- Hello, readers.

Welcome to "Read, Write, Roar".

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

We'll work with words with the prefixes under and after, read a text about saving the salmon, and continue some narrative, or story writing.

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".

- [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 electronic music) (lion roaring) - Welcome, readers.

Today, we're going to be working with prefixes.

Do you remember what a prefix is?

We've learned that a prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word to change that word and its meaning.

Our goal today is to read and understand words with the under and after prefixes.

Read these prefixes with me.

Under.

After.

Now the under prefix means below or less and the after prefix means later or after.

We're going to use our loop and swoop strategy to read these words and then we'll talk about what they mean.

Read with me.

Un.

Der.

Ground.

Underground.

This word is underground.

We can understand this word by thinking about the prefix.

Under.

Under means below or less, so underground means below the ground.

While you might see some snakes burrowing underground, the Northern water snake is more likely to be found swimming or warming itself on a rock.

Let's put him right there.

Now, let's try another word.

Read this word with me.

Af.

Ter.

Ef.

Fect.

Aftereffect.

This word is aftereffect.

By looking at the prefix after, we can understand this word.

After means later or after and effect is a result or consequence of an action, so an aftereffect is an effect or a result that happens at a later time.

Some people think the Northern water snake is venomous and should be killed.

It's not.

One aftereffect of killing snakes is that larger animals that hunt them for food might go hungry.

Let's try another word.

Read with me.

Un.

Der.

Eat.

Undereat.

This word is undereat.

Let's think about what it means using the prefix.

Under can mean below or less, so undereat means to eat less than you should.

Northern water snakes do not undereat.

They will eat insects, and birds, and mice, and fish, and frogs, and leeches, and turtles, and even other snakes, and more.

They do not undereat.

Let's read our last word together.

Read with me.

Af.

Ter.

Thought.

Afterthought.

This word is afterthought.

What does afterthought mean?

Well, the after prefix means later or after and thoughts are the things that we think, so an afterthought is something you think at a later time, maybe after something has already happened.

As an afterthought, I should tell you that even though Northern water snakes are not venomous, they do try to bite sometimes if you get too close, so it's good to give them space.

Great work reading words with the prefixes under and after.

Now, let's see if we can read words with these prefixes in a text.

Now that we've practiced reading and understanding words with the prefixes under and after, let's see if we can read some of these words in this text.

Read with me.

Twice each year, the amazing Red Knot bird migrates over 9,000 miles!

For these traveling birds, food is an afterthought.

They fly long distances before stopping.

When Red Knots finally stop and eat, they are thin and underweight.

While resting, they don't undereat.

They stuff themselves with horseshoe crab eggs.

Did you notice any words with the prefixes under or after?

I noticed a few.

Let's look at two of these words together.

The first word that I noticed was this one here, afterthought.

Afterthought has two parts, the prefix after and the base word thought.

Let's practice looping and swooping this word.

Af.

Ter.

Thought.

Afterthought.

Remember, the loop and swoop strategy can help you when you're reading and you come to challenging words.

After means later or after and thought are the things that you think, so an afterthought is a thought that you have at a later time.

What other word did you notice with one of the prefixes we've been learning about?

I noticed this word here, underweight.

When we look at this word, let's practice looping and swooping it to read it together.

Un.

Der.

Weight.

Underweight.

Now, the prefix under means below or less and the base word, weight, is about how much something weighs, so if something is underweight, that means that it weighs less than it should.

So these birds do not weigh enough when they stop because they've flown for so long without eating.

Great work reading words with the prefixes under and after.

Now let's see if we can spell some of these words together.

(upbeat electronic music) (lion roaring) Now that we've practiced reading words with the under and after prefixes, it's time to practice spelling some of these words.

You're going to need whatever it is that you have to write on and something to write with.

When we spell words, it helps us to visualize or make a picture in our minds of how many word parts that word has.

When we can see those word parts in our mind, we can listen for the sounds in each part and then put the parts back together to make the entire word.

Today, we'll be listening for syllables in words so that we're able to spell them more accurately.

Are you ready to try it?

Our first word is underwater.

Say that with me.

Underwater.

When I say that word, I hear four syllables.

Un-der-wa-ter.

Let's start by drawing lines for each of the syllables we heard.

Un-der-wa-ter.

Now that we have these parts ready, we can start by matching the sounds that we hear with letters that we know.

The first part is un.

I hear two sounds in un.

Uh-nnn.

Let's write the letters that match those sound.

Un.

We spell un U-N. Now it's time to move on to the next part.

Der.

Un-der.

I hear three sounds in der.

Duh-uh-err.

Those second two sounds slide together.

They're hard to separate, but there are three sounds in that word part.

Let's write the letters that match those sounds.

Duh-err.

Does your spelling match mine so far?

We have un-der, the prefix under.

Now, all we have left is the base word water.

The first part we hear in water is wah.

I hear two sounds in wah.

Wuh-ah.

Write the sounds that you hear in that part.

Wuh.

Ah.

Does your spelling match mine?

Good work.

Now, all we have left is one word part to finish our word.

Un-der-wa-ter.

Are you ready?

I hear three sounds in that part.

Let's match the sounds that we hear with letters that we know.

Tuh-err.

Does your spelling match mine?

Good work.

We have that err spelling again and it sounds the same as it did in der.

You might've been tricked by the letter T in the word water.

Some people pronounce T's in the middle of a word more like a D sound.

It's not usually as strong as the D that we hear, duh, but it doesn't sound exactly like a T that we might pronounce at the beginning of a word, for example.

So we need to be careful and listen for those small differences while we're spelling.

Now that we have these four parts, we can put these parts together to make our word.

Un.

Der.

Wah.

Ter.

Underwater.

Underwater means below the water.

There are many animals that live underwater.

Now, let's move on to our next word.

Our next word is undertow.

Say that word with me.

Undertow.

I hear three parts, three syllables, in the word undertow.

Un-der-tow.

Let's draw lines for each of those syllables.

Un.

Der.

Tow.

Now, when we write this, we might be able to look at the word we've written before because it also started with the prefix under.

When we hear that first part in under, I hear un and I hear two sounds, uh-nnn.

Let's write the letters that match those sounds.

Un.

Now we have the part der, which we know has three sounds.

Duh-uh-err, der.

And we have our base word, tow.

I hear two sounds in tow.

Tuh-oh.

Remember, just because there are only two sounds doesn't mean that there has to be two letters.

Write the letters that match the sounds you hear in tow.

Tuh-oh.

Tow.

In this word, the O-W make the long O sound.

Oh.

Tuh-oh.

There are two sounds in that part, but it is written with three letters.

Now, let's put these parts back together to make our word.

Un.

Der.

Tow.

The undertow is the current of water below the surface of the water, so when the waves crash above onto the shore, the undertow pulls the water back out below the surface of the water.

You might see rocks and shells being pulled back out with the undertow when you're at the beach.

Let's write our final word together.

Our last word is afterglow.

Say that with me.

Afterglow.

When I say the word afterglow, I hear three syllables.

Af-ter-glow.

Let's write lines for each of those syllables.

Af.

Ter.

Glow.

Now, let's start with that first part.

Af.

I hear two sounds.

Write down the letters that you hear that match those sounds.

Af.

Does your spelling match mine?

Good work.

Now we have the part, ter.

How many sounds do you hear in that part?

There are three sounds.

Those second two sounds slide together to make the err sound, but we know that there are actually three sounds there.

Let's spell that part.

Tuh-err.

After.

Now we have the parts af-ter, after.

All that's left is the base word, glow.

I hear three sounds in glow.

Guh-luh-oh.

Remember, again, just because there are three sounds doesn't mean there will be three letters.

Let's write the word glow using letters that match the sounds we hear.

Guh-luh-oh.

Once again, we have the O-W at the end of the word, making the long O sound.

Gl-ow.

Good work.

Let's put these parts together to make our word.

After.

Glow.

We know that after means later or after and glow is about light and shining, so the afterglow is the light and shine that we see after the sun has set.

It's the glow that's left later than the sunset.

If you're staying at the beach to watch the sunset, you should make sure you stick around for a bit to watch the afterglow.

Great work writing words with the prefixes under and after.

(upbeat electronic music) - Ani, readers!

Today, we're gonna continue reading that article from "Great Lakes Now".

Do you remember the title?

See if this sounds familiar.

"Public Resource: Around the Great Lakes, everyday people help make science possible".

Do you remember?

It was about those science citizens.

Yeah, friends.

So, don't forget that while we read, we have a job to do.

Of course, you always need to be asking yourselves questions as you read to help you understand what your reading is about.

Also, we're gonna dig deep, just like our graphic says, and we're gonna be thinking about what are the issues in this article, whose perspective is the article written by, who has the power about that issue in the article, and then also fairness, is there fairness being displayed within the article.

In Detroit, citizen scientists plays an important role in the "Community Action to Promote Healthy Environments", a community-based participatory research partner working to develop and implement a public health action plan to improve air quality and health in Detroit.

Raquel Garcia, executive director of "Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision", a CAPHE member, said that having residents participate in air quality managing efforts is empowering, particularly because the data collected by residents goes on to make their communities healthier and safer places to be.

Garcia hopes the SDEV's model for citizen involvement will be used as a roadmap for environmental improvements in other communities.

SDEV is working to make sure residents understand that their work makes a real difference.

Friends, let's stop right there.

I'm noticing something.

How is this fair?

Think about it.

How is it fair?

It's fair because everybody can help.

Government doesn't have enough resources or money to have enough investigators or scientists out there to gather all the big data we need to know where the problems are and understand what to do about them.

If government doesn't have the money or the people, who has the power?

We do!

Friends, look at that!

We have the power to help all of our scientists.

- [Narrator] It's an opportunity for people of all ages regardless of their background to participate in real research and collect real data.

It doesn't matter whether you have an institutional knowledge of the scientific process or of science in general.

It's just a great opportunity to get out and collect data for the researchers to then use to develop and understand the natural world.

- I've actually had a degree in fishery's biology, but I never did a lot of work with it, but now I kind of come full circle and then helping out various people on various projects.

- We have worked really hard today digging deep into that article, thinking about what the issues, the prospective, power, and fairness could be in that article.

You have done an amazing job reading with me today.

We have asked questions as I read the article and we dug deep to think about issues, they need research, perspective, from the scientists, is it fair, yeah, everyone can do it, and who has the power, we do.

As we read our article, we were able to keep those ideas in the back of our mind and question ourselves every so often just to make sure that we thought we were still right.

Fantastic job today, readers.

(upbeat electronic music) (lion roaring) Writers, today, we've got some awesome things going on.

You know that acrostic that we've been using?

POW!

Pick apart the prompt and plan, O, organize, W, write.

Today, it's time to turn our organization into sentences.

Are you ready?

On bay!

Let's go.

I hope you don't mind.

I've gone ahead and started our writing for us.

I thought to myself, what is the topic and then I thought how can I start putting some of these ideas that we had into complete sentences?

Let me read it to you.

A long time ago, there was a river in Michigan.

A family of painted turtles lived by the river and loved to play there in the summertime.

Miskwaadesi said to his mom, "The water is very clean and it tastes so sweet."

Then, things started to change.

So I thought, what would come first?

The trash in the river and our plastic pop ring.

How could I put that into sentences and make it flow with our story?

First, the river became dirty with litter.

One day, while Miskwaadesi was swimming, his neck got caught in a plastic pop ring.

He got his front legs to slide it over his head.

"Phew!"

he thought.

"That could have hurt me."

What are the details we have now?

Stinky river and that evidence, fertilizer.

Now, friends, it's time to start our next piece of important evidence and put it together with our details in complete sentences.

Now I remember from something we've read about a farm being next to the water and sometimes farms use fertilizers and sometimes farm fertilizers stink and I'm wondering how could we get our characters to talk some more.

Oh, I think I have an idea.

Uh huh.

Yes!

A farm was next to the river, right?

'Cause we wanna kind of tell what's around us.

And then we're gonna use our senses and say, what do you think?

PU!

That stinks!

What do you think?

Did you write yours down?

Here's mine.

Then, a weird smell came from the river.

A farm was right next to the river.

"PU!

That stinks!"

yelled Miskwaadesi.

Miskwaadesi, did you know that that means painted turtle (woman speaking in foreign language)?

Wow!

So my friends, now, our animals are gonna move and the important evidence is that they're gonna start to get sick, maybe.

How could we think of putting that into a sentence?

Mom and dad decided it was best to move the family.

Why would they move the family?

Oh yeah, because the animals, their friends are getting sick.

Mom and dad decided to move the family because their friends were getting sick, or maybe because their neighbors were getting sick.

Try them both out and see which one sounds good to your ears.

Mom and dad decided to move so that Miskwaadesi wouldn't get sick.

Maybe that would be a good one.

Writers, it's your turn.

You're gonna finish this writing all on your own.

We went ahead and started with POW.

So, it's now time to write the rest of your sentences.

We have a topic of the dirty river, our important details, and we are now at the very end.

You get to choose how this story ends, my friends.

Now remember, the ending is is that the community cleans up the river and all the animals get to move back, or at least that's one possible ending, my friends.

We have learned a whole lot today.

Remember to always look out for those under and after prefixes and don't forget to ask questions while you read.

You can always help yourself by creating your sentences by saying them out loud and listening to see if it sounds good to your ear.

(woman speaking in foreign language) We'll 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) (bright piano music)