- Hi readers.

Welcome to "Read, Write, Roar."

Today, we're going to be learning all about the letter C, and we're going to be learning about clouds.

You'll learn some new vocabulary words.

And at the end, we'll sort the different types of clouds.

You're going to need something to write on like a piece of paper or a notebook and something to write with like a pencil or a marker.

So go gather your tools and then we'll start learning.

- This program is made possible in part by the Michigan Department of Education, the state of Michigan, and the WK Kellogg foundation.

Additional support by: and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(intro music plays) (lion roars) - It's time for our letter of the day.

Are you ready to be letter heroes?

Let's get started.

Our letter today is the letter C. Can you say C?

Great.

This is an uppercase C. This is a lowercase C. Notice how uppercase C and lowercase C, they look similar.

Their sizes are different.

This is how you make an uppercase C. You start at the top with a big curve around.

A lowercase C looks like this.

You start in the middle with a small curve around.

Let's say it together.

Uppercase C, lowercase C. One more time.

Uppercase C, lowercase C. Great job.

There's something special about the letter C. The letter C makes two sounds.

The first sound that the letter C makes is: (hard C sound) That is a hard C. Hard C makes the sound (hard C sound) Like in cat.

Can you say cat?

The word cup also makes the hard C sound at the beginning.

Can you say cup?

Great job.

Well, cat and cup start with the (hard C sound) sound.

Notice my mouth.

When I make that sound, my teeth open up and I make the sound (hard C sound) Great job.

The second sound that C makes is the soft C sound.

The soft C sounds like this.

(soft C sound) Can you make that sound?

(soft C sound) Like in the word celery.

Can you say celery?

Awesome.

Another food that starts with the soft C sound is cereal.

Can you say cereal?

Did you hear the sound at the beginning of celery and cereal?

Notice what my mouth does when I make that sound.

My teeth stayed together and I make the sound.

(soft C sound) It sounds a little bit like a snake.

Soft C says.

And hard C says.

Great job.

Now.

It's time to search for the letter C in our sentence today.

Here's our sentence.

It says, clouds can look like clumps of cotton candy.

Did you hear the (hard C sound) sound?

Or the (soft C sound) sound?

Let's go searching.

If you see me point to a letter C, tell me to stop.

Get ready, letter heroes.

We're going to highlight the letter C's.

The first word is clouds.

I heard you say stop.

There is it capital or uppercase C right at the beginning of clouds?

Let's highlight it.

I'll use my pink to highlight my C. Let's keep searching.

The next word is can.

I heard the sound again?

There's hard C right at the beginning of can.

Let's highlight it.

Let's keep searching, letter heroes.

Clouds, can, look.

No C there.

Like.

No C there.

Let's keep searching.

Clumps.

I heard you say stop.

You found another letter C. At the beginning of clumps, there's a lowercase C. Let's highlight it.

Okay.

Let's keep going.

Of.

No C there.

Cotton.

Another C. Great job, friends.

Let's highlight this lowercase C. Last word.

Keep searching.

Candy.

I heard the sound at the beginning of candy.

There's another C. Let's highlight it.

OK, letter heroes.

Let's count how many letters Ce's we found in our sentence today?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

We found five Ce's in our sentence, today.

Clouds can look like clumps of cotton candy.

Now, friends, it's time for us to practice writing the letter C. Do you have something to write on, and something to write with?

Great.

Let's get started.

This is an uppercase C. Watch me trace the uppercase C with my finger.

Start at the top, curve up, touch the top line, curve around, touch the bottom line, and up, just a little.

That's an uppercase C. Let's practice writing it in the sky with our finger.

Ready?

Curved up, touch the top line, curve down, Touch the bottom line and up, just a little more.

Big curve for capital C, or uppercase C. Let's practice writing now.

Watch me make an uppercase C. Start up here at the top.

I'm going to curve up, touch the top line, curve around, touch the bottom line up just a little.

That's a great uppercase C. Let's make another one.

Start up by the top, curve up, touch the top line, curve around, touch the bottom line, and up.

Uppercase C. Great job.

Now let's practice making lowercase C. Remember they look similar.

Lowercase C is just smaller, and we start at a different place.

This time we're going to start by the dotted line and we're going to curve around, touch the dotted line, curve down, touch the bottom line, and up just a little.

Let's practice writing it in the sky.

Get your finger ready.

Curve up, touch the dotted line, curve around, touch the bottom line, and up just a little.

Nice job.

Notice how I don't pick up my marker, or my pencil, or my finger when I'm making this letter.

My pencil and my finger stay down the whole time.

Watch me make a lowercase C. Start by the middle dotted line, up, touch the dotted line, curve around, touch the bottom line, and up.

Lowercase C. Let's make one more together.

Start by the dotted-line, curve up, touch the dotted line, curve around, touch the bottom line, and up.

Lowercase C. We learned about a really great letter today.

Uppercase C and lowercase C. It makes two sounds.

(hard C sound) and (soft C sound) Nice job, friends.

Hi, friends.

Have you ever looked up at the sky?

What did you see?

I bet you saw clouds.

I've been thinking a lot about clouds lately.

What are they made of?

How are they formed?

Whenever I'm curious about something I always go to my local library to check out some books.

I'm going to go find some books about clouds.

Oh.

Hi, friends.

I'm back from the library.

Remember, I was looking for books about clouds.

There were a couple of questions and I was curious about and wanted to answer.

The first question was, what are clouds?

I found this book at the library.

The title is "The Weather.

Clouds".

And the author is Terry James.

Remember, authors write the words.

This book is published by Chrysalis Education.

It's a non-fiction book.

Non-fiction books sometimes have a table of contents.

In this book I learned that on page eight and nine there's some great information about what clouds are.

It says, "water to clouds.

The sun's heat changes the water in ponds, rivers, seas, and other wet places to invisible steam.

The steam rises, cools down and changes back to tiny drops of water.

This makes a cloud.

So, what are clouds?

Clouds are really tiny drops of water.

I was wondering more about, how do clouds form.

I found another book about clouds.

This book is titled, "The Science Behind Weather".

And the author of this book is Darlene Styles.

It's published by Raintree.

It's also a non-fiction book.

It has a table of contents.

On page 12, it's titled, "Cloud Watching".

Let's see what it says.

On page 12 it tells us how clouds form.

"Clouds form from water in the air.

Small beads of water called water droplets," Can you say water droplets?

Great.

"form around tiny bits of dust or smoke.

The droplets are light enough to float in the air.

Billions of droplets come together to make a cloud.

If it's cold enough, the droplets freeze into tiny ice crystals."

So, how do clouds form?

Clouds form when those tiny water droplets gather around smoke or dust in the air.

That's how clouds form.

I continued to learn more information about clouds and I learned that there are many different types of clouds.

Three of the most common types of clouds are stratus, cirrus, and cumulus.

It was so much fun learning about clouds.

You can learn about clouds too, or check out these books at your local library.

All you need is a library card.

Do you have a library card?

If not, that's okay.

Ask the grownup to help you get one.

Thanks so much for helping me learn about clouds today.

Hi, friends.

Whenever I've been working really hard, sometimes I need to give my brain a break.

Stand up.

It's time for our brain break.

Today, we're going to play "Catch a Cloud."

When you hear me say "catch a cloud", you're going to jump up, grab the cloud, pull it down, and then push it back up.

Let's get started.

Ready?

There's a cloud.

Catch a cloud.

Jump up, pull it down, and push it back up.

There's another one.

Catch a cloud.

Jump up, pull it down, and push it back up.

One's right there.

Catch a cloud.

Jump up, pull it down, and push it back up.

One more.

Ready.

This is a big one, friends.

Catch a cloud.

Jump up, pull it down, and push it back up.

Great job catching clouds with me.

Let's take two deep breaths and then get ready for learning.

Ready?

Deep breath in and deep breath out.

One more.

Deep breath in and deep breath out.

Great job, friends.

Friends, we've learned many new words as we were learning about clouds today.

Now it's time to learn more about three of those words.

We're going to learn more about the different types of common clouds.

The first cloud we're going to learn about is the stratus cloud.

Can you say stratus?

Great.

Stratus clouds are found low in the sky.

They're usually flat and sometimes gray.

Which cloud do you think is the Stratus cloud?

Did you point to this one?

You're right.

This is the Stratus cloud.

Let's put the word Stratus above this cloud.

Stratus.

Now let's clap the syllables in the word stratus.

Ready?

Stra-tus.

How many syllables did you hear?

Two.

There are two syllables in the word stratus.

Let's hear stratus in a sentence.

The stratus cloud was blocking the sun.

Stratus.

The next cloud is cirrus.

Can you see cirrus?

Great.

Notice that cirrus starts with that soft C sound.

Cirrus.

This cloud is found high up in the sky.

Cirrus clouds are thin and wispy.

They sometimes look like feathers.

Which cloud do you think is the cirrus cloud?

Did you point to the one way up high?

You're right.

That's a cirrus cloud.

Cirrus.

Let's clap the syllables in the word cirrus.

Get ready.

Cir-rus.

How many syllables did you hear?

Two.

There are two syllables in the word cirrus.

The last cloud is my favorite cloud.

This cloud is called the cumulus.

Can you say cumulus?

Great job.

Cumulus are puffy, fluffy, white clouds.

We usually see them on sunny days and they're found in the middle of the sky.

Which cloud do you think is the Cumulus cloud?

You're right.

It's this big puffy one.

Let's put the word cumulus up by the cloud.

Cumulus.

Now, we're going to clap the syllables and the word cumulus.

Ready?

Cum-u-lus.

How many syllables did you hear?

Three.

There are three syllables in the word cumulus.

Let's use cumulus in a sentence.

The cumulus cloud looked like white cotton candy in the sky.

Cumulus.

Great job.

Let's say our new words one more time.

Ready?

Stratus, cumulus, cirrus.

Great job learning about the different types of clouds.

Okay, readers and writers.

Now it's time for sentence building.

Our question today is, what do you see when you look up at the sky?

We were thinking about that earlier.

When we look up at the sky, what do we see?

I have a bunch of words here but they're not in the right order.

I'm going to need your help to put them in the right order.

Let's look at the words.

Cloud.

I.

A. Cumulus.

And, see.

Um.

Which word do you think should come first?

"I".

That's right.

I, is capital.

And this letter I is going to be starting our sentence.

It's the word I.

What would make sense to come next?

Cloud?

No.

How about see?

See is a high-frequency word?

I bet you know that word.

"I see."

What would you see when you looked up at the sky?

I heard you say a.

A is the next word we're going to use.

Do you see a lowercase A?

Great job.

"I see a."

We have two words left.

Cloud and cumulus.

What would make sense to come next?

I see a cumulus.

Or, I see a cloud.

Um.

I think we should use the word cumulus.

Remember.

Cumulus clouds were the white copy clouds found in the middle of the sky.

"I see a cumulus."

That means we have one word left.

What should it be?

Cloud.

We know that that's the last word.

And it even has a period for the end of our sentence.

Let's put cloud at the end.

Let's read our sentence together, readers and see if it makes sense.

Read with me.

"I see a cumulus cloud."

Great work.

Now we're going to draw a picture to match our sentence.

Let's get started.

I think I'll start by drawing that cumulus cloud.

Whenever I draw clouds I use the letter C to help me.

Watch.

A C and a C, and I keep going around with a lot of little curvy C'‘s.

Those curves helped me to make puffy cumulus clouds.

There's my cloud.

Now, I think I'll use green to draw the grass.

I'll just use a wavy line or two to show the ground and the grass.

There's my grass.

Next, I think I'll draw the sun because when there's cumulus clouds there's often a sign in the sky.

I'll use this orange because sometimes the sun looks bright yellow but sometimes it looks orange.

Here's my sun.

I use circles for the center and straight lines to show the sunshine.

There's my sun.

Oops.

Let me fix that up just a little bit.

There's my sun.

The last thing I want to drop is me because my sentence says, "I see a cumulus cloud."

So, I'm going to draw me in the picture too.

To draw a person I always use shapes to help me.

I'll start by drawing a circle head.

I used two lines for my neck, then an oval body, and long oval legs, and oval arms.

Just like that.

I don't want to forget my face.

I'll draw some eyes, a smile, and a nose, and just a little hair.

That's my picture.

That matches my sentence.

The last thing we're going to do today, friends, is we're going to label our picture.

Labeling means writing the words next to the things that we drew.

I'll start by writing the word sun.

Could you help me stretch out the word sun?

Listen to the sounds.

Three sounds in the word sun.

The first one is the sound.

All we have to do is write the sounds that we hear.

That S sound in this word is an S. The next sound in sound in sun is.

Do you know what letter makes that sound?

It's the letter U.

And the ending sound is.

Um.

Do you know what letter makes the N sound?

You're right, it's N. This is how I make a lowercase N. There's the word sun.

Now I'm going to write the word grass because I drew grass on the ground.

So, I'll write the word grass down by the bottom.

The first sound I hear in grass is.

Help me stretch it out.

There's four sounds.

Let's practice writing that first sound.

Do you know what letter that is?

You're right.

It's a lowercase G. It looks like this.

The next sound in grass is.

What letter could make that sound?

It's R. Great.

R looks like this.

We have, A is the next letter.

Do you know what letter makes that sound?

Right.

It's A.

This is a lowercase A.

And the last sound is.

What letter makes the sound?

It's S. You're right.

Those were all of the sounds that we heard in the word grass.

It's okay if words are not spelled correctly, because we're just practicing writing the sounds that we hear.

Great job,friends.

The next thing we want to label is me.

I'm going to write the word me.

Can you help me stretch that out?

How many sounds?

Two.

The first sound is.

Do you know what letter makes that sound?

Did you say M?

I hope so.

M looks like this.

Lowercase M. The next sound is E. Do you know what letter makes the E sound?

It's E. You were right.

This is a lowercase E. And the last word we want to write is cloud.

We can stretch out cloud, or we can see that the word cloud is right here in our sentence.

So, we can just copy it next to the word cloud.

Cloud started with the C sound.

That was hard C and that was our letter of the day, today.

Let's copy the word cloud right next to cloud.

C, L, O, U, and D. Great job.

Readers and writers, remember, you can draw pictures and label them at home too.

Don't forget to share your picture and your labels with someone in your home today.

Friends, today we learned all about the letter C. We learned about clouds and how they're formed.

We learned about the different types of clouds.

Stratus, cirrus, and cumulus clouds.

Thanks for learning with me today.

And I'll see you next time on "Read, Write, Roar."

- This program is made possible in part by the Michigan Department of Education, the state of Michigan and the WK Kellogg foundation.

Additional support by And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music)