisherman.
In summer months, when fish were plentiful,
he offered his largest and finest fish to the Chief's eldest
daughter, Kwish-Kwish-ee.
"I do not need your fish" she said, mocking him.
One year, as autumn faded into winter,
fish became scarce and the whole village
began to run short of food.
"We must move our village!" announced the chief.
"We must find more food."
The people packed all they owned into their canoes.
Eagle Boy stood on the beach and watched as one by one
the canoes pushed off.
Eagle Boy was poor and did not own a boat.
"We have no more room" said the Chief
stepping into the last canoe.
"Let your friends the eagles feed you"
laughed Kwish-Kwish-ee.
But just before they paddled away,
the Chief's youngest daughter Chuh-coo-duh-bee
slipped Eagle Boy a piece of dried fish
so he would not get hungry.
As the canoes disappeared over the waves,
Eagle Boy stood alone on the windswept beach.
He ate his small piece of dried fish and fell asleep to the
sound of the waves crashing against the shore.
That night he dreamed of eagles...
eagles soaring in the sunshine...
eagles swooping over large piles of fish.
He even dreamed that he could fly too.
Have you ever dreamed that you could fly?
- Mhm.
- Yeah. What did it feel like?
- It felt... nice.
- Yeah? Where'd you fly to?
- My dream place.
- Your dream place?
- Mhm.
- As the morning sun stretched its golden fingers
across the beach, Eagle Boy awoke
to the screeching of an eagle as it dropped
the fat fish beside his fire.
"Thank you, my friend!" He shouted, as the eagle flew away,
hungrily, Eagle Boy roasted and ate the fish.
The next morning, the two eagles dropped fish by his fire.
"Thank you!" shouted Eagle Boy again.
"I will live another day!"
As the next sunrise, Eagle boy watched as three eagles
dropped silver fish on the sand.
He ate his fill, and spread the rest out to dry.
When evening approached, Eagle Boy gathered all the wood
he could find and built an enormous bonfire on the beach.
Dancing around and around the flames...
he sang songs to honor the Eagles.
The next morning the sky was full of eagles circling over a
huge dark object close to shore.
They were bringing him a whale
Eagle Boy slipped a long rope made of cedar bark
around the whale and tied it to a rock.
The whale could provide enough food for a whole village.
The largest eagle landed besides Eagle Boy.
Eagle Boy tied strips of dried fish around the eagle's neck.
"Take this to Chuh-coo-duh-bee" he said.
"I want to repay her kindness."
Gliding on the wind...
The great eagle found the tribe huddled around a campfire on
a distant beach. Hunting and fishing had not been good.
The shadow of hunger showed on the people's faces.
The eagle landed beside Chuh-coo-duh-bee.
As she dug hopefully for clams on the beach,
she realized at once who had sent the food,
taking the dried fish from the eagle,
she gobbled a few bites, and then raced to her father.
"Look!" she cried "a gift from Eagle Boy!"
Kwish-Kwish-ee eyed the fish with greed.
"The boy you left behind is rich with food"
She said to the chief, "while we have nothing...
take us back, father. I will marry the boy
and we will eat his food."
But the chief shook his head in shame...
"We were wrong to leave the boy."
The people around the campfire agreed.
"We thought only of ourselves" said one man.
"The boy will not accept us back" said another.
"Even if he did..." said an old woman,
"We could never make the journey home without food."
Perched on a branch high above them...
The Great Eagle listened to the people, spreading its giant
wings and returned across the water.
That night, Eagle Boy stood before the Great Eagle.
The eagle's intense eyes were dark pools of wisdom.
Deep in those eyes the boy could see
a distant beach where his people sat weak with hunger.
Eagle Boy turned toward the flames, "let them go hungry!"
He shouted in anger, "just as they left me to do."
Why do you think Eagle Boy was mad?
- Because they left him alone.
- By himself. Right?
- Mhm.
- And they didn't take him with them.
- Mhm.
- Okay.
In silence, The Great Eagle watched the boy
staring into the fire.
Eagle Boy remembered canoes paddling away.
He remembered Kwish-Kwish-ee laughing at him.
But he also remembered Chuh-coo-duh-bee
slipping him food and the eagles
bringing him fish and saving his life.
At Dawn,
the boy again stood before The Great Eagle.
"How can I help my people?" He asked.
The eagle spread its wings and lifted into the air
as it rose...
one shiny black feather fell
floating down toward Eagle Boy.
The boy reached out and caught the feather. As he did,
a wave of power flowed through him. And in that moment,
the boy took the form of an eagle.
On the distant beach, the tribe sat weak with hunger.
Suddenly, the sky was filled with screeching eagles.
Eagles swooped, eagles soared.
Eagles flew over the people
dropping hundreds of silvery fish.
"It is a sign from Eagle Boy!"
said Chuh-coo-duh-bee smiling.
"Yes," agreed the chief.
"He has forgiven us."
"Now we can go home." with renewed strength,
the people pack their canoes and set out across the water.
Have you ever had to forgive somebody or have somebody
forgive you?
- Mhm.
- Was it hard?
- Mhm.
- Yeah... but did you feel better after it happened?
- Mhm.
- How do you think Eagle Boy feels here?
- I think he feels good that his people is back and safe.
- Eagle Boy stood alone on the beach
watching the canoes approach
a single black feather hung from his hair.
The chief was first to come ashore with Kwish-Kwish-ee
beside him, dressed in her finest cedar bark clothing
"you have saved our people," said the chief.
I offer my eldest daughter Kwish-Kwish-ee in marriage."
Eagle Boy shook his head.
"I cannot accept,
my heart belongs to Chuh-coo-duh-bee."
The people honor Eagle Boy and Chuh-coo-duh-bee
with a wedding celebration and a great feast.
From that day on, the people of the Pacific Northwest coast
and the Eagles lived and hunted in harmony. In time,
Eagle Boy grew to be a great chief,
and the eagle became the symbol of his people.
- Thanks for joining us everybody.
Bye!
(magical chime)
- Wow.
How did Eagle Boy do that?
- How did he do what, Possum?
- How did he forgive his people?
They were so mean to him.
- They were, but when the village people needed his help,
Eagle Boy remembered the eagles that helped him even when
they didn't have to.
- The eagles really were kind to Eagle boy.
- And do you remember
what we learned about kindness, Possum?
If you choose to be kind...
- You choose to be you.
- Exactly!
Part of forgiveness is choosing to be kind,
even when it's difficult.
- Mmm... That doesn't seem fair.
- Sometimes it's not.
- Oh.
- Sometimes you'll choose to be kind and forgive the other
person, but they won't be kind back.
The important thing is giving them
the chance to make a better choice.
- Ohhh... like Eagle Boy!
- Yes! Eagle Boy was scared that the
village people could be mean to him again,
but he forgave them and gave them another chance.
- And then they had a big celebration for him!
- Right!
Forgiveness brought them back together again.
- And... well...
Uh, do you think the same thing will happen
with, with Turtle and me?
- I hope so, Possum!
- Mhm.
- Try to remember all the good things about your friendship
with Turtle.
- Oh...
- Maybe Mr. Jake can give us some ideas
about how to do that.
- Ohhh.
- Let's see what he's up to
at Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery.
(magical chime)
(bright music)
- Hello, I'm Mr. Jake
and we are here at the Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery.
Today, we're gonna do an activity about forgiveness.
My friend kind of made me mad and my heart's kind of
hurting. So I'm gonna do a little activity here and heal.
So we have some construction paper, we have some pens,
we have scissors, and we have a little baggy.
So what I'm gonna do today is I'm gonna
take this piece of paper and I'm gonna cut out a heart.
So the first thing I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna fold the paper in half.
So, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take this pretty cool
purple pen and I'm going to
draw an outline of half a heart on here.
(cheery music)
And I'm going to go ahead and cut it out.
Scissors can be very dangerous.
So you might want to have your family,
a parent... um, older person
help out with this part
if you don't have scissors that are kid friendly.
Well, this is my heart.
I think it came out pretty cool.
So, I hope you think so as well.
So now I'm just gonna draw some things on my heart.
Well, I think what I'm gonna start with
are some little kind of
spikes... like on a cactus,
because sometimes your heart can feel a little hurtful and
you don't want people to get close to you cause you're a
little angry. And you know, right now,
my friend made me a little angry.
So I'm gonna draw these little pointy things...
On my heart.
I'm also going to put cool little designs on here as well.
I'm gonna do some
circles
in here as well.
I think I'll do some triangles.
I just wanna play with shapes here.
Alright, I'm gonna take this blue pen.
One of the things that make me happy and I really like doing
is swimming.
So I'm gonna draw little waves on here.
I'm drawing on these cool squiggly lines
next to these circles...
because I love the sun.
I have a lot of little designs on here that kind of
represent my heart.
I have some little spiky things for the times I get hurt,
but I also have nice waves. I have the sun...
things that I love!
So what we're gonna do now... is
I'm gonna cut this heart into pieces
and I'm gonna make a puzzle out of it.
(paper cutting sounds)
Alright.
Now, like I said earlier,
my friend kind of hurt my heart earlier,
but I don't like having a hurt heart,
and I think what they did wasn't...
too much of a problem.
Maybe I should forgive them.
Maybe I tell them what they said hurt my heart,
um, and that way we can be friends again.
And I don't have to walk around with the hurt heart.
So... part of it is putting your heart back together
like a puzzle.
And it's all about healing your heart.
So let's open up these pieces
and maybe we can figure out where they go.
Okay.
Well, sometimes it's not always easy
to put your heart back together,
but you keep trying... and you don't give up.
Well, I think I put my heart back together.
I think I should go give my friend a call and let 'em know,
you know... what they said hurt my feelings,
but I forgive them and they're still my best friend.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this little project.
Next time your heart gets broken,
you can put it back together again.
So... thank you for joining us, and have a great day.
(magical chime)
- Auntie Lena?
I wanna make a forgiveness puzzle like Mr. Jake did!
- Does that mean you're ready to forgive Turtle?
- Yes, I am.
I don't wanna stay mad at Turtle forever.
I'd miss her too much.
- Possum. I'm really proud of you.
- Uuh... for what?
- For choosing to be kind, even though you were mad.
- Mm, I hope Turtle will forgive me for being mad at her.
- You should talk to her about it!
- But... how do I do that, Auntie Lena?
- When a friend and I get into an argument,
we talk about what happened
while we're doing something we both like.
- Oh... well, uh, turtle and I both like music.
Haa! Maybe I can invite Turtle over to listen to music
and, and then I can say I'm sorry and we can talk more!
- That sounds like a good idea, Possum!
- Hmm... Auntie Lena...
do you know a song that turtle and I could listen to
and learn about together?
- Let's ask Mr. Chris.
He's making music with our friends at the Woodland Park Zoo.
(magical chime)
(cheery music)
- Hi friends!
I'm Mr. Chris, and today I'm here with a special friend.
- Hi guys! I'm Esther.
- So today we're going to uh, we're going to talk about,
you know, how music helps us, you know,
to deal with our emotions and sometimes when we're upset how
music can help us to get past that anger or that fear or
that nervousness, right?
And so, um, so today we prepared
a song for you all, you know. Uhh,
And you know, I just want to ask, I want to ask you, Esther,
have you ever used music when you're nervous or scared,
you know, or just to use music to help you, you know,
just relax and to feel better?
- Yes.
- You have. Oh, alright.
Yeah, 'cause I, I love to use music sometimes, you know,
when I'm going through a tough time.
And so music always helps me feel better.
Can you hold those up? Let's take a look at those.
(giggling)
So, these are just seed pods
that I picked up when I was in Peru. They're just seeds.
They just fell from the tree, and then they have the seeds
and they make the rattle. Can you show,
show our friends at home how they sound?
Can you just go and shake em? Shake em!
(rattling sounds)
(giggling)
- Pretty cool. Right?
(laughing)
So here's a song that I use when I'm,
when I'm angry and it helps me to kind of, to get over it.
(guitar strumming)
You can play along with me. Yeah.
(rattling sounds)
(laughing) ♪ When things go wrong, ♪
♪ I get so sad and sometimes I just get real mad. ♪
♪ But I'll take a deep breath and just walk away. ♪
♪ My brother hit me and now I'm sore ♪
♪ my parents just made me do my chores ♪
♪ but the sun's in the sky ♪
♪ And I'll go play ♪
♪ Yellow is like ♪
♪ luck on me. ♪
♪ Oh, the sunshine! ♪
♪ Yellow is like ♪
♪ luck on me. ♪
And we'll stop right there.
So the second verse in the song that I sing,
it talks about my brother hit me and now I'm sore, you know,
and my parents just made me do my chores. And sometimes,
you know, like... you have little brothers, right?
- Mhm.
- And sometimes your little brother like hits you, right?
And it hurts sometimes, right?
- Mhm.
- But do you stay mad, mad at him forever?
No. You are able to kind of be like, be like, all right,
you know, he's a little brother, you know,
I forgive you sometimes, you know,
little brothers can tend to be a bit annoying, right?
So yeah, so sometimes people do things, you know,
without really knowing what they do, and you know,
we can forgive them, right?
Yeah. And so the chorus called yellow is like, luck on me.
You know, it's about the sun being out in the sky
and regardless of how, how, how mad or sad you are,
you get to be outside and you get to just go and play and
have a good time. Right?
And so we also came up with some lyrics today, right?
Okay, and so you were talking about
how being nervous makes you scared, right?
- Mhm.
- And then, what made you nervous?
You were talking about 'cause we're in the zoo, right?
Tigers and lions... remember they made you nervous.
- Mhm.
- And so all we did with the tigers and lions, we just,
we just take a deep breath, and then we just push 'em away.
Right? Just push 'em away.
Okay? So do you wanna sing your verse right now?
Yeah? Okay, let's sing it together, okay?
Here we go.
(guitar strumming)
Here we go.
(guitar strumming)
♪ Being nervous makes me scared. ♪
♪ Tigers and lions ♪
♪ Roar and sneer ♪
♪ Stop, take a deep breath, and they go away. ♪
Here we go!
♪ Yellow is like ♪
♪ luck on me! ♪
♪ Oh, the sunshine! ♪
♪ Yellow is like ♪
♪ Luck on meeeeee! ♪
(laughing)
Did that make you feel better?
- Mhm.
- Did the song, did singing make you feel better?
Alright, cool.
Alright friends, thanks for joining us today.
Go ahead, and bye.
- Bye!
(laughing) Alright here, you wanna sing again?
(guitar strumming)
♪ Yellow is like ♪
♪ luck on me ♪
♪ Oh, the sunshine! ♪
(Auntie Lena is singing)
- Da da da! The sun on me! ♪
Hey Possum! What did you think about that song?
- I loved it Auntie Lena. I liked all the different sounds.
- I agree. The music gave me energy.
- Mmmm... Auntie Lena?
- Yes, Possum?
- I'm sorry for being so mad earlier.
- Oh, that's all right.
I'm glad that you talked about your feelings.
That's always the first step of forgiveness.
- I'm gonna call Turtle right now.
Oh, thank you, Auntie Lena!
- You're welcome, Possum,
and friends...
thank you for taking time to look,
listen, and learn with us today.
Remember, you are the best you that the world will ever see.
- Bye for now!
- Buh-bye!
(bright music)
- It's time for Movement Minute.
(bouncing sounds)
- Hello friends! My name is Coach Patricks.
And today for Movement Minute we are going to learn how to
do reverse porpoise.
So you stand with your feet together,
we squat down to the ground, put your hands down,
and roll backwards using your hands. Come up,
press the ground... up, and you jump.
Again, you squat down to the ground. Put your hands down,
roll backwards,
come up
and jump!
Then you're gonna make it a little bit faster.
Go down. Touch the ground.
Up.
And jump!
Back down...
up and jump!
And then we're gonna make it a little bit harder.
No hands this time...
go down!
Up!
jump! And faster.
Down,
up.
Jump!
And last one... down.
Up.
Jump!
Nice work friends! Thanks and goodbye!
(magical chime and cheerful piano music begins)
- Stay tuned after the credits
for Auntie Lena's parent tip.
(cheerful music continues)
(cheerful music begins)
Forgive and forget? Hah!
Growing up I heard this saying a lot.
My parents would ask me
to forgive somebody, but how could I forget?
Forgiveness is a difficult lesson for all ages and it's one
that we need to share with our early learners
over and over again.
In today's episode,
Auntie Lena teaches Possum that forgiveness is really about
making ourselves feel better.
It's about letting go of our anger and giving others the
chance to make a better choice.
I like to believe that forgiveness allows me to fly free
like Eagle Boy
and be the best me that the world will ever see.
I cannot count the number of times that my sister hurt my
feelings as a kid... and wasn't sorry about it!
I think of the enslaved people
and the injustices they suffered.
And I think about my Japanese friend's parents who were
interned and their homes were taken from them.
It's maddening.
But these are just two important examples that we can share
with our children to help them to learn.
Talk to your child about times when it's been hard for you,
or for others, to forgive.
Even if they don't forget,
they can forgive, and rise up and be the kind and strong
leaders that they're meant to be.