- Welcome to "Read, Write, ROAR!"

Today, we're gonna be learning all about the letter E, and we'll be learning about wants and needs.

We'll read a book about where our food comes from, and we'll practice building words.

You're gonna 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.

- [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.

(bright upbeat music) (lion roars) - Hi, friends.

I'm Mrs. Pung.

Are you ready to be letter heroes?

Great.

Today, we have a really special letter.

Our letter today is a vowel.

Vowels are the hardest workers.

Every word has to have a vowel.

Our vowel today is the letter, E. Can you say E?

Great job.

This is an uppercase E. Say upper case E. And this is a lower case E. Say lower case E. Great job.

Let's practice saying that a few more times, ready?

Upper case E. Lower case E. Let's try it again.

I'm gonna mix them up.

Lower case E. Upper case E. Let's do it once more.

Upper case E, and lower case E. Great job.

E is special because it makes two sounds.

E makes a long sound, the sound, E, and a short sound, the sound, eh.

We're gonna practice making those sounds.

First, let's practice making the letter E's long sound.

The letter E's long sound is its name, E. Watch my mouth as I make that sound.

My tongue goes forward and touches my bottom teeth.

Watch me make that sound, E. Notice my mouth goes back just a little bit on the sides.

Try it with me, E. Nice job.

Let's look at some things that begin with the E sound, ready?

This is a special bird.

It's called an eagle.

Can you say eagle?

Great.

And this is an eraser.

Can you say eraser?

Eraser.

Great job.

Eagle and eraser make the long E sound.

Now, we're gonna practice the short E sound.

The short E sound says, eh.

Watch my mouth.

Notice my chin drops down.

My tongue stays in the middle, ready?

Eh.

It comes up just a little bit.

Try it with me.

Short E says, "Eh, eh."

Great job.

Let's look at some things that begin with a short E sound.

The first thing I have is in egg.

Can you say that with me?

Egg.

Eh, eh, egg.

Great.

The next thing I have is a cup, but it's empty.

Can you say empty?

Empty begins with the eh sound, empty.

Great job, friends!

Long E says E, and short E says eh.

Let's go searching for the letter E, ready?

Think about what it looks like.

This is an upper case E, and this is a lower case E. I'm gonna search with my magnifying glass in our sentence.

Let's read it first.

Read with me.

The elegant, elegant means graceful, the elegant eagle sits on the egg.

Did you see any uppercase or lowercase Es?

Great.

As I searched with my magnifying glass, if you see one, tell me to stop, and I'll highlight it.

Let's get started.

Here's our first word.

The, I heard you say stop.

That's right.

There's a lowercase E at the end of the word, the.

I'll highlight it.

Let's keep searching Elegant.

You said stop again, that's right.

I see two Es in elegant.

Let's get both of them.

Here's a lowercase E, and there's another one.

Let's keep searching.

The elegant eagle.

There's two Es in eagle too.

I heard you say stop.

Great job.

Eagle begins with the long E sound, and it also has an E at the end of the word.

It starts and ends with E. Let's get both of those lowercase Es.

Time to keep searching.

Sits, no E there.

On, no E in, on.

The, there's a E at the end of the, did you say stop?

Good work.

Let's highlight it.

Here's our last word in our sentence.

Sound it out with me, egg.

I heard the short E sound, did you?

Egg begins with the short E sound, eh, egg.

Let's highlight it.

Readers, can you help me count the Es in our sentence today?

Let's count them.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

We found seven Es in our sentence today.

Let's read our sentence one more time.

Read with me.

The elegant eagle sits on the egg.

Great job.

Readers and writers, now, it's time to practice writing the letter E. Do you have something to write on, and something to write with?

Great, let's get started.

We'll begin by making an upper case E. Let's practice skywriting it.

Watch me skywrite an upper case E. We start at the top, and do big line down.

Then jump back up to the top, do little line out, jump to the middle, little line out, and jump to the bottom, little line out.

That's an uppercase E. Watch me trace it with my finger.

Big line down, jump back up, little line out.

Jump to the middle, little line out, jump to the bottom, little line out.

It's time to write our upper case E. Remember, we start at the top.

Big line down.

Jump back up, little line out, jump to the middle, little line out, and jump the bottom, little line out.

There's an uppercase E. Let's make another one.

Start at the top.

Big line down.

Jump back up, little line out, jump to the middle, little line out, jump to the bottom, little line out, upper case E. Great job.

Now, let's practice making lower case E. Watch me skywrite it.

Try skywriting it with me.

Notice, this time, we start in the middle of the dotted line, and the bottom line.

It looks like this.

Start in the middle, little line out, curve up and around, that's a lowercase E. Watch me trace it with my finger.

I start right here in the middle, little line out, up and around.

Let's practice writing it.

Watch where I start.

I start in the middle, little line out, up and around, lowercase E. Let's do one more.

Start in the middle, little line out, up and around, lower case E. Great job today, friends.

We learned about one of the hardest workers, the vowel E. Great job today.

(bright upbeat music) Hi, friends.

Are you ready to be word builders?

Great.

We've been learning so many new letters and sounds.

Now, it's time to put those sounds together, to read some words.

When I take my hammer, and tap on the letter like this, you'll say the letters sound.

And when I move my hammer like that, we'll blend the sounds together to read the words.

All of our words today have the short E sound in the middle.

Remember, short E says eh.

Are you ready to get started?

Great.

Say the sound.

Mm, eh, nn.

Blend with me, men.

Now, say it in a snap.

(Jody snaps) Men.

The men work hard, men.

Let's change our beginning sound.

Say the sounds.

T, eh, nn.

Blend with me, 10.

Now, say it in a snap.

(Jody snaps) 10 I can count to 10, 10.

This time, we'll change our beginning sound, and we'll change our ending sound.

Let's say the sounds.

Woo, eh, t. Blend with me, wet.

Now, say it in a snap.

(Jody snaps) Wet.

The rain made me wet.

Great job.

Let's change our beginning sound.

Say the sounds.

L, eh, t. Blend with me, let.

Now, say it in a snap.

(Jody snaps) Let I let my dog outside, let.

This time, we'll change the beginning sound, and we'll change the ending sound.

Let's say the sounds.

R, eh, d. Blend with me, red.

Now, say it in a snap.

(Jody snaps) Red.

My favorite color is red, red.

Last word.

Let's change our beginning sound.

Say the sounds with me.

F, eh, d. Now, blend, fed.

Say it in a snap.

(Jody snaps) Fed.

I fed the fish, fed.

Great job word builders, you said the sounds and you built some words.

(bright upbeat music) Hi, friends.

We're gonna be learning some more about wants and needs.

A need is something that people need to survive.

Can you think of a need?

That's right.

Food, shelter, water, clothing, those are all needs.

Things people need to survive.

A want is something that you'd like to have, but you could live without.

Can you think of a want?

That's right.

Things like TV, and treats, and toys, are all things that we want, but we could live without them.

I'm gonna need your help, because today, we're gonna sort some needs and some wants.

Let's get started.

If it's something that we need, we'll put it on the plate.

But if it's something that we want, we'll put it in the birthday bag.

Let's get started.

The first thing I have is an apple.

What do you think, need or want?

And that's right.

An apple is food, and we need food to survive.

So, we'll put the apple with our needs.

Let's see what we have next.

The next thing I have is a toy truck.

What do you think, need or want?

That's right.

A toy truck is something we want, but we could live without it.

Next, I have a teddy bear.

What do you think about a teddy bear?

Is a teddy bear something that you need or something you want?

That's right.

A teddy bear is something you want, but you could live without a teddy bear.

Let's see what's next?

Do you know what this is?

This is water, that's right.

Is water something you want or something you need?

That's right.

People use water for all kinds of things.

We drink water.

People need water to survive.

We'll put it on the plate.

Let's see what's next?

A tablet.

What do you think?

Is a tablet something you need or something you want?

That's right.

A tablet is something you want.

You could live without a tablet.

We'll put it in the birthday bag.

Let's see what the last thing is I have.

A hat.

What do you think about a hat?

Is it a need or is it a want?

People need to stay warm, and hats help us stay warm, so a hat is a need.

Let's put it on the plate.

Great job, friends.

We sorted a lot of different needs and wants.

Nice job today.

(bright upbeat music) Hi, friends.

It's Mrs. Pung.

Have you ever wanted something special for dinner, like pizza?

Me too.

Food is a need, but certain foods like pizza is a want.

We've been learning about wants and needs.

And today, in our story, we're gonna learn more about where our food comes from.

I've been thinking about where does that delicious cheese on my pizza come from?

And today's story is gonna tell us where.

The title of our story is, "Extra Cheese, Please!

Mozzarella's Journey from Cow to Pizza."

This is a non-fiction book.

Remember, non-fiction tells us information that is true or real.

The author of our story is Cris Peterson.

Authors write the words, that's right.

And in this book, there are photographs instead of illustrations.

The photographer is Alvis Upitis.

This book is read with permission from Boyds Mills Press.

Because this is a non-fiction book, there's a really special text feature at the back.

Let me show you.

This is called a glossary.

Can you say glossary?

A glossary tells us some of the important words in the story and the meaning.

Let's listen for those important words.

Let's get started.

How do you like your pizza?

With pepperoni, sausage, green pepper and onions, anchovies?

Yuck!

No matter what stuff you chop up and pile on, pizza isn't pizza without cheese.

And cheese isn't cheese without milk.

And milk comes from those big, bony bossies on our farm.

What do you think those big, bony bossies are?

Cows, that's right.

Our farm rises from the hayfields, like a red mountain of buildings and silos.

In a nearby pasture, Annabelle is cleaning her newborn calf.

Soon, we'll let Annabelle into the barn to be milked.

Now that she's given birth to a calf, Annabelle can begin to produce milk.

Produce means to make.

Can you say produce?

Great.

Each calf is fed from a bottle.

Annabelle produces enough milk to feed 20 calves every day.

But on our farm, she feeds only one.

Her extra milk, and the milk from the other cows in the herd is hauled to the cheese factory nearby.

Annabelle is quite a cow.

In one year, she produces 40,000 glasses of milk, enough to make cheese for 1,800 pizzas.

If your family ate one pizza a day, it would take you nearly five years to eat that many pizzas.

To help Annabelle make all that milk, we feed her hay, corn and soybean meal blended together in a giant mixer.

All the good things she needs to eat are measured into the machine and tossed like a huge garden salad.

Annabelle really likes to eat.

She chomps down seven tons of feed in a year, enough to fill your bedroom to the ceiling twice.

That's a lot of food.

Every morning and every night, Annabelle is let into the barn for milking.

She likes being milked and happily munches her meal, while a machine gently squeezes the milk from her udder.

The milk runs through a stainless steel pipe, and into a cooling tank where it is kept fresh and clean.

Every two days, the milkman backs his tank truck up to the milk house attached to our barn.

He dips out a sample of milk to be tested for bacteria.

Bacteria is small little organisms that can make milk go bad.

And butterfat, and protein.

Then he pumps the milk into his truck and hauls it to the cheese factory.

At the factory, his load of fresh milk is pumped into a storage silo.

This is a silo.

A silo is a big cylinder-like container.

Do you see the silos?

The sample is tested to ensure it is clean and wholesome.

Then the milk flows through a pasteurizer that heats it up to 165 degrees, killing any harmful bacteria.

After the milk cools, the cheesemaker pumps it into a stainless steel vat and adds starter culture.

Mechanical paddles that look like robot arms, stir the starter evenly through the milk.

Then the cheesemaker adds rennet to the vat.

A vat is a big container.

Rennet thickens the milk.

A soft custard-like curd begins to form.

He lets the milk rest for 30 minutes, while the curd is forming.

After the curd forms, special knives in the vat cut the curd into thousands of small cubes.

A clear liquid called whey oozes from the cubes.

The curds and whey are then pumped into a trough-like tub called a finishing table.

The whey drains into the center of the table.

The curd looks like piles of popcorn as workers shovel them into two long mounds.

As they rest on the finishing table, the curds knit into a solid mass.

A solid mass is like a big solid chunk.

None of Annabelle's milk is wasted.

The whey that drains off is pumped into another machine where it is condensed.

The concentrate whey is shipped to the other food processors and used in candy, ice cream, and bakery goods.

Milk is used in a lot of different items.

The water remaining from that process is hauled to the nearby fields where the nutrients it contains helps fertilize.

Fertilize means to help something grow or get healthy.

It makes it stronger.

Fertilize the soil that grows the corn and hay Annabelle and the other cows eat.

Back at the factory, workers cut the cheese into large slabs that are fed through another machine called a cheese mill.

Blades cut the cheese into small pieces again, and they tumble into a mixer filled with hot water.

The cheese finally melts into a big shiny mound that looks more like pizza dough than pizza cheese.

The blocks of melted cheese plop into forms to cool, like loaves of bread ready to be baked.

Finally, they take a salt brine bath.

The bricks of cheese float like overgrown building blocks in the bathtub.

This is where the cheese develops its own distinctive, distinctive means special, delicious flavor.

Finally, the blocks of cheese are cut and wrapped.

Boxes of cheese made from Annabelle's milk are shipped to grocery stores and pizza parlors across America.

Every Friday night on the farm, we make a big delicious cheese pizza.

And just in case you wanna try it, I've included the recipe here.

When you pile on the extra cheese, remember Annabelle and her remarkable milk.

That was a great book, friends.

So, much fun learning about Annabelle's milk and cheese.

(bright upbeat music) Friends, we learned a lot about wants and needs.

We also learned where delicious cheese comes from to make pizza.

For writing today, I already drew my picture and I started my words, but I need your help to finish it.

I drew a picture of pizza and I have the word pizza, but I need to finish my words.

Do you have something to write on, and something to write with?

Great.

Write along with me.

Let's think, what could our sentence say?

I have two lines, that means I need two words.

What do you think?

That's right.

We could start with the word, I. I is just an uppercase I.

Watch me write an I. I start at the top, big line down, cross it at the top and cross it at the bottom.

Just like that.

I blank pizza.

What could I write?

I could write, I need pizza, but I don't really need it.

I know, how about I like pizza?

Do you like pizza?

Me too.

Let's write the word, like.

Can you help me with the sounds?

L, i, k, three sounds.

What was the first sound?

L, that's the letter L. Straight line down for the letter L. I is the next sound.

That's easy, just lowercase I.

The next sound is K?

What letter makes the K sound?

K, great job.

And then finally, I add a magic E to help the I say its name.

Like is one of our high frequency words.

Read the sentence with me.

I like pizza, and I bet you do too!

Great job, writers Friends, today, we learned all about the letter E. We practiced building words with short E, we learned the difference between wants and needs.

And we read a really great book about where cheese comes from.

Thanks for learning with me today.

And I'll see you next time on "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.

(upbeat music)