- Hello there, learners.

Welcome back to Read, Write, ROAR.

Today, we are going to read a story called Stars by Adrian and Ron Edwards.

That's gonna help us continue our journey, learning about the nighttime sky.

Then Ms. Rodgers is going to teach you some high frequency words.

And you'll end our day by looking at writing, and thinking about how you can write descriptive sentences, with Ms. Rodgers helping you along the way.

Are you ready to get started?

Let's go, and let's Read, Write, ROAR.

- [Narrator] 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) (soft music) - Well, I told you that today we'd be reading an informational text.

Informational texts give us information.

They have facts in them.

And here's the book that we're going to read today.

This book is called Stars, and this book is by Adrianna Edwards and Ron Edwards.

Thank you so much to Scholastic for giving us permission to read this story today.

Let's take a look at some really important and helpful things that this book has for us.

Some informational texts have certain text features in them.

Sometimes they have a table of contents.

That's really helpful, because it tells you where you can find information in the book.

This book happens to have that.

So let's see what it has to show us.

If you wanted to find out what is a star, you go right here to chapter one.

If you wanted to find out how stars begin, chapter two is called a star is born.

And if you wanted to find out more about stargazing, that's in chapter three.

So if you only wanted to know about stargazing, you'd find that word, and then follow it along, and find page 22, 'cause that's where you could learn about it.

For our purposes, we're gonna start at chapter one today.

The other feature I wanted to show you in this book is that there's diagrams sometimes.

This is a diagram of the solar system.

We're gonna read about that.

But diagrams help us, because they show you a big idea, and then have little labels on each part that show you how this big idea works.

We'll talk more about that when we read this page.

Let's look at another piece of informational text, and a different kind of feature.

Sometimes there'll be a photograph just like this one.

This is showing the sun, and look, it has a label that says sun, so I know exactly what I'm looking at, but it also has a caption.

This caption says stars come in different sizes.

So this is a caption that goes with the photograph.

This is labeling the sun, telling us it's a star.

That's quite big, because look at this little star that doesn't have a label is quite small.

The last thing I want to show you that's really important in this book is that this book happens to have what's called a glossary.

Glossaries are really important, because a glossary gives you definitions, or meanings of words that you need to know for your book.

So we're gonna talk about a few of those right now.

One of the meanings that I want you to have a really good picture in your mind for would be the word constellation.

Can you say constellation?

Great.

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to form a shape.

We'll look at that a little bit more closely today.

Another word that I want you to know is the word galaxy.

A galaxy, let's say it together.

Galaxy, good job.

A galaxy is a large group of stars.

Interesting.

Here's another word that you're gonna want to know, the word gas.

Can you say gas?

Great job.

A gas is a substance, a thing like air, that does not have a hard surface, so there's nothing hard on it.

Interesting, hmm.

Let's look at a couple of other words that are important in the story today.

Milky Way.

If you happened to be here on the day that we read, It Came From Outer Space, we talked a little bit about the Milky Way that day.

Milky Way is our galaxy, which includes our solar system, and many other solar systems.

And we're gonna learn more about what solar systems are as we go along today.

How about a star?

It says a star is a huge ball of very hot and glowing gases.

Can you say star?

Yeah, it is a huge ball.

It's like a huge ball, whoop.

And it's got glowing gases, interesting.

And we learned gases don't have a hard surface, right?

Okay.

What about this word?

Universe.

All of space and everything in it, including all solar systems and galaxies.

So the universe is huge.

Can you do that with me?

The universe is huge, because it has all of the solar systems that are in the universe, and all of the galaxies, right?

So let's take a look at chapter one together, and let's learn hm, chapter one says, what is a star?

Let's find out.

Chapter one.

What is a star?

"After the sun sets, little dots of light appear in the sky."

Can you picture seeing little dots of light in the sky?

"Before long, when you're looking up at those little dots in the sky, you can see thousands.

Some people think they look like diamonds, others see bright crosses.

What do you think these are?

A star is a huge ball of very hot and fiery gas in space.

The gas burns and makes a lot of light and heat, just like a gigantic fire."

Wow, so let's picture that.

It's like a gigantic fire.

Whew.

And it's made of gas.

Here's what it's showing us is a star, a hot and fiery star.

It does look like a fire, doesn't it?

"When we look into the night sky, we see huge stars that are millions of miles wide."

Imagine that, millions of miles wide, that's hard to even wrap my head around.

"They are so far away that they look tiny from here on Earth."

This says the solar system.

"Our sun is also a star."

We mentioned that a little bit.

"It is at the center of our solar system."

So here's our solar system.

Look at that.

That is the sun.

"But the solar system neighborhood is made up of the sun, planets, moons, and other objects."

And it says a solar system is like a neighborhood in space.

So maybe you live in a neighborhood where you are.

It says, "Other stars we see may be suns in other solar systems.

Our sun looks very big, because it is much closer to us than other stars."

And here's us, remember, we're planet Earth.

This is where we are in the solar system.

"We are so close to the sun that we can feel its heat, and enjoy its light.

The sun is the only object in our solar system that makes light and heat."

Wow, so the sun has a very big job, doesn't it?

As this huge star that gives us light and heat.

Now let's think a little bit more about the Milky Way.

"Our solar system may seem big, but it is just a very small part of our galaxy.

A galaxy is a huge group of stars."

Woo, we talked about that earlier, remember?

"Many of these stars have their own solar systems."

So like the sun has its own solar system, right?

And it's saying that other stars could have their own solar systems.

"We can only see a few of the many stars in our galaxy.

Our galaxy is called the Milky Way."

Hmm.

It asks us if we know why it's called the Milky Way, do you have any ideas about that?

Let's find out why.

"Long ago, people looked up at the sky on very clear nights, and thought the stars looked like milk had been spilled across the sky."

Huh, well that makes sense.

People were saying, it looked like milk had been spilled across the sky.

And that's where it got its name, the Milky Way.

Oh, here is a page about the universe.

And we talked about the universe is huge, right?

It's asking us how many stars do you think there are?

Do you think we can count all the stars?

I don't think so.

I don't think I can even imagine the number to describe the stars.

Says, "Scientists think there are billions and billions of stars.

That's more than the grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth."

That's a lot, and here's a picture.

It says billions of stars.

"The Milky Way, our galaxy, has lots of stars, but it is just one of billions of galaxies in the universe.

The universe is made up of everything in space.

Our solar system, the Milky Way, and all the other galaxies too."

Wow, that's pretty wild to think about.

So this is a great illustration.

This says me and Earth.

'Cause we live on planet Earth.

Earth is in a solar system.

A solar system is in the Milky Way.

And the Milky Way, our galaxy, is in the universe.

So we're this tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny little part of one huge universe.

Chapter two, it's called a star is born.

"A star is born, lives, and then dies.

That's the life cycle of a star.

A knew star is formed from a very cold cloud of dust and gas."

Hm, so there has to be a very cold cloud of dust and gas to make a new star.

That is really interesting.

This has a label, and there's a question.

It says, what do you think the cloud in this picture looks like?

What do you think?

Yeah, it does look a little bit like a horse.

It's actually called the Horsehead Nebula.

That is really interesting.

It says, "A new star is formed when clumps of gas and dust come together in space."

And we learned it has to be really what?

Cold, right?

"The clumps become tighter and hotter, and when the clump gets hot enough, a new star is born.

Leftover dust and gas surround most new stars.

Some of this dust becomes planets in the star's new solar system."

Wow, that's pretty wild to think about.

And this is labeled the making of a star.

It shows dust and gas here.

And then it shows a new star.

On this page, it talks about when a star dies.

"When a red giant star begins to die, huge clouds of dust and gas are blown away.

The core of the star collapses, and cools.

This forms a white dwarf."

Interesting.

A red giant star at the end of its life.

That's what this is showing.

"A red supergiant star explodes at the end of its life.

The explosion forms a supernova."

Can you say supernova?

Nice.

"It is very bright.

The stardust from the explosion might form new planets or stars."

Wow, that's kind of interesting to think.

It's something that's dying, but something new is coming from it, like planets or stars.

Crazy.

This says, a red giant supernova before it exploded.

And then here's a supernova exploding.

Wow, look how bright and shiny that is.

Let's talk some more about constellations now.

Those are, it says pictures in the sky.

"Long ago, people did not know much about stars.

They did not have telescopes to help them see things far away."

Telescopes are a special instrument to help see really far away.

"People would look at the stars, and see patterns or pictures in the sky.

They would tell stories about the pictures.

These groups of stars are called constellations."

Can you say constellations?

Nice, have you ever heard that word before?

Maybe you have.

Have you ever looked at a constellation?

This is showing us that you can find shapes in the sky made up of stars.

Says, "The storytellers named the constellations after people, objects, or animals.

Sometimes they were make-believe creatures, like unicorns or dragons."

Like this is saying it's a dragon constellation.

Now, certainly it's not all colorful like that in the sky, but here's all the tiny little dots of stars it's showing.

And if you picture it together, you can make out the shape of a dragon.

And then it says, "Sometimes the constellations were named after real animals like bears or dogs."

This says big bear constellation.

Again, we don't look up at the sky, and see an actual bear.

But if you kind of like look at those stars, and find this grouping that you could connect these dots and make a big bear, then that would be the big bear constellation.

Here's something else we really want to think about in terms of what we've been learning about the daytime and the nighttime sky.

This part is called telling time.

It says, "People long ago didn't have clocks."

Can you imagine, we're so lucky.

"They had to use the sun to know what time it was.

During the day, the sun seemed to go across the sky."

Right?

Looks like that to us still.

"The location of the sun, that means the place of the sun, in the sky helps people know the time of day.

The stars told people about the seasons.

People figured out that they saw some constellations only at certain times of the year.

It says farmers looked at star patterns to find out when it was time to plant, and when it was time to harvest."

That means to take out all the things that they had planted, and that had grown.

"Farmers used the stars to tell the time of year, just like a calendar.

Finding our way.

Before maps or smartphones, people used the stars to help them navigate."

Hm, I'm noticing that navigate's in this bright yellow, so I can look up what it means right down here.

Navigate, to find out where you are, and where you need to go.

That's what you do when you navigate.

Can you say navigate?

Great.

So people used stars to help them navigate.

The stars helped them to know where they were, and where they wanted to go.

"The positions of the stars in the sky would help them to find directions.

The night sky looks different from different places on Earth.

Ind the north, we see the North Star, so we can use it to find where north is."

North Star, and that's true.

You can take a look outside at night when you can see the stars, see if you can find North Star.

But it says, "People in the south, like Australia, cannot see the North Star.

They use the Southern Cross to find their way."

So the Southern Cross constellation is the way that people in Australia would find their way.

And all of these things that we learn all about stars help us to connect to the very last sentence here.

It says, stars are important to us in so many ways.

Goodness gracious, they really are.

Can you think of one way that we've learned a star is important?

Yeah, just shout 'em out.

Lots of ways stars are important.

Yeah, great.

We know the biggest star that we have for our planet is what?

The sun.

Why is the sun so important?

What does the sun give to us?

It gives us light, and it gives us heat.

That's right.

The sun gives us light and heat, but there's lots of other stars.

This got me excited to learn more about stars.

I can't wait for a nice clear night when I can go out, and do some stargazing, and check out the stars.

See if I can find the North Star, and maybe some constellations too.

I hope you enjoyed hearing this wonderful story by our authors, Adrianna Edwards and Ron Edwards.

And I hope that you'll do some more learning and exploring about stars.

See you next time on Read, Write, ROAR.

(soft music) - Hello, learners, it's Ms. Rodgers to talk about high-frequency words.

We learn these words, because they're going to show up a lot when we are reading and writing.

If we can understand how these words work, and learn how to spell them, it will help us when we read and write them.

So here we go.

My first word today is the word all.

I ate all of the ice cream.

All, all, L, all.

Two sounds.

Now let me hear you say all.

Now, let's say the sounds all, L. Good job.

Now, if I look at my word, it has three letters.

The A says the A sound, L says the L sound.

So these two letters make one sound.

When I put them together, it's all, all.

A, L, L spells all.

So I'm going to put this on my board, and I want you to help me to write them.

You can sky write in the air.

You can write on the sheet of paper, or whatever you have at home.

So let's write the word all.

All, L. All.

My second word that I have for you is the word from.

I received a letter from my friends, from.

F, R, U, M. Four sounds, let me hear you say from.

Now, let's say the sounds, F, R, U, M, from, good job.

Now let's look at the word from.

From has one, two, three, four, four letters.

The F says F. The R says R. The O in this word says U.

And the M says M. So all of these letters put together sound like this.

From, from.

Let me hear you say from.

Good job.

So now we're going to try to write this word.

Also, remember, you can write up in the sky with your finger, or on paper, or anything you have at home.

So let's write the word from.

F, R, um, from.

So our two words today that we learned are all and from.

Now practice writing those words, because once we practice, we can easily identify the words when we read and write them.

Let's see if we can try some descriptive words to add to our sentences from our seasons book.

We used our senses to think about our observations.

So it should be pretty simple for us to use some more descriptive words to add to our sentences.

Adjectives are words that are descriptive words.

They include color, size, shape, number, how something feels, tastes, smells, looks like, and even sounds like.

Now, one of the sentences we wrote for our story is I see stars.

Now that's not very interesting, but I think we can come up with an adjective to help that sentence to become something that will give people a picture of what we saw.

So what can we say about the stars?

The stars are shiny.

They're also bright.

So let's try and write that sentence.

I see bright stars.

So I'm gonna start with my uppercase letter.

I see bright, bright stars.

Okay, I see bright stars.

I have my uppercase letter, punctuation, and I also have space between my words.

Let's go to our next one.

Now I wrote, I see snow.

Now I wrote that for the winter portion of our book, but what can we say that would make it a little more descriptive?

What adjective could we add?

We could talk about the color of the snow.

The snow is white.

So I can say I see white snow.

So let's go ahead and write that.

I see white snow.

Now I have my hearts up here, because I truly love adding adjectives to writing.

It just makes it more interesting.

Okay, so let's go to our next one.

I hear geese.

What happened to my G right there?

I hear geese.

Usually in the fall, geese are flying overhead, and they're making a lot of noise.

And that noise sounds like a honk, honk, honk, honk, a honking sound.

So let's write, I hear honking geese.

I hear honking geese.

Okay, so we used our sense of sight, our sense of hearing.

And finally, we're gonna use our sense of feeling.

Now, this is also in the spring.

I feel rain.

Rain is water.

So water feels wet.

So let's write that.

I feel wet rain.

All right.

I feel wet rain.

Now let's read our new sentences.

I see bright stars.

I see white snow.

I hear honking geese.

I feel wet rain.

Excellent job.

Thanks for helping me with that.

Now let's go through, and underline our adjectives.

Now I want you to take your finger, and pretend like you're underlining it with me, okay?

Let's go.

I see bright stars.

I see white snow.

I hear honking geese.

Last one.

I feel wet rain.

Excellent job.

Thank you so much for helping me with my adjectives.

See you next time on Read, Write, ROAR.

- [Narrator] 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)