- Hello, readers and welcome to "Read, Write, ROAR!"

Today we'll focus on the big question.

How can I be a world changer?

We will hunt for a mystery word, and we will read a biography, which is a story about somebody's life.

Today you'll need something to write on, even a scratch piece of paper or an envelope, and something to write with, like a pencil or a crayon.

Come and join us for "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.

(cheerful music) (lion roars) - Hello, readers.

Today, we will be making words to help us solve a mystery word.

A mystery is something we don't know or understand, but we can use clues to help us solve a mystery.

By using clues to help us solve a mystery word, we can become more accurate readers.

Accurate readers pay close attention to every letter in a word.

Today, our goal is to pay close attention to every letter in a word.

For today's activity, you'll need something to write with.

A crayon, colored pencil, a marker.

And something to write on.

Anything to write on is fine, even if your paper already has writing on one side of it.

Are you ready to get going and build our first word?

Here we go.

Here are our letters that we will need to build our mystery word today.

As I point to these letters and say them out loud, will you write them across the top of your paper?

Here we go.

A, E, I, I, O, Y, B, G, H, P, R, S. Readers, once you have these letters written at the top of your paper, you could go ahead and cut them out to make small letter cards like I did, but you don't have to do that if you don't want to.

Okay, we're getting ready to build our first word.

Our first word is gab.

To gab means to talk a lot.

Can you say that word with me?

Gab.

Let's stretch it out so we can hear the sounds in that word.

Gab.

Can you think of the sounds you hear in the word gab and write the letters that represent those sounds down on your paper.

I'm going to pull my letter cards down for the sounds I hear in gab.

G a b, gab.

Did you write the same letters down that I did?

You did?

Great job, readers.

I'm going to add the word gab to our chart.

We've built our first word.

Now, how can we change the word gab to the word grab?

I hear one letter difference in that word.

Can you think about the difference between gab and grab, and try and change that word on your paper as I try and change my word up here?

Grab.

Grab, grab.

Did you add an R like I did?

You did?

Great job, readers.

I'm going to add grab to our chart as well.

There's only one letter difference between the word gab and grab.

It is a great thing we are such accurate readers.

Now, how can we change the word grab to the word graph?

Can you say that word with me?

Graph.

Let's stretch that word out.

Graph.

Graph.

Sounds like my ending is going to be different.

Graph.

I don't see an F up here, and I know that's usually what makes the f sound.

Do you see another way that we could build the f sound?

I think you're right.

If we add a P-H, we can change grab to graph, and P-H works together to make the sound f sound.

Can you change that on your paper?

And I'm going to add graph to our chart.

Okay, readers, we're doing such a great job.

Let's go ahead and clear our boards so we can get ready to build a new word.

All right, can you say the word ape with me?

Ape.

Let's try and stretch that word out.

Ape.

What sounds do you hear in the word ape?

Will you write the letters that represent those sounds down on your paper so we can start building this word?

A.

Now I know for this to be a long vowel sound I'm going to need a silent E at the end.

Ape.

Did you get the same letters that I did?

Awesome job, readers.

I'm so proud of you.

Let me add ape to our board.

Now, how could we change the word ape into the word shape?

What letters should we add to ape to turn it into the word shape?

Will you say that word with me?

Shape.

Let's stretch it out.

Shape.

Hmm, I think we need to add an S-H for the sh sound at the beginning of ape, and that will help us turn the word into shape.

Great job.

Let's add shape to our chart.

Now, how could we change the word shape to the word sharp?

Say that word with me.

Sharp.

Let's stretch it out.

Sharp.

Can you think about the letters that represent those sounds in the word sharp and write them down on your paper?

And I'm going to try and figure it out up here.

Sh, ar, p. Sharp.

Hey, do you hear that R-controlled vowel in the word sharp like I do?

Great job.

Did you find the same matching letters and sounds that I did?

Sharp.

Let's add sharp to our chart.

How could we change the word sharp into the word sharpie?

Can you say that word with me?

Sharpie.

Let's stretch that out.

Sharpie.

Do you hear that different sound at the end?

I think we need to add a different sound to the end of the word sharp to turn into sharpie.

Go ahead and work on this on your paper.

What letter do you think represents that e sound?

I'm going to add an I-E.

I know that this is a vowel team that works together to say the e sound.

This is the word sharpie.

Let's add that to our chart.

Okay, readers.

You're doing such a great job with these mystery words so far.

Let's start building our final mystery word.

Here we go.

We're gonna clear our boards.

And get ready to build our last mystery word.

Okay, we're going to start.

Can you say the word big with me?

Big.

Let's stretch it out so we can hear those sounds.

Big.

What sounds do you hear in the word big?

Can you find the letters or write the letters on your paper that represent those sounds?

B, i, g. Big.

Does your word match mine?

Great job, you guys are doing fantastic.

Okay, I'm adding big to our chart.

Now, how can we change the word big to the word bio?

A bio is a short paragraph about yourself.

Bio, I think we just need to change this ending sound.

Bio.

Bio, let's add that to our chart too.

Bio is actually the start of our mystery word.

If we just add another word that we've already built and a plural ending, we'll get our mystery word.

Let's see.

How can we change the word bio to the word biography?

Hmm, I hear a word in there that we've already built.

Biogra.

That P-H works together to make the f sound.

Biography.

Did you get all of those sounds in there like I did?

I'm going to add this word to our chart.

Readers, we are so close to building our mystery word.

We just need to make this word have a plural ending.

So we need to take off our Y and change it to an I. I need to make some more room here.

And add, do you know what we need to add?

You're right.

E and S. Do you know what our mystery word is?

You're right.

Our mystery word is biographies.

Let me add that to our chart.

Watch how I loop and swoop the word biographies to help me read it.

Biographies.

Biographies.

Biographies are nonfiction.

They're stories, true stories, about a person's life.

Readers, you did such an amazing job today.

Paying such close attention to every letter in these words to help you become an accurate reader.

Make sure that between now and next time that I see you, you keep paying close attention to every letter in those words.

See you next time.

(bright music) - (speaks Ojibwe) Readers.

Today, we're reading a really amazing book.

It's called the "Jazz Age Poet: A Story about Langston Hughes."

This is written by Veda Boyd Jones with illustrations by Barbara Kiwak.

We have special permission from Lerner Publishing.

Readers, today we're gonna focus on literal language, non-literal language, and context clues.

Well, what do they mean?

Well, literal language is to help us understand words or phrases that mean exactly what they mean.

But our non-literal language.

I know that because non means not.

So non-literal language means that these are words or phrases that maybe mean one thing but are used for something else.

Hmm.

Today we're gonna use those context clues, friends, to help us make meaning of these words or phrases in the sentences within our book today.

So we are going to determine, or decide, the meaning of some unknown words as we read.

Five-year-old Langston Hughes stared out the window of the southbound train and wondered what he would find at the end of the long ride.

His mother and his grandmother were taking him to Mexico to meet his father.

He couldn't remember anything about his father, what he looked like, and what would it be like to live in a foreign country?

Langston's parents had separated shortly after he was born in Joplin, Missouri, on February 1st, 1902.

Sometimes he lived with his mother, Carrie, as she moved around looking for better jobs.

Mostly he lived with his grandmother, Mary Langston, in Lawrence, Kansas.

He felt like a passed-around boy, but things were going to change.

Passed-around boy, what does that mean?

Let's take a look at our context clues.

Our context clues tell us that he moved around from place to place, sometimes with grandma and sometimes with mom.

So let's think about this.

What is the meaning of this?

Hmm, I think it might mean that he didn't really feel like he belonged anywhere.

What do you think?

Let's keep reading and see if there are any more unknown words.

The train clickety-clacked its way into Mexico City.

As it hissed to a slow stop, Langston pressed his face to the window and looked for his father.

The mustached stranger who met their and kissed Carrie hello didn't smile much.

When he talked, he barked orders.

Barked.

Well, I know dogs bark.

Hmm, I wonder what that means.

Let's look at our context clues again.

He barked orders.

Hmm, when he talked, he barked orders.

Well, I'm thinking to myself, if somebody is barking orders, I think the meaning is that they are maybe telling or yelling or demanding that people do something.

What do you think?

He said they'd stay at a hotel the night before traveling on to his home.

Langston had missed not having a father.

He'd heard his mother and grandmother talk about James Hughes and how he had studied hard to be a lawyer.

But because he was a black man, he was not allowed to take the test to become a lawyer.

He had left the United States and headed to Mexico, where he said blacks were treated fairly.

Headed.

Well, I know that this is a head.

What do you mean headed?

What could that mean?

Hmm.

Well, let's use our context clues.

He headed to Mexico.

So I'm thinking if he headed or headed to Mexico, maybe that means he left or he went to Mexico?

Yeah, that makes sense.

If a man worked hard there, he could make a good living, no matter what color his skin.

And that's what he had done.

Langston and his mother were there to see if they could find better lives too.

That night at the hotel, Langston awoke to find the bed shaking, but there was no one shaking it.

A picture fell off the wall, and he screamed.

His father yelled, "Earthquake!"

Grabbed Langston and carried him to the park across from the hotel.

For nearly five minutes, the ground shook and the noise of people screaming and buildings falling drowned out Langston's own cries.

Terrified through the long night, Langston clung to his mother.

At daylight, he saw huge tarantulas crawling out of collapsed walls.

Carrie Hughes had seen enough.

She wanted to go back to where people spoke English and there were no earthquakes.

Langston and his mother and grandmother climbed on a train and went back to Kansas.

His father remained in Mexico.

Langston's dreams of a real home ended.

For a while, Langston stayed with his grandmother, but when his mother found a job in Topeka, Kansas, she took her son with her to a new home.

It was a one-room apartment above a plumbing shop.

Their small room held a one-burner cookstove.

Langston gathered old crates in the alley behind stores.

In the evening, he and his mom chopped up the wood boxes and used the pieces as fuel for the stove.

For their entertainment, Langston's mother read to him, and she spent some of her hard-earned money for movies and plays.

Langston drank in the world of make-believe.

That's weird.

Langston drank, like to drink, in the world?

Hmm, I think that's an unknown word.

Langston drank in the world.

Let's put our context clues.

What would it mean to drink in the world?

Hmm, oh, I wonder if that means enjoyed.

Hmm, that makes sense.

Oh, wonderful.

Let's keep reading.

Langston drink in the world of make-believe, where everyone was happy at the end of the story.

He longed for this kind of storybook life and happy family.

Langston's real life was made harder by Jim Crow laws.

These laws separated black people and white people in many parts of the country.

Blacks couldn't go into restaurants where white people ate.

Blacks could only sit in the balcony at some movie theaters.

At other theaters, they were not allowed inside at all.

Blacks drank from certain public drinking fountains, while whites drank from different ones.

Black children went to separate schools too.

Great job today, readers.

We went through our book and thought about the literal language, the non-literal language, and also the context clues.

When we did that, we went ahead and then came up with the meaning and thought about what was making sense in our book.

Great job.

Let's go do some writing.

(bright music) Writers, we have been working on a biography.

A biography is a story or information about somebody's life.

Now, remember, biographies don't have to be all about that person.

They can be just a short section.

We are working on our own biography.

The strategy we're using to help us start our writing is MDOD.

M, movement; D, dialogue; O, onomatopoeia; and D, description.

We can think of how to start our paragraphs using one of these tools as we get writing.

Friends, I'm thinking to myself one way that I can help myself get started in my writing is to go back and reread.

My heart shines like the sun inside my chest as I carried a box for my tribal elder.

I smiled as I put the heavy box of food inside Charlie's car.

Today was a big day.

This was the day I would get to help with the Feed America Food Truck.

Charlie smiled at me.

"Miigwech," he said as he waved.

Miigwech means thank you in Anishinaabemowin.

Think about how are we gonna start this next section?

And I'm thinking to myself that, well, I should probably describe what the Feed America Food Truck is and what I did to help.

So to do that, we are gonna do a flashback.

A flashback is a way that a writer takes the reader back in time to help describe or add more details to the story.

Now I'm thinking to myself, "What did I do?"

Well, I started the day bagging red apples, and then I had to set up tables, and we made a rectangle in the gym.

And I had a lots of other jobs that we had to do in order to get ready for people to be able to do their shopping for the Feed America Food Truck.

So let's think.

I can start by going back and then describing or talking about all of the jobs that I had to do.

All right?

Okay, let's get started.

(cheerful music) (lion roars) Now, one way that I can help my reader make that movie in their mind is I can describe what the tables look like when we set them up.

And it was a big rectangle on the inside of the gym.

Put that in a sentence now.

(bright music) Writers, I went ahead and added a couple of more lines to kind of add that movie in our mind and to increase the description as our readers read through the story.

This is where we set the food for our friends to shop from.

I was assigned the job to help carry out the boxes of food for our elders who need help.

I have another tip for you.

Readers like to know what's going on in the minds of their characters.

And one way we can do that is start the sentence I thought to myself.

And if you let your reader know what's going on inside your mind, then that gives them a little peak into who you are as the character.

Let's give it a try.

I thought to myself, "This is awesome!"

I'm going to have so much fun today.

Yeah, it really made my heart happy to be able to help all of the elders in our community.

Okay.

So let's go ahead and start with that little sentence starter.

I thought to myself.

Let's go ahead.

(cheerful music) (lion roars) Writers, today we used MDOD, description, to help us do a flashback, to take our reader back in time, just a twee bit, to help explain what's going on in our story.

Remember that when you do your writing, this is something you can try.

(bright music) Scholars, you've worked so hard today.

You found a mystery word.

You also use context clues to help yourself determine unknown words.

And we wrote a flashback.

We took our reader back in time to give them more details about our biography.

Now, remember when you are doing your reading, you can always use your context clues to help you understand what's going on in your book.

We'll see you next time on "Read, Write, ROAR!"

(speaks Ojibwe) - [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) (gentle music)