- Hi scholars and welcome to second grade on read, write, roar.

Today we're going to read and write words with the silent consonants G-N and M-B.

We're also going to take a plane trip to an estuary so we can learn more about the animals that live there.

So grab your paper and your pencil and let's get ready to read, write, roar!

- [Woman] This program is made possible in part by Michigan Department of Education, the state of Michigan, and the Kresge Foundation.

Additional support for educational programming provided by and by viewers like you.

(happy music) (lion roars) (lion roars) - Hi word builders, I'm Mrs. Z-K, and today I'm being very careful.

Because it's kind of a spooky day.

Have you noticed there are ghosts around me?

No I'm not really scared don't worry, these are friendly ghosts.

Yeah.

Today we are gonna be working with silent consonants.

When two letters are together one of them will be silent.

That silent letter, we're going to be calling a ghost letter.

Oo.

But that ghost won't hurt us.

No, we see these ghost letters all the time.

Yeah, they're just showing us ways to make sounds we already know, mm-hmm.

We're going to be working with two ghost letters today.

Yeah, they'll be making us a visit.

There's going to be the ghost letter G in the pair G-N. And the ghost letter B in the pair M-B.

Ooh I hope you can be pretty brave and work on these sounds with me.

Are you ready?

All right scholars let's give it a shot.

Here is our first ghost letter.

Ooh.

The G and the N are together which means that G is going to be silent.

So what we do is we pretend like we don't see it.

Meaning we're not going to say its sound.

So we're not going to say the guh sound in any of these words.

Mm-mmm.

We're only going to say the next sound which is the nnn sound.

Are you ready?

All right.

We have nnn, ah, tih?

What word?

Gnat.

Ugh!

Get out of here!

Gnat's are those little fruit flies.

Don't leave your food out or they'll come swarming around.

Here's another word.

Oo.

No guh, remember the G and N are together.

So all we say is the nnnnn.

We have the O with the silent E at the end, which means this is gonna make a long O sound.

So we have nnn, O, mmm.

What word?

Gnome!

Uh!

Look at that cute little gnome.

Gnomes are little statues that you can put in your yard, in your garden, or just out in front of your house.

You can get a lot of them, you can get a little collection going.

(laughs) Oh?

Here's another one, oo.

We got nnn, and A-W, makes the sound Aw.

Nnn, aw.

What word?

Gnaw!

And gnaw is what a dog might do to his bone.

It's kind of like synonym for chewing.

You gnaw on something.

And look at this last word.

That ghost has snuck to the end.

That G-N is at the end of the word this time, oo.

So we have sss, I, nnn.

What word?

Sign!

We see signs all the time.

Did you know it had a ghost letter in it?

Probably not, 'cause they're not out there to hurt us.

Look there's a stop sign right now.

Stop!

(Happy Music) (lion roars) Scholars the other, the other ghost is here.

Yeah!

It's ghost letter B.

But remember don't be scared.

Ghost letter B is at the end of these words.

When we see this ghost letter B, were not going to say the buh sound.

It's going to be a silent consonant.

Yes, it is paired with the M, and then the B.

The M becomes before the B, and we are going to say the mmm sound, but not the buh sound.

Right.

So ghost will, ooh, come in and make sure that it's a silent consonant.

Are you ready to try some of these words out?

Great job being so brave scholars.

Lets try it out.

Oo!

We have cuh, O, mmm.

What word?

Comb!

Nice job, and we can use a comb when doing our hair.

Yeah.

(laughs) I know you have one of those at home.

Lets try our next word, oo.

We have a blend here at the beginning.

It's crrr, so we have crr, uh, mmm.

What word?

Crumb!

Yes, if you leave crumbs on the floor after you eat, maybe some ants will come in, or even a mouse.

Now that might be a little more spooky than these friendly ghosts.

Be careful.

Oh, here's another one, ooh.

Cover up that buh sound.

(gasp) We have another T-H making the thh sound.

Are you ready?

Thh, uh, mmm.

What word?

Thumb!

Show me your thumb!

Great job scholars!

Did you notice that crumb and thumb are rhyming words, I did, because they both have that um sound.

Yeah, last word, let's get it.

Oo oo.

Another blend, we got cll.

Yeah?

Okay.

Cll, I, mmm.

What word?

Climb!

Yeah!

And we see squirrels climb trees all the time.

And maybe you try too.

Yeah.

(laughs) Scholars, you've done such a great job reading words with these ghost letters.

Now we're going to have some practice writing them.

Lets get that paper and pencil ready.

All right scholars, there are going to be some sentences that come up on your screen, We are going to read the sentences, but there will be a word missing.

You guessed it.

It's gonna be one of these words with the ghost letter.

Mm-hmm, and you are going have to decide which one of these words will fit in the blank for the sentence.

We're gonna to read these sentences together, but before we do, can we re-read the words that we just worked on?

Yeah?

All right.

We got gnat, gnome, gnaw, sign.

Nice work, comb, crumb, thumb, climb.

Great job, scholars, all right.

Here's our first sentence.

Will you read it with me?

The brownies were so good, I didn't even leave a ___ behind.

When you think you know the word, write it on your paper.

And remember, even though you don't hear a sound, you still need to write it, 'cause it's part of its spelling pattern.

Did you write the word "crumb"?

Nice work, scholars.

Yeah, that brownie's super delicious.

You're not gonna leave anything behind.

Let's re-read the sentence.

The brownies were so good, I didn't even leave a crumb behind.

Great job.

All right, here's sentence number 2.

My neighbor's dog ran to go ___ on his bone.

Remember, when you know the word, write it on your paper.

All right, scholars.

Did you write the word "gnaw"?

I hope so!

And remember, I hope you wrote that ghost letter G, even though we don't hear that guh sound.

It's still part of the word "gnaw."

Yes, let's re-read our sentence.

My neighbor's dog ran to go gnaw on his bone.

(laughs) Sentence number 3.

Read with me.

I was looking for the ___ so I could fix my hair.

You write it down?

You ready?

All right.

Did you pick the word comb?

Yes, a comb is something we can use to fix our hair.

Let's re-read our sentence.

I was looking for the comb so I could fix my hair.

That made perfect sense.

(laughs) Sentence number 4.

The tree was very tall, but all the kids could still ___ it.

You writing it?

All right.

Did you write the word "climb"?

Yeah.

Because you kids are so brave.

You just climb really, really tall trees.

Only do it if it's safe.

Let's re-read our sentence.

The tree was very tall, but all the kids could still climb it.

(laughs) All right, scholars, last sentence, sentence number 5.

Read with me.

My neighbors put a ___ on the corner to advertise their garage sale.

Hmm.

You're writing it down?

Okay.

And you chose the word "sign"?

(laughs) Yeah!

Especially in the summertime, you see all kinds of garage sale signs.

All over!

Yeah, you should stop one day with your adult and see what they have.

It might be something really good.

Let's re-read our sentence.

My neighbors put a sign on the corner to advertise their garage sale.

(cheery music) Wow, scholars, you have done an amazing job.

You were not scared at all.

You were being so brave, and you figured out how to read words with ghost letters in them, oo.

Yes, you did.

And you even wrote some on your own.

Well, you keep up the good work.

Keep spotting out those ghosts, and look for those letters, and remember not to say its sound if it's a ghost letter.

Don't let it trick you!

(cheery music) - Hi scholars!

I'm Mrs. Ziegler.

Let's get ready to read "Estuary Animals, Biome Beasts," by Lisa Calozza Cocca.

While listening, we will learn more about this incredible ecosystem and the animals that live there.

Being able to recall who lives in an estuary will help us better understand key details as we read.

I have an idea.

Let's keep a travel log of all the animals that we see so we can remember them.

We're gonna write 'em down in categories like this.

Here's my travel log.

I have estuary animals, and I sorted them by where they live 'cause I can already tell that I see some in the sky and in the water.

So this one says "lives mostly in the air," the middle says "lives mostly underwater," and last, "lives both in air and water."

So keep your eyes and ears open for the different animals in the estuary.

Let's get started.

C'mon!

"Estuary Animals, Biome Beasts," by Lisa Colozza Cocca.

Biomes.

An estuary biome forms where rivers or streams meet an ocean.

It is a mix of fresh water and salt water with water constantly moving in and out.

It includes the mudflats that form when the water recedes, or moves away.

Plants here must tolerate the brackish water.

Pickle weed, saltgrass, eel grass, and salt bush all do well here.

The shoreline.

Many birds live here.

The great egret, a wading bird, tolerates fresh water and salt water.

The great egret feeds at dusk.

It wades into the shallow water and stands still.

When prey comes near, like this fish here, it quickly thrusts its strong beak into the water and eats its catch whole.

The great egret eats fish, frogs, snakes, salamanders, and crustaceans.

The western gull lives in estuaries along the Pacific coast of North America.

These large gray and white birds have pink legs.

They feed mainly on the surface of the water, but will do some shallow diving.

Western gulls are not picky eaters.

These birds eat fish, clams, crabs, and chicks.

They even steal food from seals and other birds.

I've even had food stolen from me by a gull.

Do you have some animals on your list already?

Great job!

Keep it up!

Mud life.

The muddy bottom of the estuary and the mudflats are teeming with life.

The sunflower star, one of the largest sea stars, lives here.

It grows up to 39 inches from arm tip to arm tip.

Stretch out your arms nice and wide.

Oh, that feels good.

The sunflower star is born with 5 arms, but can grow 24 arms by adulthood.

Can you imagine what it would be like to have 24 arms?

Its soft, spongy skin comes in many colors.

If you pick one up, it droops.

It depends on water pressure to keep its shape.

To droop means to vrrm, flop like this.

Can you make your arms droop?

Prrff.

Great job!

Most sea stars have a one-piece skeleton, but the sunflower star skeleton has several parts.

This allows the sea star to open its mouth wide and expand its body to take in large prey, or different animals.

The star can swallow a sea urchin whole and then spit out its shell.

Newly hatched fiddler crabs swim vertically through the estuary to the open sea.

That means they swim up and down.

Where they have fewer predators.

As adults, they return to the mudflats.

They live in burrows dug at an angle to the surface.

They eat bits of dead plants and animals in the water that washes over the flats.

Did you know?

One claw on male fiddler crabs is much larger than the other, which is used for eating.

The smaller claw moves food into the mouth, which looks like a bow sweeping across a fiddle.

Like this!

Can you try that?

That's why it's called a fiddler crab.

That's fun fact!

Newly hatched clams float in water, but move into the mudflats when still young.

They dig burrows in the mud, which become their homes for life.

The American oyster catcher looks for mollusks to eat, including clams and oysters.

Clams eat when water washes over the mudflat.

Their hinged, two-piece shells open and their foot-like necks stick out.

Right here.

Water fills the shells.

The clams remove bacteria, remember that's like tiny, little pieces of life, tiny organisms and other food matter and push out the leftover water.

Did you find some more animals to add to your trave log?

Me too.

Keep it up!

Open water.

Many fish and mammals live in estuary waters.

One mammal is the manatee.

It is often called a sea cow, but it is actually related to elephants.

It uses its front flippers to steer, as its flat tail pushes it forward through the water.

It can stay underwater for about 15 minutes resting, or for about 4 minutes swimming.

But it must surface to breathe.

So it comes to the surface to breathe air.

The manatee has small eyes and no outer ears, but has excellent sight and hearing.

Its huge lips pick and move grasses into its mouth.

Its teeth are only used for chewing, and are replaced when worn down.

The manatee eats one tenth of its weight in sea grasses every day.

The estuary stingray lives in Australia.

Its good, low-light vision is one of many adaptations that make it an excellent hunter.

Its eyes are on top of its head, so the stingray can see prey swimming above.

Imagine being a stingray on the bottom and seeing little fish swimming above.

It has excellent vision when there's not much light.

That's a great adaptation that helps it survive the estuary.

Its touch and smell senses are on its underside.

They sense prey on the estuary floor.

This stingray even senses water streaming out of clams and oysters.

Estuary stingrays can't float.

If they are not swimming or gliding, they sink to the bottom.

This is an advantage when avoiding predators.

That means an animal that's trying to eat the stingray.

It allows them to hide on the muddy bottom for long periods of time.

Special openings behind their eyes and gills allow them to breathe while hiding.

Gills are things on the side of its head that allow them to breathe.

Chinook salmon live part-time in the estuary.

Adults spend most of their lives in the open ocean.

When it is time to spawn, or deposit eggs, they migrate through the estuary to freshwater stream.

To migrate means they move from one place to another.

They spend time in the estuary to adjust from salt water to fresh water.

A few months after hatching, the young salmon migrate to the estuary.

They stay there for several weeks or months until they are ready for the open ocean.

Land and water.

Some estuary animals live both in water and on land.

River otters run on land and swim in water.

They have waterproof fur, webbed feet for paddling, and nostrils and ears that close in water.

Those are all really cool adaptations that allow them to live on land and in the water.

River otters dig burrows with many tunnels on the shore.

One tunnel opens underwater.

This helps them escape land predators.

River otters hunt at night.

Their long whiskers sense prey in the dark.

Put your whiskers up.

Pretend like you're an otter.

Those whiskers help them sense their prey, or the animals that they're trying to eat.

Their clawed feet grip a slippery catch of fish, frogs, or turtles.

Harbor seals also divide their time between land and water.

A harbor seal's small flippers are excellent for swimming, but not for walking.

It flops around on its belly on land.

In the water, it uses its front flippers to steer while its back flippers move it around.

Harbor seals swim on their bellies and their backs.

They can dive 1,500 feet underwater to find food.

They eat most kinds of fish and sea creatures.

The harbor seal finds prey by moving its whiskers back and forth.

It can stay underwater for 40 minutes.

Mudskippers are walking fish.

They breathe through gills when in the water.

Before going on land, the mudskippers fills sacs around its gills with water bubbles.

It fills its mouth with water.

On land it breathes through its skin and the lining of its mouth.

The bubbles in the sacs provide extra air as needed.

The mudskipper can stay on land up to 3 days at a time.

Did you know?

Mudskippers hunt on mudflats using their hydrodynamic tongues.

Oo oo.

They spot a worm or crab and spit water over it.

Then the mudskipper quickly sucks up the water and the surprised prey.

That's a cool picture of hydrodynamics in motion.

That's what I'm picturing in my mind.

Can you picture that mudskipper doing that?

That's pretty cool.

Estuary biomes are filled with living things that have adapted to the constantly moving brackish water.

They provide food and shelter to a wide variety of animals.

All right.

Let's take a look at our travel logs.

I heard so many animals, and saw some wonderful creatures and living things on our trip to an estuary.

Here's what mine looked like.

I found an egret, a gull, a Canada goose, and a pelican.

They live mostly in the air.

For underwater animals, I remembered the sunflower star, the sea horse, manatee, stingray, river otter, and harbor seal.

For both in air and in the water, I put a fiddler crab, a clam, and a mudskipper.

I might go back and I would put the river otter and harbor seal in this column, 'cause I remember they spent a good amount of time on land too.

What does your travel log look like?

(cheery music) You did a great job of using the details from our story today to learn about an estuary and the animals that live there.

Would you like to visit an estuary in real life?

I know I would.

Keep reading and getting outside to explore.

There's so much to learn about our natural world.

Thanks for joining me today, and I'll see you again on the next read, write, roar.