♪ Good morning to a brand new day ♪ ♪ Time to learn and games to play ♪ ♪ Learning beings is so much fun ♪ ♪ Learning is good for everyone ♪ (upbeat music) (playful music) - Well, Valentine's Day.

Hey, welcome back to Discovery Ranch.

I'm Mr. Dawson, and I'm here to take you on discovery so you can learn how to read and write.

Today is Friday.

I'm excited.

It's reading and writing day.

And I was reading this book about valentines because this Sunday is Valentine's Day.

It's a great day to be nice to your mom and your dad and your brothers and sisters and show them just how much you love them.

Well, let's get started.

Today, our essential question is, how are some animals alike, and how are they different?

Amazing animals!

And talking about amazing animals, I brought some of my books that I like to share, that you can maybe pick up on SORA!

Yes, and my favorite book right here is "Stellaluna."

It's a story about a bat.

That also happens to be Mrs. Dawson's favorite story as well.

Well, let's get back to what we were doing, and don't forget, don't forget!

If you will write me here at the station at Valley PBS, to the address below, I will send you an activity book.

Tell me something you've learned this week.

Well, let's take a look at what we're going to learn today.

Our book today is called "Zoo Borns!"

"Zoo Borns!"

Now, remember, this is the front cover, this is the back cover, and this is the spine that holds it together.

Now, "Zoo Borns!"

is kind of a cool book, because it's a narrative book.

It is a narrative book, but guess what?

It has some good information about animals in it.

So you have to pay attention so that you can know the informational part and the narrative part.

When we come back, I'm gonna ask you why that is maybe.

And also don't forget that teachers like to ask comprehension questions after the book to see if you really been listening.

Have you noticed that with your teachers when they've read a book, and they say, "I have some questions for you."

Well, they're doing to make sure that you are really listening to the book.

So when we read, when you watch "Zoo Borns!

", make sure you're paying attention to all the details, because when we come back, you know what's gonna happen.

I'm gonna ask you questions, right?

Of course.

So remember our book is called "Zoo Borns!

", and I hope you enjoy it.

Here's "Zoo Borns!"

"Zoo Borns!

zoo babies from around the world," by Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland.

"Zoo Borns!

zoo babies from around the world."

"Hello there!

I'm Beco, and I'm an Asian elephant.

When I grow up, I'll be one of the largest animals in all the land.

But these days, I'm happiest rolling around with my big blue ball!

They call me Radar Ears, and I'm a fennec fox.

My big ears help me hear yummy insects crawling across the sand.

Listen!

Did you hear that?

My name is Menari, and I'm a Sumatran orangutan.

Check out my bright orange mop top.

There's no such thing as a bad hair day for me.

Hello, I'm Hoover, and I'm a tawny frogmouth.

They call me a frogmouth because of my beak.

I can open it really wide.

Calling all bugs!

It's dinnertime!

I'm Kai, and I'm a spotted hyena.

Don't be fooled by my puppy dog good looks.

We hyenas are more related to cats than dogs.

Mom says I'm purrrrfect.

My name is Amani, and I'm an aardvark.

One day, I'll grow into all this extra skin, but for now, I think wrinkles rule, don't you?

I'm Miracle Kitten, and I'm an ocelot.

My teeth are starting to come in.

Want to see?

Ah!

Hi, I'm Hasani.

I'm a gorilla, and my name means handsome in Swahili.

The zookeepers say my name suits me well.

I think so too.

Kali and Durga here!

We're Bengal tiger twins.

We look so much alike, sometimes people can't tell us apart.

But we bet you can!

They call me Rooby, and I'm a kangaroo.

What's a gal to do when her fur hasn't grown in yet?

Snuggle into a warm and fuzzy blankie, that's what!

I'm Tahina, and I'm a crowned sifaka.

When I was born, my mom couldn't take care of me, so for now, the zookeepers do.

They gave me this big teddy bear.

So cuddly!

My name is Monifa, and I'm a pygmy hippo.

We pygmies are the smallest hippos around, but even though I'll always be little, I still have to eat these leafy greens so I'll grow up strong, mmm.

G'day!

I'm Matari, a wombat.

I come from Australia, where I love to dig in the dirt.

Check out the built-in shovels on my paws!

What do you get when you add a zebra's legs to a giraffe's body and then throw in a long blue tongue?

Me!

My name is Kalispell, and I'm an okapi.

And I'm Bella, a beluga whale.

As I get older, I'll turn all white, like my mom and dad.

But you know what will never change?

My smile."

Did you like that story?

I thought that was a great story.

So let's talk about narrative and informational.

Why did I say it was a narrative with some information in it?

Well, remember with narrative, it's usually a story, and most times, not all the time, maybe, but most times, there's things in there that are just not true.

So when I look at this page, it says, "Hello there.

I'm Beco, and I'm an Asian elephant."

Who's talking?

Right, the elephant is talking.

Well, do elephants talk?

No, no, they do not talk.

So that part of the story is not true, but it does give you a lot of information about the animal.

Asian elephant, right.

And when he grows up, he's gonna be a large animal.

That's all true.

So that's why I'm saying it's kind of narrative, it's kind of informational.

It's kind of a play on both.

Nice.

Okay, so let's go back to the questions now.

Are you ready?

I am ready.

I'm so excited to ask these questions.

Here's my first question.

It's kind of an easy one.

What were some of the animals that they talked about in the story?

Right, here's one for sure.

What is it?

An elephant, right!

What's another animal that they talked about?

Oh, you know, I marked some right here, and I think I heard one of them.

This one was a cool one.

A fennec fox, a fennec fox.

Wasn't it cool that it has big ears, and those big ears help the fox to hear?

Yes.

What was another animal?

Oh, this was a good one.

This was a good one.

The tawny frogmouth.

Why do they call it the frogmouth?

Do you remember?

The frogmouth.

It says it right here.

"They call me frogmouth because my beak.

I can open it really wide."

So it doesn't look very wide there, but apparently, the tawny frogmouth can open its beak really wide.

Why do you suppose that is?

Yes, to swallow all that food.

And then, what animal was this?

Yes, it's a hyena!

It's a hyena.

Whoo, that's pretty cool!

Now, just before I talk about the hyenas some more, I want to talk about comparing and contrasting.

Comparing means looking at something and seeing how it's the same, and contrasting is how things are different.

So in this story, all those animals, what did they have that was the same?

What?

Yes, they all had eyes for sure.

They all had eyes.

What else did they have that was the same?

Right!

They all had a mouth.

And I think they all had noses as well.

Okay, so how about differences?

How can you contrast them?

What was... What?

Right, you know, most of the animals have hair.

But the tawny frogmouth, what did it have?

It has feathers, right!

It has feathers.

Whoa, you guys are so smart!

Well, let's look up here and look at our writing today.

We've done our reading and comprehension.

Now let's take a look at our writing.

It says, "What animals does Kai look like?"

What, what do you think Kai look like?

Yes, Kai looks like a dog.

Oh, here we go.

Oh, here's my drawing skills.

There it is.

There's the dog that I can draw.

Not a very good dog, because Mr. Dawson is not a very good artist.

Okay, maybe that one looks more like a duck, but it's my dog.

Maybe if I put ears on it, now it makes... Let's do the next one.

Here's one.

But what did it say in the story?

Kai is more related to what?

That's right, a cat.

It was related more to the cat.

Isn't that amazing?

I didn't know, that's something I didn't know.

I thought it was a dog as well, but it's not!

It's more related to a cat.

And that's what it says right here.

A hyena is related to a, and I want to spell the word cat.

We've been working on that skill all week.

So are you ready to slow motion slow for cat?

Here we go.

Slow motion slow.

Cuh, a, t. Did you get those phonemes, all three of them?

Cuh, a, t. What was the first phoneme?

Cuh, cuh is for C. Nice, what was the middle phoneme?

A, a is for A.

Do you see how you're using your skills that you've learned all week right here to help me spell this word?

And what's the ending phoneme?

T, t is for T. Okay, it looks like we're almost done.

A hyena is related to a cat.

Yeah, we're done.

What?

No, we're not done?

Why?

I need, oh, right!

I need punctuation.

I need punctuation.

I'm gonna put a period there.

There we go.

So we know now that here we go, a hyena is related to a cat.

Did you know that?

No, I didn't know it either.

See, when you read books, you learn new things all the time.

Well, this is all the time I have for today.

I hope that you come back next week so we can have some more fun here at Discovery Ranch, bye!

(upbeat music) ♪ Good morning to a brand new day ♪ ♪ Time to learn and games to play ♪ ♪ Learning things is so much fun ♪ ♪ Learning is good for everyone ♪ (upbeat music)