- 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 learn about the prefixes after and under, read a text about saving the salmon and start 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'll also need something to write with like a pencil or a crayon.

Come 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.

(upbeat music) - Welcome readers.

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

Do you remember what a prefix is?

A prefix is a word part we add to the beginning or front of a word to change that word and its meaning.

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

Read those with me.

After.

Under.

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

Let's read some words with these prefixes to figure out what they mean.

Here's our first word.

Read with me.

Underground.

This word is underground.

Now when we see words with prefixes, it's okay to read those words in two parts, especially if the word is challenging.

We can start by reading the prefix.

Under.

Then we read what's left.

In this case, the base word, ground.

When we put those two parts together, we have our whole word.

Underground.

Which prefix do you notice in this word?

It has the prefix under.

We know that under can mean below or less.

So underground must mean below the ground.

I recently read about Atlantic salmon that migrate through an underground cave.

That's pretty cool, isn't it?

Let's try another word together.

Read with me.

Aftereffect.

This word is aftereffect.

Again, when we see a word with the prefix, we can read it by separating the prefix, after, and then reading what's left, effect.

When we put it together, we have our word aftereffect.

Which prefix do you see here?

The prefix after which means later or after.

An effect is a result or a consequence of an action.

So an aftereffect is a result or consequence that happens at a later time.

In the 1980s, zebra mussels were discovered in the Great Lakes.

One aftereffect was that prey fish began to die, which hurt the salmon that ate them for food.

Let's try another word.

Read with me.

Undereat.

This word is undereat.

Again, if you see a word with the prefix, you can read it in two parts.

First, the prefix, under, and then we're left with, eat, the base word eat.

When we put those together, we have the word undereat.

Which prefix do you notice in this word?

The prefix under.

Let's sort it into this column.

We know that under means below or less.

So undereat means to eat less than you should.

Chinook salmon.

that live in the Great Lakes, mostly eat alewives, which are a type of prey fish.

So when there aren't enough alewives in the Great Lake, those salmon undereat, which really hurts those fish.

Let's try another word together.

Read with me.

Afterthought.

This word is afterthought.

Do you remember how we can break this word apart to read it more easily?

That's right.

First we can read the prefix, after, and then we read what's left, thought.

We put those two parts together and we have the word afterthought.

Which prefix do you see in this word?

It's the prefix after, which means later or after.

Thought is about the things that we think.

So an afterthought is a thought that you have at a later time, maybe after something has already happened.

Scientists know that we can't try to protect fish as an afterthought.

/\ We have to plan ahead.

Now that we've read words with the prefixes after and under, let's try reading some words with these prefixes in a text.

(upbeat music) We are getting good at reading words with the prefixes after and under.

We're going to read this text together and we'll be on the lookout for words with those two prefixes.

Read with me.

Piping plovers are hard to spot.

These endangered, sandy colored birds are almost invisible on the beach.

It is easiest to see the plovers when they sprint toward worms and insects that hide just underground.

Let's pause right there.

I noticed a word with one of our prefixes.

Did you?

It's the word underground.

Which prefix do you see in that word?

It's the prefix under, which means below or less.

So, underground must mean below the ground.

That helps us understand that the worms and insects that the plovers are hunting are hiding below the ground.

Let's keep reading and see if we can find other words with these prefixes.

When plovers chase their afternoon snack, you might see their white underside and orange legs.

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

I did.

The first one I noticed was the word afternoon.

Which prefix do you see in that word?

It's the prefix after.

Our base word is noon.

We know that after means later or after, and noon is 12 o'clock in the middle of the day.

So afternoon means later than noon.

So they are looking for a snack later than noon.

Did you notice any other word with the after or under prefix?

I noticed this one right here.

Underside.

Which prefix did you see?

The prefix under.

We know that under means below or less.

So the underside of the plover must be the side of the plover that is below the plover, the feathers that are underneath the plover.

So, they have white feathers under their body on the underside.

Let's read this text one more time to better understand it now that we understand what these three words mean.

Piping plovers are hard to spot.

These endangered, sandy colored birds are almost invisible on the beach.

It is easiest to see the plovers when they sprint toward worms and insects that hide just underground.

When plovers chase their afternoon snack, you might see their white underside and orange legs.

(upbeat music) Great work today reading and writing words with the after and under prefixes.

I'm sure you can find these prefixes while you're reading.

I'm so glad that we get to meet again soon to learn more about new words.

(mellow music) - (foreign language) Friends.

Today, we are going to be reading an article from Great Lakes Now called Public Resource Around the Great Lakes, Everyday People Helping Make Science Possible.

It's going to be so amazing.

And, of course, our focus is going to be about asking questions like who, what, where, when, why, how.

Oh my goodness, friends, we're gonna be asking those questions, but today we're also gonna dig deep, deep, deep with those questions and we're gonna think about some other topics while we ask those questions, like, what is the issue?

Whose perspective is this written from?

Who has the power and how is this fair?

Think of those questions as we read today.

Are you ready?

Let's go.

(foreign language) Collecting data for science research across large geographical areas can be challenging, but researchers have found an easy solution, the public.

The Heron River watershed covers 900 square miles and the Heron River Watershed Council has been collecting data from the watershed for years.

Yet collection from such an expanse of area, that means big, would not have been possible without the help of an army of dedicated citizens, or community scientists.

"Collecting data throughout the watershed is very time-consuming and geographically diverse," said Jason Frenzel, stewardship council at the HRWC.

HRWC?

What was that?

Oh, I get it.

It stands for the Heron River Watershed Council.

That's right.

Okay.

Let's keep going.

Getting centralized residents to help us do that data collection is very helpful.

If collecting data from the Heron river watershed is difficult, imagine the difficulty of collecting data from across the Great Lakes region or even across North America.

To make data collection quicker and more efficient, scientists often rely on volunteer programs like those at the HRWC to collect valuable data.

Heron River Watershed Council.

Okay, that's right.

These programs allow non-scientists to participate in scientific research through collaboration with experienced researchers.

With the help of the public, researchers are able to conduct studies that would be logistically impossible without the help of many volunteers because of time, manpower or geographical constraints.

Dr. Karen Murchie has been conducting research on the native sucker population of Lakes Michigan and Superior with the help of volunteer citizen scientists.

Those working with Murchie check water levels and count the suckers in 17 locations around the Great Lakes to better understand the behaviors of the sucker fish that provides valuable nutrients to the streams it inhabits.

Hmm, if you click on that link below, you'll be able to see a video of some of Dr. Murchie's research.

(mellow music) - I'm Karen Murchie and I'm the director of freshwater research at Shedd Aquarium.

I also run our migratory fishes program and as part of that research, it takes us to amazing creeks like the one behind me, which is Heinz Creek, just south of Bailey's Harbor, in Door County, Wisconsin, and we're out here to monitor the amazing migration of suckers.

With suckers responding like right next to the bank.

- [Narrator] For five years, Dr. Murchie has been collecting data from 17 locations along the western shore of Lake Michigan and the south shore of Lake Superior.

The information helps researchers understand the migration patterns of suckers, a native fish population that is important to the creeks and streams that feed the Great Lakes.

- The suckers moved from each individual Great Lake, Michigan, Heron, Ontario, Erie, Superior, and they take a quiet creek and bring it to life in the spring, Not long after the ice is off the lake and starting to warm up, the fish start showing up and they're in here to spawn.

- [Narrator] Long nose and white suckers are abundant in all five Great Lakes and can grow up to 25 inches in length.

They get their name from the shape of their mouth, but according to Dr. Murchie, they're largely misunderstood and underappreciated.

- These fish are not commercially fish.

They don't have a recreational value.

People don't really know so much about their biology, but we know that these animals, when they're in the creek, they're adding a lot of nutrients.

So their eggs and their excrement actually add nitrogen and phosphorous to the creek that can be used by all sorts of other organisms living here.

- [Narrator] Dr. Murchie and Shedd aquarium in Chicago have recruited dozens of volunteers to act as citizen scientists and assist in monitoring the sucker population at these Lake Michigan sites.

- It's a really neat aspect of being able to work at Shedd aquarium, where I can run this program and harness the amazing power of volunteers to be my eyes and ears on the ground.

- Being a citizen science monitor for the sucker programs is very easy and quite rewarding.

It's just a process of coming out on a daily basis, checking to see if there are fish in the stream, you know, whether they're suckers or other spring migratory fish, and then checking water levels, collecting other know types of data for Karen to then use, to get a better understanding of the sucker migratory season.

- It's really fascinating just to see in the spring time, the sequence of events that happen.

So, first you see the pike come in and they do a little bit of spawning and there's a few of them, not as big of numbers, but then all of a sudden, hundreds of suckers will come up with the pre... - Matt Peter, a citizen scientist working with Murchie, told Great Lakes Now, in an interview, that citizen science programs like Murchie's provide a unique opportunity for non-scientists to participate in scientific research that has a positive impact on the Great Lakes region.

"It's an opportunity for people of all ages, regardless of their background, to participate in real research and collect real data," Peter said.

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, collect data for researchers to use to develop and understand the natural world.

Citizen scientist projects vary in difficulty, commitment and subject matter.

Some are as easy as taking a photo of wildlife or downloading an app while others involve precise data collection.

Some require training while others do not, yet, they all provide an opportunity for non-scientists to get involved in the scientific process, learn something new, or even have an impact on policy.

Wow, friends.

I hope that as I was reading, you were thinking deeply about the article.

Now let's go back and think.

Hm, what is the issue in this article?

Oh, that's right.

The scientists, they need help, don't they?

They need research.

They need researchers.

They need help researching.

All right.

Now, whose perspective is it from?

Hm, hose perspective is the article from?

Oh, I think I know, do you?

The scientists, that's right, my friends.

The scientists are writing this because they need help from you.

Okay, let's put that in.

All right.

Now, who has the power in this article?

Well, the scientists need help.

They need citizen scientists to go ahead and help with the research.

Hey, I'm a citizen.

They need me, don't they?

Do they need you, too?

Yeah, they do.

Friends, guess what?

We have the power to help our scientist friends.

Hm.

Now I wonder, how is this fair?

Well, I can do it and you can do it.

I think everyone can help, can't they?

All they have to do is find one of the programs in the article and we can become citizen scientists and we can help.

So everyone gets to help.

Wow, friends, thank you for helping us think so deeply about this article today.

We learned that as we read, we can ask ourselves questions.

who, what, when, where, why and how, but we can also dig deeper and think about issues, perspective, power and fairness.

(foreign language) Great job, my friends.

(upbeat music) (foreign language) Writers.

Today, we have an acrostic, a vertical chart to help us organize our thoughts.

P, pick apart the prompt and plan.

O, organize.

W, write.

We've already picked apart our prompt and today we get to organize that planning.

The last time, we decided we were going to write on the topic of dirty rivers and that our ending or solution would be a river cleanup.

Well, now, today, my friends, we need to think about important evidence and of course, those supporting details to help add to our stories.

So, we're going to use some of the texts that we can remember about that we've already read.

Think about how that connects to the Great Lakes and the rivers that we know.

And I'm thinking back to a story that we read, where they said that the, there was trash in the river.

Yuck, huh.

Hm, and of course, what kind of trash do you usually notice in the river?

Oh.

Yes, do you ever see these in the river?

Yes.

The plastic pop can holders, right?

Pop holders.

So I'm thinking these plastic pop rings are definitely trash that sometimes we see in the rivers.

Hm.

What else?

Oh, sometimes, farms or factories next to rivers can add fertilizer or other chemicals, mm-hm, that seep down into the, that's right, into the ground and then into the river.

Yuck, it's not good for the animals.

So, we could say that maybe there's a farm, gonna live next to this river.

And maybe some of the fertilizer is getting in the water.

Now I'm thinking farms, kind of, sometimes, mm-hmm, but I'm wondering also, fertilizer might cause the water to become stinky, maybe.

So, maybe some of the details that we can add about this fertilizer is that it's got some stinky river water.

Now I know if I was an animal living in one of these dirty rivers with trash all around me, like plastic pop rings or fertilizers and chemicals that make the water yucky and stinky, I think that this would probably make me sick if I was that animal.

What do you think?

Well, in order to make sure that I didn't get sick, I might want to do what?

I think I hear you.

Move.

I think I might want to move, too.

Nobody wants to live in yucky trash or stinky river water, right?

Friends, today we have taken our pow to help us organize our thoughts and ideas about our prompt.

So, once again, our topic is going to be a dirty river.

We have important evidence of trash in the river, uh-huh, details like a plastic pop ring, important evidence, fertilizer, chemicals, mm-hmm, maybe it makes a stinky river.

How about the animals get sick?

Whew, and before they start getting sick, I hope that they all move.

But how is this story going to end?

That's right, with a cleanup.

Hopefully, we can write in a wonderful community clean up so that all of our animal friends can return to the river.

(upbeat music) Scholars, you have worked so hard today.

When you're reading, make sure that you're looking out for the prefix after and under, and also don't forget to ask yourself questions to deepen your understanding and comprehension.

I can't wait to see you next time on Read, Write, Roar.

(foreign language) - [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)