(cheery 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 ♪
(cheery piano music continues)
(magical chiming)
- Hello Possum and hello friends.
- Hi, Auntie Lena. I'm so glad you're here.
- Well, why is that? - Oh, I'm overwhelmed.
- Oh, well what's going on, Possum?
- I have so much to do.
Well, Mama Possum asked me
to... to clean my room and take out the trash,
but I also need to finish my homework
and... and make a present for Turtle's birthday tomorrow.
- Wow. It sounds like you'll be busy.
- Mm-hmm. And well,
I tried taking a deep breath to calm myself down,
but I don't think it worked this time.
- What do you mean, Possum?
- I'm still worried
that I won't have enough time to finish everything.
What should I do, Auntie Lena?
- Have you tried making a to-do list?
- A to-do list? - Mm-hmm. Hold on a second.
Mine is right here.
When I have a lot to do and start to feel overwhelmed,
I like to make a list and write down each task.
Then I go down the list one task at a time
and check it off when I'm done.
- Well, does your to-do list help you feel better?
- Yes, after making my list,
I feel less worried and more organized.
Do you remember when my niece came to visit for the summer?
- Oh, I do.
You said you were stressed out
before you even picked her up from the airport.
- That's right! I felt a lot like you do now.
It seemed like there were a hundred things to do in my head,
but then I made a list and really I only had four big tasks.
- Four is much better than a hundred.
- I agree.
I was confident that I could finish my list
and I felt proud of myself when I did.
- Auntie Lena, could you help me make my to-do list?
- Of course, Possum.
But first, do you wanna hear a story
about how a to-do list can be both helpful and fun?
- Oh yes.
- The story is called "Little Mr. Fix It Assists
with the To-Do List" by Micaela Benn.
Let's go to ChildStrive in Everett
and listen with our friends. (magical chiming)
- Hi friends.
- My name is Mr. Eumir. - And I'm Kai.
- And today we are at ChildStrive in Everett.
And we'll be reading the book "Little Mr. Fix It
Assists with the To-Do List" written by Micaela S. Benn
and illustrated by Erica N. Ramsey-Bowen.
"'Mommy gave me a list, Josiah,
a weekend list of things to do.
I must go pick up supplies though.
And I'd like you to come along too.'
They finish breakfast, go upstairs
to get dressed and yell to mom, 'Be back soon.'
Dad finds his shoes and vest at the front door,
and Josiah finds his boots in the mudroom.
With his tool belt resting beside him,
Josiah pulls on each boot while seated at the bench.
He double checks to make sure the tool belt is loaded
with his toy hammer, notepad, and toy wrench.
As Dad zips Josiah's hoodie, he announces,
'We have lots of projects to complete.'
'The two most important things we must do
are oil your tricycle and fix the sink.'
Dad places Josiah in the child safety seat,
then takes a quick look at the clock.
Since there's hardly any traffic, in no time
they arrive at the hardware store parking lot.
Outside, the owner at the hardware store, Edward,
glances at Dad and Josiah with a cheerful grin.
He welcomes them to the store.
'Hello, Mr. Jefferson. It's so nice to see you again.'
Josiah holds Dad's right hand as they search
for everything they need.
They load the cart as they locate each item,
and off to the checkout they proceed."
So what do you see on this page?
- Birdhouses. - That's right.
- And toolboxes and paint and flowers.
- That's right.
And what's that?
- And paint brushes. - That's right.
"At the counter, the clerk smiles at Josiah.
'Lucky Dad, you get an assistant today!'
'I do indeed. This is my little Mr. Fix It right here,
who chose to work with me around the house
rather than go outside to play.'
They hop in the truck and hum the alphabet song
as they wait on the passing of a railroad train.
Once in the driveway at home,
Dad grabs his red toolbox out of the trunk,
and Josiah climbs onto the backseat to grab his airplane.
Inside, they get started
working their way down the to-do list.
Up first is the garbage disposal replacement.
Once that is finished, they go downstairs
to fix the squeaky pedal on Josiah's tricycle
in Dad's workshop in the basement.
Mom framed a piece of art that needs a leveler
to be hung straight on the wall."
And the picture says, "Nothing will work unless you do."
What do you see here?
- Tools and the ladder and art.
- That's right.
"Then Josiah helps Dad nail a board on the floor
to be sure no one trips walking down the the hall.
Beneath the bathroom sink is a pool of drips
that formed under a leaky pipe.
Josiah hands Dad a wrench to tighten the fitting,
then the towel to give the cabinet base a wipe.
And with that last task, they complete each project on time,
meaning just before lunch.
Dad checks his last item off the list.
'That should be all for the rest of this month.'
He thanks Josiah with a double high five
for all he's done to assist.
Josiah was happy to spend all morning with Dad,
and all week long, Dad looked forward to this.
They washed their hands and dried them well
before putting away their tools nice and neat.
Exhausted, they sit on the sofa, then Mom walks in and says,
'Hey, you two! It's time to eat.'"
So on the weekends, remember how sometimes we get too busy,
we make a list so we don't forget what to do?
- Uh huh.
- So what's some of the things that you write on your list
when you write out the list that you need to do?
- We write things that we need to get at the shopping store.
- That's right. Good job.
So it looks like they did everything
they had to do on their to-do list.
"Garbage disposal replacement,
fix squeaky pedal on Josiah's tricycle,
hang Mommy's sign, nail down the floorboard,"
and "fix leak in guest bathroom sink."
Should we say bye to our friends now?
- Bye. - Bye friends.
(magical chiming)
- Wow, Josiah helped his Dad with so many things.
- See, Possum? I'm not the only one who uses a to-do list.
- And they also did what you said earlier,
they checked off every task when they were done.
- Yes. And now it's your turn to make a list.
Can you remind me and our friends what you have to do?
- Mm-hmm. OK, well, I need to do my homework
before school tomorrow,
and I have to finish making Turtle's birthday present,
but well, Mama Possum asked me to clean my room
and take out the trash too.
- And take out the trash. Okay, let's see.
So that's one, two, three, four things on your to-do list.
- That's it? That's not as many as I thought.
- It's like you said, Possum. Four is better than a hundred.
I believe you can do this too.
- Oh, I wish I didn't have to do any chores, though.
- I know what you mean. But chores are important.
Do you remember when you said that cleaning your room
is like a gift to Mama Possum?
- I guess I did say that.
- Maybe we can think of another way
to make chores and to-do lists fun.
Let's go to the Children's Museum of Tacoma with our friends
and see what creative ideas Mr. Scott has.
(magical chiming) - Hi, friends.
I'm Mr. Scott and I'm here
at the the Children's Museum of Tacoma.
And today we're gonna make a chore chart to help us
with all those important tasks that we have to do every day.
So I have a couple of materials in front of me
and let me share what we're gonna be using today.
On my left I have different colors of paper that I can pick.
I have a hole punch. I have string.
I have some of these squeezy clothespins.
I have colored pencils and markers. I also have scissors.
And then I have some really fun stickers
and colored glitter tapes that I can use on my chore chart.
I think for my chore chart
I'm gonna use some of this green paper.
I think that feels like a good color for mine.
So I think this is gonna be a little too big.
So I think what I wanna do is fold it in half
and then I'm gonna use my scissors and cut it.
So the next thing I'm gonna need to do
is use my hole punch.
And I'm gonna go ahead and put one hole in each corner,
just like that.
So after I do that, I'm gonna get my string.
Now, you may need an adult to help you with this part,
but I'm gonna tie my string through each of those holes.
All right, so now I have something that I can hang
around my house to help me with my chores.
So the next part is to do some writing on this piece.
So at the very top of mine, in this dark green,
I'm gonna write "Chore Chart" so I know what it is.
And for this, I'm gonna use my best handwriting.
All right, so the next step
is I need to mark one side as "To Do,"
which are going to be the activities
that I still need to do.
And the other side as "Done,"
which are the ones I already completed.
Just like that.
It's starting to look good,
but I think it needs a little something else.
I'm gonna add some special stickers
so it looks extra fun.
(light music begins)
All right, that's more like it.
So the next step is we need to get our little clothespins
and we're gonna write our various chores.
What are some of the chores that you do around the house?
I know one of them I do every day is make my bed.
So I'm gonna write "bed" on this one.
(light music continues)
All right.
And then I know another chore that I have to do
is to feed my dog.
So I'm gonna get a clothespin,
and in a different color, I'm gonna write "dog."
(light music continues)
I know one of my chores is I have to water my plants.
So I think with a blue marker, I'm gonna write "water."
(light music continues)
Making this chore chart is really gonna help me
get all the things that I need to do every day
off of my to-do list and onto my done list.
So now that I have my chore chart,
I can add these to my "To Do" side.
And then when I'm done with these,
I can move them over to the "Done" side.
Just like that.
So think about a place you might want to hang this
that's gonna help you do your chores.
There could be a lot of places that this could live.
Thank you so much for joining us,
and good luck with your chores.
(magical chiming)
- So Possum, what do you wanna do first on your to-do list?
- Oh, I don't know yet. What do you think, Auntie Lena?
- Well, that depends.
Do you wanna get your big task out of the way
or do you wanna start with something easy?
- Hmm. I wanna start with something easy.
- All right, then.
What do you think is the easiest task on your to-do list?
- Maybe taking out the trash. I can do that fast.
- Okay, so taking out the trash is first. What next?
- Next I'll clean my room and and then I'll do my homework.
- That means your last task
is to make Turtle's birthday present.
- Mmhmm. Well, because that's the most fun.
Auntie Lena, a to-do list is like a routine or a recipe.
- That's a great connection.
Yes, a to-do list gives us a list
of step-by-step instructions just like routines and recipes.
- And can we add a recipe
to our to-do list with our friends?
- Sure, Possum.
And we can check that off right now.
- Yeah.
- Let's go to Nurturing Roots Farm
and see what our friends are making with Ms. Taylor.
(magical chiming)
- Hi friends. I'm Farmer Taylor.
- And I'm Athena.
- And we're at Nurturing Roots Farm.
Today we're gonna be making a yummy salad.
Do you like salad, Athena? - Yes.
- Oh my gosh, are you ready to make something together?
- Yes.
- All right. Well first, what do we see over here?
We've got all of our ingredients over here and, oh boy,
seems like there's a lot of stuff on this table, huh?
- [Athena] Yes.
- Oh my goodness.
So what's the first thing to see on our list?
Right over here.
- [Athena] Broccoli.
- Broccoli. Absolutely.
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take
some of our broccoli, our nice green broccoli here,
and get a grownup to help you cut it.
And I'm just gonna chop up some broccoli really nicely.
And when you're chopping,
be sure to curl those fingers so you don't cut a finger.
Always cut good up nice and then
do you wanna take it and dump it in the bowl?
- Yes.
- All right, here you go. Ready?
Lovely. All right, so we did broccoli.
Can we check that off?
Wonderful. Looks good.
All right, so what do you think? What's next on our list?
- Peas. - Peas. Let's see.
Oh, I see some peas here. Great.
All right, so we've added our peas.
So what else can we add in?
- Uhmm...
We have to add squash flowers.
- Squash flowers. Let's see.
Which one do you think are the squash flowers?
- [Athena] These?
- Oh my gosh, those pretty ones that match your dress?
Oh my gosh, I love it.
All right, so we're gonna chop up our squash flowers.
I'm just gonna chop, chop, chop, chop, chop.
These are nice and tasty edible flowers
that come from our squash.
You wanna pick those up and drop 'em in our bowl?
Wonderful. All right, so we did our squash flowers.
Let's see, what's next on our list, Athena?
- Uhmm...
Wait, I have to check this off.
It's edible flowers.
- [Ms Taylor] Edible flowers. Where are our edible flowers?
- [Athena] Our edible flowers are right here.
- Oh, more nice and pretty flowers.
What do those smell like to you?
- They smell, like, really sweet and pretty.
- Yeah, they smell sweet and pretty.
It's gonna be really tasty in our salad.
And we're gonna chop, chop, chop.
What's next on our list, Athena?
- [Athena] 'Kay, chives.
- Chives. Chives are our long ones.
Chives are also called green onion. Isn't that cool?
All right, so we're gonna chop up our chives.
They're gonna be super tasty.
And while I'm chopping that off,
what is gonna come next in our salad?
- [Athena] Rainbow chard, okay.
- Rainbow chard.
Do you think you can find the rainbow chard?
Rainbow chard can have nice, big, bright colors.
Excellent, you got it. That's our rainbow chard.
- They kind of look like leaves from a forest.
- They do look like leaves from a forest.
Do you know where they came from?
- The garden.
- They came from our garden. That's right, our whole garden.
And sometimes rainbow chard can be pink.
It can be yellow or orange, just like your dress.
All right, so we're gonna take this.
Do you wanna dump in the chives
while I take the rainbow chard?
Delicious. All right, for this, we can rip it up.
We're gonna rip this up together. So you wanna take a leaf?
Which leaf do you want? - This one.
- All right, and I will take this one and we're gonna
rip it up and we're gonna put it in the bowl.
Do you hear that noise?
(crunching noise)
It kind of has that,
what does that sound like when we rip it up?
- It kind of sounds like Velcro.
- Oh, that is an excellent observation.
Yeah, it does kind of have a crunch like Velcro.
We have another edible flower too.
You wanna put some of these in here?
Here, do you wanna touch it? What does that feel like?
- It kind of feels like hair. Like a poofy hair.
- Oh, like poofy hair, yeah. Absolutely.
I love how this one works.
Oh, yeah, what's next on our list?
While I get this flower going.
- Kale. - Kale.
Which one do you think is our kale?
- This.
- Oh my gosh. Athena, are you a farmer too?
You are excellent at picking up the right produce.
So while I'm chopping the kale,
do you wanna break this edible flower apart?
- Sure. - And put it in the bowl?
- Sure.
- All right. I'm gonna put this over here for you
while I chop up the kale.
You are a superstar helper, Athena.
All right, you ready to dump our last one, our kale, in?
- Yes.
- Let's see, we've added our produce into our salad.
Let's check our to-do list. Did we get everything?
- [Athena] Yep.
- [Ms Taylor] Wonderful, all right. So what's our next step?
- It's to make sauce.
- Yeah, the sauce, the salad dressing. Great.
So let's see. We are going to make it in here.
So the first thing says, what does it say that we need?
- [Athena] Olive oil.
- [Ms Taylor] Olive oil. All right.
- [Athena] Isn't it thick?
- That's our olive oil. Do you wanna pour it in?
- Yes. - All right.
I'll hold it steady for you.
Excellent. You can pour all of that in.
All right. And then, perfect, you checked it off, we got it.
So do you know what Tbsp means? That means tablespoon.
Tablespoon. So this is going to be our tablespoon, and...
- [Athena] It says red wine vinegar.
- [Ms Taylor] Red wine vinegar.
Which one of these do you think is our red wine vinegar?
That one.
- [Athena] Whoa.
- Whoa, look at that. Look how cool that looks.
So let's see, what's next on our list?
- I have to check that off.
Okay.
One tablespoon.
- [Ms Taylor] You remembered. Dijon mustard.
- [Athena] Of Dijon.
- Dijon mustard, this one right here.
You can take it and you wanna scrape it with the spoon.
OK, how about I hold the bowl for you and you scrape it in?
- It looks really interesting.
- It does look really interesting, yeah.
- I think it's the oil and the red wine vinegar.
- It is, absolutely, yeah.
The oil is a little bit heavier than the red wine vinegar,
so it looks a little, you see, like,
how it's kind of separated?
Yeah, absolutely, but we're gonna shake it all up
and mix it all up together at the end.
So let's see, I can take that spoon for you.
And what's next on our list?
- Well, we can mark her off. Mustard.
Is one tablespoon of honey.
- Of honey. Where does honey come from?
- Honey comes from bees.
- Absolutely, honey comes from bees.
So we're actually gonna take,
you can use this tablespoon. - Okay.
- and you can scoop up some nice honey.
What does honey feel like when you get it on your hands?
- [Athena] Sticky.
- Yeah, it feels super, super sticky.
Let's see if it'll come up.
And our last ingredient.
- Garlic. - Garlic. Oh, let's see.
Oh yeah, we're doing a little dance.
We're doing a little garlic dance.
- Okay, so I'm going to put in this.
- Bloop. All right.
Actually, I thought that was our last ingredient,
but what's our real last ingredient?
- Well, it's salt and pepper.
- Salt and pepper. Salt and pepper.
All right, let's add,
can you do a little tiny pinch of salt?
Oh, perfect.
And then for our pepper we're gonna turn this over
and you can you twist the bottom for me?
What do you hear?
- It sounds like rocks, like, grinding.
- It does sound like rocks grinding. Absolutely.
Yeah, our peppercorn, those little balls,
are grinding up together, it goes crunch, crunch, crunch.
Wonderful. All right, let's check our ingredient list.
What do we got?
- [Athena] Well, that's our last ingredient.
- That was our last ingredient? Oh my goodness.
So now's my favorite part.
- To shake it. - Shake it up.
All right. You ready?
You wanna shake it, shake it, shake it nice and hard?
Ready, go. Shake, shake, shake it.
Shake, shake, shake it. Shake, shake, shake it.
Wonderful. What's it looking like now?
- I can see the honey, like how it looks like the honey.
And then the mustard's like.
- Mustard's doing this? Yeah.
So now we get to add the dressing to our salad.
All right. You ready to pour just a little bit in?
Pour a little bit all over. Oh, yummy, yummy.
Now we mix it up, mix all it up
so all of that yummy can get,
all that dressing can get on all of our tasty greens.
All right, you ready to try our yummy salad?
- Yes. - All right, let's try it.
Cheers! Let's enjoy our nice, tasty salad from the garden.
The crunch.
- Mmm. - Mmm.
- What do you think? Good?
Good! So Athena, how did this list help us?
- Well, it helped us see all of the, um,
remember all of these ingredients
and remember all of their names.
- Yeah, this definitely helped us remember all of our names.
And it helped me realize how much
we had to put in the salad too.
Yeah, the list, and you, Athena, my wonderful helper,
really made making this salad lots of fun.
Thanks for joining us friends. Bye!
(magical chiming)
- Ooh, that looks so much fun to make.
- And yummy too.
Ohhh! I'm gonna add that recipe to my list and make some
for Turtle's birthday tomorrow to go with her gift.
- Well, that sounds like a great idea.
And once you've finished your chores and your homework,
maybe Mama Possum will help you check
that last item off your list.
- Oh, I can't wait to show her when I'm done.
- She's going to be very proud of you.
Are you more confident
that you can finish everything now, Possum?
- Oh, yes, I am. I'm gonna take out the trash right now.
And thank you so much
for helping me feel better, Auntie Lena.
- Oh, you are welcome, Possum.
And friends, thank you so much for taking the time
to look, listen, and learn with us today.
Remember, you are the best you that the world will ever see.
- Bye for now. - Bye bye.
(musical sounds)
Please stay tuned after the credits
for Auntie Lena's parent tip.
(cheery music begins)
(cheery music continues)
Wow wee, Possum had a lot to do.
Chores, dishes, homework and he had to make a birthday gift.
As busy parents and caregivers,
I'm sure many of us can relate.
Some days it feels like there is so much to do
and it's easy to get overwhelmed.
As children grow and are given
more and more responsibilities,
it's natural for them to experience the same feeling.
To ease some of these worries,
Auntie Lena and Possum make a to-do list.
To-do lists come in many forms,
but the core idea is the same.
Ask your child to name their task,
then help them to create an order.
What will they do first?
What will be the last thing they do?
And finally, when they complete a task,
acknowledge their good work.
By teaching important life skills
such as organization and planning ahead,
to-do lists can be a simple yet powerful tool
for both ourselves and our early learners.
When it seems like a hundred things
are swirling around in our heads,
to-do lists allow us to breathe a sigh of relief
when we can finally cross off
that last task and proudly say, "I'm done."