(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 piano music continues)
(magical chime)
- Hello, friends.
Hello, Possum.
- Hello, Auntie Lena.
- So possum, what's your high, low, buffalo?
- What?
My high, low, buffalo?
- Yeah.
It's a fun way to say how you doin'?
How you feelin'?
What's goin' on?
- Oh, high, low, buffalo.
I like it, but what's it mean?
- Oh. (chuckles)
Well, your high is sharing something you're excited about.
Your low is sharing something that has you feeling
kind of pokey, slow or maybe even sad.
And your buffalo is sharing something
you like about yourself, something you've learned today,
or even something silly.
So what's your high, low, buffalo?
- Okay, my high.
Oh, my high is, I feel good about the solo.
I sang at school.
And my low is, oh, is feeling sad
for Raven whose parents are getting a divorce.
And my buffalo is, oh,
hoping I get to try a new tasty treat today. Hm.
Oh, but how about you, Auntie Lena?
What's your high, low, buffalo?
- Oh, well, let's see.
My high is today I harvested some of the carrots we planted.
My low is I have to do laundry today,
and my buffalo is the new cool reading app I found
called Make Way for Books.
- Whoa.
You can use an app for reading too?
- Yes.
You know, I love a good book to carry around,
but sometimes, I have so many books I want to read,
I can't carry them all around at once.
That's when an ebook comes into play.
- An ebook?
- Yes, "e" stands for electronic.
You can use an iPad, computer phone, or any other device
and have hundreds of books at your fingertips.
It's like an online library.
Look.
- [Possum] Oh, whoa. It is a library.
- Yeah.
And here's the book I'm reading.
It's called "The Girl in the Tree,"
and it's by three friends, Courtney Gallant, Rosa Meronek,
and Katelyn Wildman.
Let's look, listen, and learn with our friends
as Miss Amber reads the story on their electronic device.
- [Together] Hi friends.
- I'm Ms. Amber.
- I'm Melat.
- And we're reading from home today
and the book we're reading is.
- "The Girl in the Tree."
- By Courtney Gallant, Katelyn Wildman, Rosa Meronek
and illustrated by Oscar Morales.
[Miss Amber] For Sycamore, Oak, Pine and Me,
life in the forest was a green paradise.
Our roots were deep and strong.
Animals played in our branches.
Sunlight danced in our leaves.
We lived that way for centuries.
Giving beauty and shade to all who wandered
through our soft green paradise.
One day, everything changed.
Bulldozers arrived, big trucks arrived.
Men with chainsaws arrived.
They didn't have permission to be there.
A cloud of smelly black smoke settled over the forest.
We were confused.
What were they doing in our home?
My friends started disappearing.
The men took Sycamore, Oak, and Pine.
They were my friends, but to the men, we were all just wood.
Every day, more trees were taken away
until only I remained.
That must have been lonely.
All his friends were taken away.
- Yeah. - Yeah?
Would you be lonely if you all your friends were taken?
- Yeah.
- Yeah. Totally.
- Because there's no trees and there's not enough shade.
- Yeah, not enough shade at all for the animals, yeah.
Or the people.
- Yeah, and everybody can't just live in one tree.
- Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, all the birds and things.
Yeah, you need more than one tree.
You get really crowded really fast.
- Yeah.
- [Miss Amber] The men argued for a week
how best to take me.
My roots were the deepest and the strongest.
Then one night, a little girl climbed into my arms.
The next morning, the bulldozers were ready
and the chainsaws were turned on.
But, there was a problem.
Now, there was a girl in the tree,
and she would not be moved.
That first day, the men were confused, they laughed.
The next day, the men were frustrated, they grumbled.
The third day, the men were angry, they plotted.
Cameras and news vans arrived.
People came to cheer her on.
Others yelled mean things.
Some came just to see the girl who cared so much a tree.
The men tried everything.
They yelled, they bribed, they begged.
[Miss Amber] What are they doing to try to get her?
What do we see?
- [Melat] A present. - A present?
[Melat] Yeah.
- Would that get you out of a tree?
- No, - No, no.
Especially if you're not trying -
If you're trying to save the tree.
Right? - Yeah.
- Oh my goodness.
[Miss Amber] They revved their chainsaws
and made their threats.
Still, the girl would not be moved.
I hated when they yelled, but she never yelled back.
Just sat quietly in my branches.
She was so small and the nights were so cold.
I held her as tightly as I could
and made her as comfortable as possible.
But bark is not a very good mattress.
What do you think she's feeling at night?
Sleeping in a tree by herself.
- Mm. That she's kind of scared.
- Yeah. Yeah.
I would be a little scared
by myself in a tree that people
were trying to knock down.
Yeah? - Yeah.
- That's really brave.
Pretty brave, huh?
- [Melat] Yeah.
- She sang softly before sleeping.
She sang about forests, rivers,
and oceans, wishing for things to be better.
On the eighth day, they tried to cut me down
with her still high up in my branches.
When the people saw, they called the police.
They came roaring in with their sirens and flashing lights.
When did my forest become filled with humans?
On the 10th day, she almost fell from me while she slept.
I caught her as softly as I could, wanting to save her
as she saved me.
Then one day, they left.
The bulldozers, big trucks and men with chainsaws left.
The black cloud of smoke slowly faded.
Their work here in my home was done.
A tiny person with a big heart stopped them.
For 12 days, she had stayed nestled in my arms.
The last day, she climbed down from my branches
to praise, applause, and tears.
If I had a voice, I would've been the loudest of all.
It's been 20 years,
and still, she comes back every week to plant another tree.
That's pretty cool, huh?
- Yeah. That's her still.
- Is that her? - Yeah.
- Oh yeah. There's a picture of her.
She looks older.
- Yeah, 'cause she's grown up then.
- Yeah.
- Hm.
And it sounds like she wanted to put the trees back
that the people had taken before.
- Yeah, there's still a couple trees.
- Mmhm.
- You think those are ones she planted too?
- Yeah.
And that's the tree that she was in.
- And it's still there because she climbed up into it.
- Yeah.
Thank you for reading with me, Miss Amber.
- You're welcome, Miss Melat.
Let's say goodbye to our friends, huh?
- Yeah.
Goodbye, friends. - Bye, friends.
(magical chime)
- I was so sad for the Sycamore, Oak, and Pine Trees.
They all got cut down.
- That was sad, Possum.
The trees were a place for the animals to play,
and they provided beauty and shade for the people to enjoy.
- I was afraid the little girl would fall from the tree.
I'm so glad she didn't fall, and she saved the tree
and she was brave.
- She took action
and stood up for what was important to her.
She was passionate about making a difference.
- Uh...passionate?
- Yes, that means you're full of passion.
Passion can come from having deep feelings
for something such as justice for all,
or ensuring that Mother Earth is treated well.
- Or like the people who marched past my tree
'cause Black Lives Matter.
- Right.
Passion also comes from wanting something done
well, like playing an instrument
or a sport to be the best that you can be.
Passion takes action to stand up
or work for what one believes in.
- Oh, like when I stood up to that bully.
- Exactly.
And how did you feel when you did that?
- I was so scared.
- But you did it because you really cared about your friend
not being bullied.
You know, I'm passionate about reading
and having children have access to books.
- Is that why we always go to the library and read together?
- Yes, Possum, it is.
Do you know that our passions come from understanding
our strengths, the things we enjoy,
and the things that we're good at?
- How do I know all the things that I'm good at?
- Mmhmm, well
by taking time to think about what you do well.
A fancy way to say that is self-reflection.
I'll show ya how.
First of all,
let's take a deep breath in and let it out.
(Possum inhales then exhales)
Yeah.
Now what are two things you're really good at
and you enjoy doing?
Okay. Um.
Oh, I'm a good community helper and leader.
- Mmhmm. Yes, you are.
Just like Martin Luther King Jr.
- Um. Oh, I keep learning new ways to stand up to bullies.
- Right.
You even made friends with a bully.
I'm so proud of you for that, Possum.
And what's one more thing you're good at?
- Oh, I'm good at playing.
And, oh, I almost forgot.
I love trying new food.
- Oh, you sure do, Possum.
And speaking of foods,
have you ever had passion fruit before?
- Fruit with passion?
Never.
- How about a snack break?
And then we'll get back to discovering more of our passions
and what you are good at.
- Uh-huh.
Oh, what you got to snack on today?
- Since we're talking about passion,
let's have Chef Dayo, show us how
to make passion fruit lemonade
at Dayosense Kwanzaa Campus with our friends.
(magical chime)
- Hi friends. - Hi friends.
- Hello, I am Chef Dayo.
- And I'm Elle, and I'm seven years old.
- We are going to make today one of my favorite beverages.
It is our passion fruit lemonade.
Would you want to share
with them the ingredients for the day?
- Passion fruit and lemon juice and sugar and mint.
- Awesome.
These are all wonderful ingredients
that are gonna come together to make some yummy goodness.
Do you wanna get started?
- Yes. - Yay.
Now, there are a couple of things
that only adults should help you with.
So I went ahead before you came over
and I did something called simple syrup,
which is I zested the rind
of the lemon using a peeler.
Ho, ho, ho.
I plopped it in there in the pan with one cup of sugar.
And then I added one cup of water.
And I let it sizzle all together
to marry all the ingredients.
And that makes a yummy sweet lemon sugar.
Yes, yes.
Doesn't that sound great?
- Yes.
- Let's put in the lemon juice.
Go ahead and dump it all in.
[Chef Dayo] This is about a half a cup of lemon juice.
Uh-huh, you can do it on the corner.
- [Elle] Can you use, um, lemon juice from a bottle?
- [Chef Dayo] Absolutely.
You could get all sorts of different types
of lemon juice.
You could cut it, make it yourself.
But getting it from the grocery store from the bottle
is the quickest way to make it.
Did you wanna put the, uh, passion fruit in there now?
So this is again, just about a half a cup of passion fruit.
Oh.
Oh, I see.
I love that confidence, absolutely. (laughs)
Now this is what makes it nice and sweet.
[Chef Dayo] So all of the yummy lemon flavor
is in the sugar water.
So now I'm gonna pour that in.
Okay.
Now we're gonna mix the flavors all together.
Let's see if our spatula gets in there.
There we go.
[Chef Dayo] Now as you stir,
I'm gonna start adding in a little bit
of water and you can stir around.
And us living in the Pacific Northwest, we don't really work
with passion fruit as much,
so this is gonna be an exciting beverage to make.
Okay, let us pour our passion fruit lemonade.
I'll fill you up first.
Oh, that looks nice and refreshing.
(lively music)
- Chef Dayo, you forgot the mint.
- Oh, I sure did. This is a wonderful drink.
We could use mint as a little garnish.
Okay, let's make this drink nice and pretty.
Boom.
And there we have it.
Passion fruit lemonade.
Cheers.
(bright music)
Elle, what do you think?
- It's really good.
- Elle, thank you so much for joining me in the kitchen.
Let's say goodbye to our friends.
- Bye. - Bye.
(magical chime)
- Auntie Lena, I think I'm passionate about passion fruit.
- (laughs) Well, I'm glad
I could introduce you to it, Possum.
- Um, Auntie Lena, can we get back to talking
about what I'm good at?
- Well, yes we can, Possum.
We've got a good start.
We know you're good at trying new foods.
You keep learning about new ways to stand up to bullies,
and you are a good community helper.
- But trying new foods, standing up to bullies, playing
and being a community helper have nothing
to do with each other.
- Well, there are plenty of ways
we can bring our different passions together
to make a change.
I have a good friend named Miss Val,
who has two completely different passions.
- She does?
- Mm-hmm.
Reading and television.
- (laughs) But, you can't do both of those at the same time.
- Well, maybe not, but she really wanted to encourage
more of her friends to read.
And she wanted to use TV to do that.
So she made a kids show where people read books on TV.
- Wow. A whole show about reading?
- I know, right?
(winking noise)
- That's just like the girl in the tree.
She liked trees, being outside, so she stood up for the tree
so it wouldn't get cut down.
- Right.
Our strengths, the things we're good at,
help fuel our passion.
And passion is where our courage to stand up
for what's right comes from.
Mm-hmm.
I have a fun idea.
In my book club, we learned to make passion chains.
They help us to, uh, remember all of our strengths.
It's a cool way to show all of the strengths you have.
- Oh, I like that.
I didn't know how I was gonna remember
all the stuff I'm good at.
- The passion chain will help with that.
Let's go to Wa Na Wari Art Center
and have Miss Susan teach us how to make one.
(magical chime)
- Hi friends, I'm Miss Susan,
and today, we're at Wa Na Wari Art Center.
We're gonna be talking about passions today.
Do you know what those are?
It's doing something that makes you feel totally alive.
We're gonna be exploring passions by making
passion chains today.
All you'll be needing is some construction paper,
[Miss Susan] writing utensils like markers or crayons,
a pair of scissors, something to hold paper together.
So we've got tape, stapler, or glue stick.
Your choice.
[Miss Susan] And also some cool stickers
to decorate your passion chain at the end.
All right, to make these passion chains,
we are first gonna start by cutting some paper.
I've got some of my favorite colors.
We've got pink, yellow, green, and white.
But you can use any color you have at home.
[Miss Susan] I'll cut these into one inch strips like this.
(bright music)
It's fun to practice cutting, right?
(bright music)
All right, two colors down, two more to go.
You know, when we talk about passions, they kind of relate
to our strengths, things that come naturally to us
that we really love to do
and we feel good when we're doing them.
For me, my passions are to be creative, to tell stories.
What are things that you like to do
that come naturally to you?
[Miss Susan] Do you like playing with your friends?
Do you like being kind?
Maybe you like to invent things or build things
or discover new things.
Do you like putting on plays
and shows for your friends and family?
Or how about cooking and baking at home?
There are so many types of passions out there,
and I think by experimenting and trying new things,
you'll eventually learn what works for you.
All right, so I've got all these strips of paper.
I'm gonna clear my space,
and now, I'm gonna think about
what are my passions, and then write them down.
I like to arrange these in a pattern
[Miss Susan] in different colors.
So I have green, pink, white, and then yellow.
Green, pink, white, and then yellow.
Great.
I'm gonna grab a marker.
Hmm. What color do I want?
I really do like purple, so I'll choose purple.
Okay.
For me, I like - I feel like one
of my strengths is I bring a lot of energy
and I like bringing energy to a group.
So I'm gonna write energy.
I also like inspiring people.
I like helping my friends.
I really love reading and story time.
Oh my gosh, I love baking blueberry muffins.
I like being kind.
And I love telling jokes and being silly.
I've written down all my passions.
Now, I'm going to try to hold them all together
and make a circle.
Okay, so to do this, I can use tape, the stapler
or glue stick.
For me, I really like tape 'cause it I can go fast.
[Miss Susan] I pick it up and then
I tape the edges together.
Alright. I've taped one together
and now, I'm gonna put my strip through the loop.
[Miss Susan] Whoops.
There you go.
And then, tape it together.
Remember, you take the piece of paper, slip it on
through the hole, make a circle,
then use your tape to tape the sides.
And you can really make your passion chain as short
or as long as you want.
Well, I hope you had fun making your passion chain today.
I sure did.
And remember, it's your strengths
that make you you and the world a better place.
Thanks for joining us, friends.
Bye-bye.
(magical chime)
- Oh, you made a necklace from your chain.
- Yeah.
Well, a necklace is easier for me to see all my strengths.
- Yes, and you can just keep adding to your necklace.
Ooh, very creative, Possum.
- Oh, thank you.
Oh, Auntie Lena.
I just had an idea.
I'm gonna ask my school principal
if I can do a litter contest.
- Wait, what made you think of that, Possum?
- Oh, well you did.
The litter on the playground makes it hard to play
and our paws and knees get scratches,
but nobody's done anything about it.
- Well, you are somebody, Possum.
This is a good way to put your passion
for Mother Earth into action.
Ooh, I know.
I can help you make a Planet Saver list.
We'll put all the things on there
for the kids to find and recycle.
- Oh yeah.
And maybe we can see who checks the most off their list.
- And thanks to the power of your passions,
you'll all be winners 'cause the playground will be clean.
- Oh, Auntie Lena, I did it.
I thought of something with my passion
for being a community helper and my passion for playing.
- Yes, you did.
Now you see how two completely different passions
can make something great.
- Oh, thanks for teaching me about passion, Auntie Lena.
I can't wait to find more things I'm passionate about.
- Haha, you are welcome, Possum.
And friends, thank you 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.
(bright music)
- [Narrator] Now for Auntie Lena's Parent Tip.
- At first glance, I thought today's story,
"The Girl in the Tree," was only about saving a tree
or the environment.
Both are favorite things of look, listen, and learn.
However, I realized
that the story is also about the power of passion.
Rosa Parks, Malala,
and countless others have allowed their passions
to help make a difference for the world to see
just like the little girl in today's story.
How do we as caring adults help kiddos discover
their strengths and uncover their passions?
I'm sure you know that there are plenty of ways to do so
and we shared a few in today's episode.
Did you catch them?
Conversation games such as high, low, buffalo
can be used for fun and teachable moments.
Simply define your buffalo,
to get at what you wanna learn from them, such as,
what they like about themselves or what you do today
and so on.
Reading is the answer for all things developmental.
Reading and talking about the story helps
to develop a variety of strengths.
Be sure and check out makewayforbooks.com.
Self-reflection.
Set aside time in the car
or when you're doing chores for chats.
Ask your early learners, what did they do well today
or, what made them angry.
Both help develop their likes and dislikes
and take on a cause.
Come together to solve a problem like picking up litter.
Now is the time to help our early learners discover
and define their strengths, to instill their passion
to be the best that the world will ever see.
(bright music)
- [Narrator] Look, Listen and Learn
is brought to you in part by Thistle Theatre.
Thistle Theatre is a local
professional puppet theater for families.
We feature an ancient Japanese style
of puppetry called tabletop Bunraku.
Learn more at thistletheatre.org.