ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel Awnie's House ???? Kids Book Read Aloud: THE UPSIDE-DOWN GARDENER by Chrysa Smith and Pat Achilles
Hello, my reading friends! It’s Ani. Today, I want to say a big hello to Aidan, Luna, and Julian in France; Imran in Pakistan; Salim and Murad in Egypt; Harry in New Zealand; and Safe and Zara in Kuwait. Wow, we have friends from all over the world! Hello to all of you!
Are you ready for a story? Today, we’re going to meet a little girl named Dory. She can’t wait for spring to come. Let’s find out why as we read “The Upside Down Gardener.” If you have a copy, go get it so you can read along with me.
Written by: Chris Smith
Illustrations by: Pat Achilles
“I’m freezing,” said Dory. “Well, it is starting to warm up a little,” said Dory’s mom. “You know, Mom,” said Dory, “people smile more when it’s warm. They wear bright colors. They play baseball.”
“I know you’re ready for spring, honey. I can see that you want to get on that field, but we do need to raise some money for your new uniforms. We’ll have to work on that for now. Maybe we can add some of those bright colors to our own world.”
“How are we going to do that?” Dory asked. “You and I can plant our very own garden,” her mother said. “Why not you, Dory? All you have to do is plant a seed.”
When they got home, Dory’s mom showed her pictures of beautiful gardens. Then her mom grabbed her gloves, some seed packets, and a watering can. “Come on, honey,” Mom said. “Let’s go have a look in our yard.”
As they stepped outside, Dory looked at the big brick buildings. She saw the trash cans and a few cats in the alley behind their house, and she saw only a small piece of the sun. Dory wondered how a garden could ever grow in this tiny backyard. But her mom took the shovel and dug up some dirt.
“Open the seed packets,” she told Dory, “and sprinkle those seeds into the soil. Now cover them with more soil, water them, and wait.” “I’m not very good at waiting,” said Dory. “Well then, this may be the perfect project for you,” Mom said.
Dory thought about those tiny seeds. How are they going to turn into beautiful flowers? She couldn’t wait to see what it would look like tomorrow. But tomorrow came, and the little garden looked the same. Dory thought, “When my mom wants to wake up, she uses her alarm clock.” So Dory ran upstairs and got her mom’s alarm clock. She placed it in the garden and pressed a button that would make it ring.
“Come on, plants, wake up!” Dory yelled. But the little seeds just sat there in the ground.
The next day, the little garden still looked the same. Dory thought, “My dad says nothing wakes him up like a good cup of coffee.” So Dory took the pot of coffee from her kitchen and poured it over the entire garden. “Come on, plants!” Dory shouted. “Wake up!” But the little seeds just sat there in the ground.
On the third day, the little garden looked the same. Dory thought, “When my baseball coach wants his players to wake up, he blows a whistle.” So Dory went to her bag of baseball gear and dug down deep to find a whistle. She brought it outside and blew it so hard her cheeks turned red.
“Come on, plants!” Dory yelled. “Wake up! I want to see all of your colors!” But the little seeds just sat there in the ground.
“I knew this garden was a dumb idea,” Dory said. “All I want is to be warm. I want to see bright colors. I want to see people smile, and I want to get my bright new uniform and finally play baseball.” Dory thought about all those pictures her mother showed her of beautiful flowers. She would love to grow flowers like that, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.
That night, Dory went to her room, sat down, and closed her eyes. She thought about beautiful flowers coming up in her little city yard. She thought about getting new uniforms, and she wondered how it would all get done. Then Dory heard her mom yell, “Honey, come over here! I can’t believe it! Plants have sprouted all over the garden!” Dory joined her mom at the back door. There in the little garden patch were pale branches poking out of the dirt.
“Those don’t look like your pictures, Mom. Did we do something wrong?”
Sirens wailed from the street out front, so Dory and her mom went to investigate. They were surprised to see a huge crowd gathered around their subway station and the police directing traffic. The sidewalk was jammed with news crews and their microphones, lights, and cameras.
“What’s going on?” Dory asked her neighbor. “There are flowers growing in the subway! Oh, it’s so exciting! There are plants growing on the ceiling, down the walls. We’ve never seen anything like it!”
Dory’s mom said, “Oh my, maybe there’s a school project going on. Someone’s always trying to make the city look more beautiful. That must be it.” “Oh no,” their neighbor said. “Children wouldn’t be allowed to work down there in the subway. It’s way too dangerous.” “I think it’s a garden club!”
“Quiet, please!” yelled a man wearing a headset and TV news jacket. “We’re going on the air in five, four, three, two, one.”
A woman with a microphone spoke, “This is TV 3 News at the scene of a spring miracle. Overnight, this little neighborhood subway station has turned into a flowering paradise. No one knows how the plants got here or how they are able to grow upside down.” The crowd murmured about the strange upside-down garden, and Dory got to thinking about her own strange-looking plants.
“Mom, you know how my new plants look funny?” Dory’s mom nodded. “They’re all stems and branches.” “Right,” Dory said as they returned to their yard. “Where are the leaves? They look like roots.” “Mom said, ‘Aren’t roots supposed to grow down, not up?’” “Usually,” her mom said. “What do you say? Should we pick one and see what’s happening?”
So they dug around the stem of one plant, and as they dug down a little farther, Dory’s eyes got as big as sunflowers, and so did her mom’s. They found flowers with pink and green dots, flowers with red and yellow stripes, big flowers with little blue flowers inside of them.
“I think this might be where the subway flowers came from,” Dory said, “but I don’t know why.” Dory’s mom threw back her head and laughed. “All your funny ways of trying to wake up your plants must have scared them so much they grew upside down! I think that you have just become the world’s first upside-down gardener!”
Just as Dory was about to run out front to tell the reporters what they discovered, she felt someone shaking her. Her mom said, “Come on, wake up, sweetheart! It’s time to eat dinner.” “Oh, dinner!” Dory sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Where are the reporters and the cameras?” Dory told her mom all about their yard full of roots and how she scared her plants so much they grew down instead of up and filled the subway station with big beautiful flowers.
“Oh, Dory,” her mom said, “you have some wild dreams!” “Was it all a dream?” Dory asked. “You mean my plants didn’t grow?” “Part of it was a dream, but if you look outside, you’ll see that little green stems have popped up all over the garden,” her mom said.
“Whatever pops up, it’ll still make people smile,” Dory said. “I had a thought,” Dory said. “If we can make people smile, do you think they can do that for us too?” “What do you mean, honey?” “I was thinking if we share our food and flowers, maybe people would donate some money for our new baseball uniforms.”
“That’s a great idea, honey,” said her mom. “Even better than alarm clocks and coffee and whistles in the garden.”
“Well, Dory,” her mom said, “even though you didn’t grow giant striped flowers upside down, you’ve shared beautiful living things and made people smile, and you’ve raised a good bit of money. I think you are something even better than an upside-down gardener. You are a good and kind person.” “Thanks, Mom,” said Dory, waving as she walked away. “Mom called, ‘Where were you going, Dory?’” “Where else?” she said. “I’m going to baseball practice and get my new uniform!”
What a fun and vivid dream Dory had! How would you like to see flowers growing from the ceiling? I know I would! I hope you enjoyed our story today, and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel to stay up to date on all my latest videos. See you next time!
Plant Your Own Garden: Just like Dory, you can start your own little garden at home! Ask an adult to help you find a small pot or a patch of soil in your yard. Plant some seeds and water them regularly. Keep a journal to draw or write about what you see each day. What changes do you notice over time? How do the plants grow? Share your observations with your family or friends.
Colorful Garden Art: Dory wanted to see bright colors in her garden. Use your imagination to create a colorful garden on paper. Draw or paint flowers, plants, and anything else you think would make a garden beautiful. What colors will you use? Display your artwork at home to bring some of that garden magic indoors!
Garden Detective: Go on a nature walk with an adult and look for different types of plants and flowers. How many different colors and shapes can you find? Take pictures or draw what you see. Think about how these plants might grow and what they need to stay healthy. Discuss with your adult how plants in nature are similar or different from the ones you might grow at home.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hello, my reading friends! It’s Ani. Today’s shout-outs go to Aidan, Luna, and Julian in France; Imran in Pakistan; Salim and Murad in Egypt; Harry in New Zealand; and Safe and Zara in Kuwait. Wow, what an international reading family we have! Hello to all of you!
Are you ready for a story? Well, today we’re going to meet a little girl named Dory, who can’t wait for spring to come. Let’s find out why as we read “The Upside Down Gardener.” If you have a copy, go get it so you can read along with me.
**The Upside Down Gardener: A Dory Oslo Adventure**
Written by Chris Smith
Illustrations by Pat Achilles
“I’m freezing,” said Dory.
“Well, it is starting to warm up a little,” said Dory’s mom.
“You know, Mom,” said Dory, “people smile more when it’s warm. They wear bright colors. They play baseball.”
“I know you’re ready for spring, honey. I can see that you want to get on that field, but we do need to raise some money for your new uniforms. We’ll have to work on that for now. Maybe we can add some of those bright colors to our own world.”
“How are we going to do that?” Dory asked.
“You and I can plant our very own garden,” her mother said.
“Why not you, Dory?”
“All you have to do is plant a seed.”
When they got home, Dory’s mom showed her pictures of beautiful gardens. Then her mom grabbed her gloves, some seed packets, and a watering can.
“Come on, honey,” Mom said. “Let’s go have a look in our yard.”
As they stepped outside, Dory looked at the big brick buildings. She saw the trash cans and a few cats in the alley behind their house, and she saw only a small piece of the sun. Dory wondered how a garden could ever grow in this tiny backyard. But her mom took the shovel and dug up some dirt.
“Open the seed packets,” she told Dory, “and sprinkle those seeds into the soil. Now cover them with more soil, water them, and wait.”
“I’m not very good at waiting,” said Dory.
“Well then, this may be the perfect project for you,” Mom said.
Dory thought about those tiny seeds. How are they going to turn into beautiful flowers? Could this little garden be filled with colors? She couldn’t wait to see what it would look like tomorrow. But tomorrow came, and the little garden looked the same. Dory thought, “When my mom wants to wake up, she uses her alarm clock.” So Dory ran upstairs and got her mom’s alarm clock. She placed it in the garden and pressed a button that would make it ring.
“Come on, plants, wake up!” Dory yelled. But the little seeds just sat there in the ground.
The next day, the little garden still looked the same. Dory thought, “My dad says nothing wakes him up like a good cup of coffee.” So Dory took the pot of coffee from her kitchen and poured it over the entire garden.
“Come on, plants!” Dory shouted. “Wake up!” But the little seeds just sat there in the ground.
On the third day, the little garden looked the same. Dory thought, “When my baseball coach wants his players to wake up, he blows a whistle.” So Dory went to her bag of baseball gear and dug down deep to find a whistle. She brought it outside and blew it so hard her cheeks turned red.
“Come on, plants!” Dory yelled. “Wake up! I want to see all of your colors!” But the little seeds just sat there in the ground.
“I knew this garden was a dumb idea,” Dory said. “All I want is to be warm. I want to see bright colors. I want to see people smile, and I want to get my bright new uniform and finally play baseball.” Dory thought about all those pictures her mother showed her of beautiful flowers. She would love to grow flowers like that, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.
That night, Dory went to her room, sat down, and closed her eyes. She thought about beautiful flowers coming up in her little city yard. She thought about getting new uniforms, and she wondered how it would all get done. Then Dory heard her mom yell, “Honey, come over here! I can’t believe it! Plants have sprouted all over the garden!” Dory joined her mom at the back door. There in the little garden patch were pale branches poking out of the dirt.
“Those don’t look like your pictures, Mom. Did we do something wrong?”
Sirens wailed from the street out front, so Dory and her mom went to investigate. They were surprised to see a huge crowd gathered around their subway station and the police directing traffic. The sidewalk was jammed with news crews and their microphones, lights, and cameras.
“What’s going on?” Dory asked her neighbor.
“There are flowers growing in the subway! Oh, it’s so exciting! There are plants growing on the ceiling, down the walls. We’ve never seen anything like it!”
Dory’s mom said, “Oh my, maybe there’s a school project going on. Someone’s always trying to make the city look more beautiful. That must be it.”
“Oh no,” their neighbor said. “Children wouldn’t be allowed to work down there in the subway. It’s way too dangerous.”
“I think it’s a garden club!”
“Quiet, please!” yelled a man wearing a headset and TV news jacket. “We’re going on the air in five, four, three, two, one.”
A woman with a microphone spoke, “This is TV 3 News at the scene of a spring miracle. Overnight, this little neighborhood subway station has turned into a flowering paradise. No one knows how the plants got here or how they are able to grow upside down.” The crowd murmured about the strange upside-down garden, and Dory got to thinking about her own strange-looking plants.
“Mom, you know how my new plants look funny?”
Dory’s mom nodded. “They’re all stems and branches.”
“Right,” Dory said as they returned to their yard. “Where are the leaves? They look like roots.”
“Mom said, ‘Aren’t roots supposed to grow down, not up?’”
“Usually,” her mom said. “What do you say? Should we pick one and see what’s happening?”
So they dug around the stem of one plant, and as they dug down a little farther, Dory’s eyes got as big as sunflowers, and so did her mom’s. They found flowers with pink and green dots, flowers with red and yellow stripes, big flowers with little blue flowers inside of them.
“I think this might be where the subway flowers came from,” Dory said, “but I don’t know why.”
Dory’s mom threw back her head and laughed. “All your funny ways of trying to wake up your plants must have scared them so much they grew upside down! I think that you have just become the world’s first upside-down gardener!”
Just as Dory was about to run out front to tell the reporters what they discovered, she felt someone shaking her. Her mom said, “Come on, wake up, sweetheart! It’s time to eat dinner.”
“Oh, dinner!” Dory sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Where are the reporters and the cameras?” Dory told her mom all about their yard full of roots and how she scared her plants so much they grew down instead of up and filled the subway station with big beautiful flowers.
“Oh, Dory,” her mom said, “you have some wild dreams!”
“Was it all a dream?” Dory asked. “You mean my plants didn’t grow?”
“Part of it was a dream, but if you look outside, you’ll see that little green stems have popped up all over the garden,” her mom said.
“Whatever pops up, it’ll still make people smile,” Dory said.
“I had a thought,” Dory said. “If we can make people smile, do you think they can do that for us too?”
“What do you mean, honey?”
“I was thinking if we share our food and flowers, maybe people would donate some money for our new baseball uniforms.”
“That’s a great idea, honey,” said her mom. “Even better than alarm clocks and coffee and whistles in the garden.”
“Well, Dory,” her mom said, “even though you didn’t grow giant striped flowers upside down, you’ve shared beautiful living things and made people smile, and you’ve raised a good bit of money. I think you are something even better than an upside-down gardener. You are a good and kind person.”
“Thanks, Mom,” said Dory, waving as she walked away.
“Mom called, ‘Where were you going, Dory?’”
“Where else?” she said. “I’m going to baseball practice and get my new uniform!”
What a fun and vivid dream Dory had! How would you like to see flowers growing from the ceiling? I know I would! I hope you enjoyed our story today, and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel to stay up to date on all my latest videos. See you next time!
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