- Hello readers.

Welcome to Read, Write, ROAR.

Today, we focus on the big question, how do our actions affect the environment?

We're going to work with words that have closed syllables.

Read a text about climate challenges and talk about the thoughts that we have when we write.

You're going to need something to write on, a piece of scratch paper or even an envelope would work.

You're also going to need something to write with, like a pencil or a crayon.

Come join us for Read, Write, ROAR.

(upbeat happy music) (lion roars) Welcome readers.

Sometimes when I'm reading even now that I'm grown up, I come across a challenging word that's hard for me to read.

Does that ever happen to you?

One great thing about reading is that when we come to those tricky words, we don't always need to read the entire word all at once.

Instead, a strategy that readers can use is to break words apart into syllables or word parts to read that tricky word correctly.

Our goal for today is to understand what a closed syllable is and to use closed syllables to read words that have more than one syllable.

Let's get started.

First, do you remember what a syllable is?

Well, a syllable is a word part with only one vowel sound.

What does that mean?

Well, that means when you hear a syllable, you're only going to hear one vowel.

Remember that the letters A-E-I-O-U and sometimes the letter Y usually make vowel sounds.

When you hear that syllable and you see it written, you will only hear and see one of these vowel sounds.

Now, sometimes you might see two vowels written together in a syllable, like the letters E-A, but when you hear that sound pronounced in the syllable, you'll only hear one vowel sound.

This pattern usually says "ee" like that; that's only one vowel sound.

So you know that you have a syllable if there is only one vowel sound.

Now, what's a closed syllable then?

A closed syllable has one vowel followed by one or more consonants.

What does that mean?

Well, it means that a closed syllable has only one written vowel.

You will not see two vowels together in a closed syllable.

Instead, you'll see one of the vowel sounds written with only one letter.

That's what the first part means.

After you see that one vowel, you will see one or more consonants following the vowel.

Remember a consonant is a letter that does not make a vowel sound.

So, a closed syllable has one written vowel followed by a consonant.

Let's look at a couple of words to help us understand what this might look like.

Here, we have a picture of a trash can and we have the words trash can written underneath them.

Let's start by finding the vowels in these words.

What vowel do you see in the word trash?

I see the vowel "a".

Then, there's also a vowel in the word can.

What vowel do you see in the word can?

Again, it's the letter "a".

Now, we're going to discover if these words have closed syllables.

Remember, a closed syllable has one vowel.

It can't have two vowels working together in a vowel team, it only has one vowel.

Does the word trash have one vowel?

It does, just the letter "a" all by itself.

What about the word can?

Does it have one vowel?

It does, it has the "a" all by itself.

That tells us two things.

First of all, it tells us that the words trash and can are both syllables all by themselves because they have one vowel sound.

And it tells us that they might be closed syllables because they have one written vowel.

Now, we need to check both words to see if those vowels are followed by one or more consonants.

Again, remember those consonants are those letters that do not make a vowel sound.

Let's check it out.

In the word trash, we see the vowel, followed by S-H. Are S and H consonants?

They are.

In this word, they're saying sh which is not a vowel sound.

That means the word trash has one vowel followed by one or more consonants.

This is an example of a closed syllable.

What about the word can?

We already know it has the one vowel.

Is it followed by a consonant?

It is followed by a consonant.

Now, this is another example of a closed syllable.

You might be wondering, "Why does it matter if a syllable is a closed syllable?"

This is why, usually when we see a closed syllable in a word, the vowel sound that you're going to hear that word make is a short vowel sound.

Remember, these are our short vowel sounds "a", "e", "i", "o", "u", "y".

When you see a vowel followed by a consonant or more than one consonant in a syllable, you should first try making the short vowel sound, trash can.

Now, not every closed syllable has a short vowel sound, but you should start by trying that short vowel sound when you see a closed syllable.

Now that we understand what a closed syllable is, let's practice reading words with more than one closed syllable.

(whimsical tune) As we start to break words apart into syllables to read them, there are a couple of things to remember and a couple of tricks we can try.

First, we have to remember that every syllable has one vowel or one vowel team.

Another way to say that is that each syllable has one vowel sound.

We can make sure that our syllables that we're finding only have one vowel sound by first placing a dot under each vowel.

Remember the letters, a-e-i-o-u, and often the letter y usually make a vowel sound.

Then we can underline any vowel team that we find.

Some examples of vowel teams are the ee that can say "ee" one vowel sound.

Ie that can say "ie," or oo that can say "oo".

These vowel teams work together to make one vowel sound in a syllable.

By finding vowels in vowel teams, we make sure that the syllables we see in a word only have one vowel sound.

Then the trick we're using today is to divide between two consonants.

Remember, consonants are the letters that don't make a vowel sound.

There are other tricks that tell us where we can split words into syllables but today this is the first trick that we'll be using.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when we are separating words into syllables we keep digraphs and consonant blends together most of the time.

Digraphs which are two consonants like th that says "th" and ch that says "ch" two consonants that make one sound.

And consonant blends are where two consonants slide together to work together to make two different consonant sounds.

Bl "bl", sn "sn".

Now, we never separate digraphs when we're separating syllables, and we usually keep consonant blends together.

Let's practice this with a few words.

Here's our first word.

We're going to start by placing a dot under each vowel.

Which vowels do you see?

A, Is there another one?

I, now do these vowels work together in a vowel team?

Well, they don't, because they're each by themselves, they're not part of a vowel team.

That's because we're working with closed syllables today, where there is only one written vowel.

So, we might not see any vowel teams today.

Now, we can divide between two consonants to find the syllables in our word.

Here, we see a word with two vowels.

Since they're not working in teams, that tells us that this word will have two syllables since there are two vowel sounds.

Now, let's start by separating the first syllable from the second syllable.

These are consonants P and L, they make consonants sounds.

They cannot be in a syllable by themselves.

They have to be in a syllable with a vowel sound because every syllable has one vowel or vowel team.

So, we know that the P and the L will be in the same syllable with the letter A.

Then we see two consonants in a row.

Now, we have to make a choice.

Where are we going to split this word into syllables?

We could slide these here to the first syllable, we could slide them both to the second syllable, or we could split them apart.

Before we do that, let me just put them by themselves in the center for just a second.

Here at the end, I know that the I will be part of the second syllable because we can't have two vowels in the same syllable.

And I know that the C has to be in a syllable with the I because it's a consonant.

It can't make its own syllable.

So, we have two syllables and we just have to decide what to do with these consonants.

Do you remember a trick for today?

Divide between two consonants since there are two consonants here we're going to divide the word into syllables by splitting up the consonants.

Now, do you notice anything special about the syllables we just made?

They are closed syllables.

How do we know that?

Well, first they each only have one vowel, and both syllables, we see that that vowel is followed by one or more consonants.

These are closed syllables.

What does that tell us as readers?

These vowels will probably say their short vowel sound.

The A will probably say "a", and the I will probably say "i".

Those are the sounds we're going to try first.

And if they don't work, then we'll try a different vowel sound.

Let's loop and swoop these syllables to read this word.

Plas-tic plastic This word is plastic.

You were able to read a word with two closed syllables.

And we remembered to say the short vowel sounds for the vowels that we read and that word, plas-tic plastic.

Now we know that a lot of plastic ends up in our trash, but plastic and other materials like metal and glass can all be recycled.

Let's try another word together.

Do you see the vowels in this word?

We're going to start by putting a dot under them.

What are they?

A and I Let's start to divide this word into syllables.

How many syllables will we be making?

We'll be making two syllables because every syllable has one bow or vowel team and we see two vowels in this word.

They can't be in the same syllable.

So we have to separate them into two different syllables.

We know that the L can't be in a syllable by itself.

It's a consonant.

It has to stick with a vowel.

So we know right away that the L and the A will be in the same syllable.

Now we see, oh, one, two, three consonants in a row.

Just like last time, I'm thinking we're going to need to divide between two consonants to find the syllables for this word, but there are three consonants here.

So let's leave those for a minute and find part of our second syllable.

We know that the I is going to be in the second syllable and the letters L and L also have to be in the second syllable because they are consonants and they can't be a syllable by themselves.

So we have our two syllable started and we just need to figure out how to separate these consonants.

There are a couple of ways we can do it.

We could slide here the N to the first syllable and separate them between the N and the D to make two parts that look like that or we could slide the N and the D to the first syllable and put the F in the second syllable.

When I looked at this right there, I was looking at that word part and my first thought was, that would be hard for me to blend that D in that F sound together.

But as soon as I slid that D over to the first syllable, I noticed two words that I know.

This is a compound word where two words go together to make a new word.

So, I think that if we're going to separate the consonants here, we should separate between the D and the F like this.

Now, do we have closed syllables here?

We do.

We have vowels followed by one or more consonants.

So what sound do you think we're going to try for the letter A?

"ah" the short vowel sound.

And what about the I?

"i" the short vowel sound.

If that doesn't work, we'll try a different vowel sound but since these are syllables, we'll start with the short vowel sound.

Read with me.

Land, fill, landfill.

This word is landfill.

A landfill is a place where garbage is sent to be buried.

If we put our plastic in the trash, it might end up in a landfill, but we can recycle our plastic and other materials so that they don't end up in a landfill.

(upbeat music) - Hi, friends.

Today we are going to be reading "The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge" written by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen.

And we have permission to read this from Scholastic Publishing.

Today, we're gonna be thinking about sequence.

Remember, that's the order of events.

We're gonna be using the thinking stems, I think and I wonder.

It's gonna help us leave tracks of our thinking from what we read inside the text.

Have you heard about our teacher, Ms. Frizzle?

Almost every day, something weird happens in her class.

"In case you didn't notice, "Ms. Frizzle is the strangest teacher in the school."

For example, take the day we started to study global warming.

We were going to put on a play about the Earth and all the changes that are happening.

The Friz had brought a book from home, and we were using the pictures to help us paint the scenery.

"Our play starts in the Arctic."

"Who has the white?"

"I need more white!"

"Has anyone seen the white?"

(teacher laughs) "Ms. Frizzle's book is kind of old," said Tim, "It came out before things really started heating up."

In the text, it says that the book is old, before things started really heating up.

I wonder if there have been any changes, what do you think?

Yeah, "I'll go online to get new pictures," said Wanda.

She headed for a computer, but Ms. Frizzle was already out the door.

"Come on class," she called.

"Bring my book, please."

We know that when the kids in the text, it said that the kids are headed to the bus.

What usually happens in this story?

Field trip!

that's right.

So, I think there's gonna be a field trip and I'm sure you do too.

Before you can say "North Pole," the Friz herded us onto the bus.

She pushed a few buttons and pulled a few levers.

Then we were on our way to the Arctic Sea - a place with a completely different climate.

When we got there, Dorothy Ann opened Ms. Frizzle's old book.

The pictures showed ice everywhere.

There was still plenty of ice in the Arctic, but a lot had melted, and more was melting all the time.

Ms. Frizzle steered the bus plane all over the Earth.

We saw changes everywhere.

What's happening?

Yes, next, they're seeing changes everywhere is what it says in the text.

So, what do you think?

Yeah, do you think the Earth is still getting warmer?

I wonder, I wonder if the Earth is getting warmer.

"Aren't you children wondering why the Earth "is getting warmer?"

asked Ms. Frizzle.

Actually, we were wondering why she was steering the bus plane higher and higher.

"Most of today's warming is caused by "the increasing level of heat-trapping gases "in the atmosphere," said the Friz.

"Heat-trapping gases are also called greenhouse gases."

She had that funny gleam in her eye.

We could tell something "interesting" was about to happen.

Oh, and my goodness, I think you're right friends, something interesting is about to happen.

We'll get to that next time.

Before we leave, let's take a look.

Remember friends, we were thinking about sequence, the order of events first, next then we used the stems I think and I wonder to help us write about our reading.

Well, readers we've learned a lot today from "The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge" I can't wait to finish this book with you.

Until next time.

(whimsical tone) When we read narrative and informational text friends, a hybrid text, like the book, "The Magic School Bus," we can learn a lot and also have our own opinions about the information.

We can use those at different types of books to go ahead and help us prove our opinion by using their evidence.

Today, we're gonna start writing an opinion piece about all of the information that we've been getting in the past episodes.

So, today's focus is going to be on what our head says and what we can do about it.

Let's review some of the things that we've already learned in Read, Write, ROAR.

When you feel nervous, just think What are my first steps?"

They might just be to put your name and the date on your paper.

After that if you don't know what to do, you can think of a strategy.

When I think about narratives, I think about people, places, and things that helps to give me an idea about what I can write about.

(whimsical tune) Sometimes I feel really scared to write.

Do you wanna know why?

It's because I get confused.

I don't know what to do, but I'm still confused.

One of the things that I can do to help myself when I'm confused is I can underline or pick apart the prompt and think about, what is it that I have to do?

What do I have to write?

So you can pull apart the prompt when you're confused.

Something else my brain sometimes tells me when I'm getting ready to write, is that I'm not good enough.

When my brain starts to tell me that I'm not good enough, I try to immediately shut it off.

And I start telling myself, I think I can, I think I can."

And then I turn it into, I know I can.

I know I can, I know I can.

So, when your brain tries to tell you that you're not good enough friends, you tell your brain I can do this.

Look at all these amazing thoughts we have put into our brain.

So, when your brain starts talking to you and it starts to get you down, and you start to get nervous, and you don't know what to do, and when your brain starts to tell you that you're not good enough, you change the script and you give yourself some positive thoughts.

I can do this.

And also some strategies, like using a strategy you know people, place, or things you can also pull apart the prompt, and that will help you figure out what to do next.

Friends, you have worked so hard, helping us think about "The Magic School Bus" and this hybrid text, learning about information and a narrative story.

And we've also been learning how to change our brain in order to have some better feelings about writing.

(foreign language) We'll see you next time on Read, Write, ROAR.

- [Announcer] This program is made possible in part by the Michigan Department of Education, the State of Michigan and the W.K.

Kellogg foundation.

Additional support by and by viewers like you!

Thank you!

(upbeat music) (piano music)