| Category | Details |
| Episode Number | 0930 |
| Season | Season 8 (1976–1977) |
| Air Date | December 3, 1976 |
| Main Event | Linda's Birthday Celebration |
| The "Mustache" Problem | Dr. Frank Freeze's facial hair blocks lip-reading |
| The Secret Code | Singing when a "B" word is mentioned |
| Big Bird's Gift | Phonograph and speaker (enjoyed via vibrations) |
| Key Muppets | Oscar, Big Bird, Marshal Grover, The Count, Ernie, Bert, Twiddlebugs, Herry Monster |
| Human Cast | Linda, Maria, Gordon, Mr. Hooper, David, Susan, Luis, Bob |
| Celebrity Guest | Joe Namath (Pass on 6) |
| Educational Concepts | Big/Bigger/Biggest, Numerical Correspondence, Thinking/Imagining |
| Letter of the Day | B, F |
| Number of the Day | 6, 20 |
| Spanish Vocabulary | Agua (Water), Casa (House) |
| Sponsors | B, F, 6 |
Parent's Guide
The neighbourhood is obsessed with the letter B today. Maria and the kids fix a broken B. Jack climbs a B-stalk to get to the Land of B. The letter's all over the place. This helps to get the initial sound recognition going. Kids often link the way a letter looks with the sound it makes, like in words like ball and bubble.
Big Bird is really down when it's Linda's birthday. He bought her a gramophone and speakers. He thinks the gift is a bit silly because Linda is deaf and can't hear music. Everyone's a fan of Linda because she shows them what she likes about the gift. She puts her hands on the speakers to feel the vibrations. She listens to a disco version of the Sesame Street Theme through touch. This story is a great example of empathy and disability awareness. There's no one right way to experience the world. You can enjoy music through physical vibration. It breaks down barriers and encourages you to think creatively about how others see their environment.
So, Marshall Grover and his horse Fred stopped by a café to get some milk. This creates segments with oxen pulling rocks and circus strongmen. These scenes show three stages of size comparison. This is where you'd use superlative adjectives. Kids learn to put things in order in a logical way. Ranking is a basic skill for working with order and for writing about it. It helps kids understand relative scale.
Oscar the Grouch loses the sound on his TV. He's pretty frustrated because he can't hear his favourite shows. He asks Linda to help him by reading lips and signing the dialogue. The plan works fine until the weather comes on. The weatherman has a huge moustache that covers his mouth. This makes it impossible for Linda to lip-read. This shows how communication and accessibility work. Things like lip-reading have physical limits. How clear something looks can have a big effect on how it's received, for better or for worse.
There's also an animated bit that highlights the word 'Agua'. It reminds viewers that everyone needs water. This helps to develop functional bilingual literacy. It's a great way to help kids learn more words because it links the Spanish word for a life-essential to a universal human need.
Farley explains the different ways we use our brains. He's planning to walk to the door. He can picture who's there. He has a pretty good idea who it might be. Harry Monster bursts into the classroom. This segment is all about thinking about thinking. It's really helpful for kids to learn the difference between memory and imagination, as it helps them organise their thoughts. It helps them understand their own thought processes.
