♪ 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) (playful music) - I'm riding on the city of New Orleans, think- Hey, how are you?

Hey, it's Mr. Dawson here at Discovery Ranch, taking you on learning adventures, discoveries, so that you can learn how to read and write.

And today is Friday, another reading day.

So you can put all those things that we've been learning together to learn how to read and write.

And I have been reading this book called "The Last Train."

Why?

Because it has to do with our essential question.

Right!

I'm so excited about today.

Why, because I'm going gold panning after we get done right down on my ranch.

By the way, if you will send me something and tell me what you've learned, either send me a letter here at Valley PBS or you can do the email address, and tell me something you've learned, I will send you an activity book.

Well, let's get started.

Oh my goodness.

So many things to do, and so little time to do them.

Let's take a look at our essential question.

Here it is.

What can help you go from here to there?

We've been talking, there's all kinds of things we can use to get from here to there.

In fact, ah, before we get to our book, I want to show you some books that have vehicles that can take us from here to there.

Are you ready?

Let's look at them.

I have "Wheels Around," that talks about some construction vehicles.

♪ And the wheels on the bus go round and round ♪ I wonder what that's about.

Yes, and then we have "Go, Dog, Go!"

That's a good one.

It's like a Dr. Seuss book.

And then my last one is "Shortcut."

It's about some kids that are going on the train track.

It may not be a very good idea.

Well, let's talk about what we're gonna do today for what can help you go from here to there.

I have my story today.

It's called "From Here to There."

Huh, how exciting!

Now, remember, we have two kinds of stories.

We have narrative stories, and we have informational stories.

So this one is going to be an informational story, because it's going to give us some information, but this is what I want you to do.

I need you to decide, is this story gonna be fiction or nonfiction?

Remember, fiction means it is not true, and nonfiction means yes, it is true.

So after you get finished with the story, what are you gonna do?

You're gonna have to tell me is it fiction or nonfiction?

Now, in an informational story, they like to give us something that I like to call and a lot of people call text features.

Text features are things that authors and illustrators and people who make books do to help you understand the story better.

For instance, here is the title.

The title gives you some information.

It's a text feature, and it tells you the title, and it tells you what the story's gonna be about.

They also like to put on headings.

The headings will give you an idea of what this particular passage is about.

Like this one says Long Ago, so I know this passage is gonna be about something long ago that happened.

And then another thing that they do to help you with what's going on is give you pictures.

That gives you a clue also of some things that are going on.

So look for those text features in the story as well, the title, the headings, and pictures.

They all help you understand the story better.

And again, remember when we come back from the story, teachers like to ask those questions, and we're gonna do the same thing.

That's right.

So here we go.

I hope you enjoy this story.

It's gonna be fun.

Here we go.

Enjoy the story, "From Here to There."

"From Here to There."

"Here's a look at how people traveled long ago and how we travel today.

Long Ago, many years ago, people traveled in stagecoaches pulled by horses.

The trip was slow and uncomfortable.

Next, people traveled by train.

The ride was not comfortable.

Then, along came the car.

At first, very few people traveled in cars.

The roads were bumpy and full of dust.

Before long, some people were traveling in small noisy airplanes.

The airplanes could not go far, however.

Today, today, many people use cars to get from place to place.

Now cars are fast and comfortable.

The roads are good, too.

People also travel by bus.

Buses hold more people than a stagecoach ever could!

People also take the train to work or on longer trips.

The train is clean, comfortable, and fast.

Some people fly in jumbo jets.

Jets take us to far away places without stopping.

They are quieter and have more room than the planes from long ago.

How do you like getting from here to there?

Did you enjoy that story?

That was awesome.

It gave us so much information of things getting from here to there, not only now, but in the past, a long time ago.

So I want you to answer the question first, was that information, was it fiction, not true, or was it true, nonfiction?

Which one?

Fiction, nonfiction.

Right, right.

It's nonfiction.

All that information was true.

So I'm gonna put it right there for right now.

It's true.

Yes, this is nonfiction.

This stuff was, this story was nonfiction.

All right, now here's the part that teachers love to do, ask questions.

I want to take a look at page 33, and here is my question.

When you think about the whole story, what are the things that take place of a stagecoach?

They don't use stagecoaches all the time anymore.

No, what do they use instead of the stagecoach?

What did they talk about in the story?

Right, I heard somebody say it.

A car.

Yes, a car instead of an uncomfortable stagecoach.

Yes, I can take a car.

It'll get me from here to there.

Excellent.

What's something else?

Let me see.

I'm thinking, say it louder.

Say it louder, and I can hear you.

Right, yes!

They can take trains!

Trains, trains'll get us from here to there, and trains are cool because they can take lots and lots of people.

I'm thinking of one more.

Takes us around the city, from here to there.

Right, a bus, a bus!

A bus will take us from here to there.

And I have to say that buses and trains are way, way more comfortable, way more comfortable than a stagecoach.

That's what I think.

Let's go to the next page and see what we can learn here.

All right, here we go.

Here's my next one.

How do you think, now, here's the buses and the cars, and those are the trains, and oh, look at that plane.

Does that look comfortable?

I don't think so.

I have a question.

Everything seems to be getting better and better and better all the time.

Here's my question.

My question is, how do you think we're gonna go from here to there in the future?

How are we gonna go?

You think we'll still be going by buses or trains?

What do you think?

What do you think?

Oh, yes!

Maybe we'll have flying cars.

Maybe we'll have flying cars.

That would be exciting.

Flying cars!

Whoo, I know my friend Lorenzo, he would love to have a flying car, I bet.

Ooh, that would be exciting.

How else?

Oh, rocket ships!

Maybe by rocket ships.

Ooh, that would be exciting.

And how else?

Oh, oh, yes.

Maybe they'll have a bus that floats, that floats on air or something.

I don't know.

That would be totally cool.

All right, that was something to think about anyway.

Okay, let's end up and talk about up here.

It says "From Here to There."

Find clues.

How does the author help you to know this page is about the past?

Let's circle the clues.

Here's the passage.

It says "Long Ago.

Many years ago," and this is the heading.

So this is, you know it's gonna be talking about something long ago.

"Many years ago, people traveled in stagecoaches pulled by horses.

The trip was slow and uncomfortable."

There it is, uncomfortable.

Okay.

So what are our clues?

What are our clues?

Well, the heading tells us it was long ago.

That's in the past.

What else do you see?

Oh, okay.

You know what?

I think I'll choose a different color to do that.

But yes, the picture.

That's one of those text features that it's going to help us to know that it's in the past, because do you see, do you see a lot of stagecoaches going around our city right now?

No, no.

We see buses and cars.

That's right.

Oh, and one more.

It says it right here, look.

"Many years ago," when the author says that, he's giving us the idea that he's gonna talk about something that happened in the past.

Right, all right.

So here is my sentence.

It says the author is telling us about the past because, how do we know?

The words and pictures tell us, that's right.

So I need to finish my sentence with the author is telling us about the past because the words and pictures tell us, here we go.

The author is telling us about, because words, words, wuh, wuh, wuh, W, yeah.

I'm about to start way over here.

Words, because, uh-oh, I forgot the.

So I'm gonna put the right here.

I can do that.

The author is telling us about the past, because the words.

And!

Oh, there's my and again.

How do you spell and?

Right, A-N-D. Do you see that?

You knew it because you had it in your brain from way back.

The words and pictures, puh, puh is for P. Pictures tell, and us is another sight word.

I don't have room.

So I'm gonna do a return sweep right back here.

Us, how do you spell us?

Oh, that's right.

U and S, look at that.

The author is telling us about the past, because the words and pictures tell us.

What am I missing?

Punctuation, and that makes it a complete sentence.

We had so much fun today, learning and putting all those things that we've learned this week together when we're reading our story and we're writing about it.

That is what learning is all about when we're here at the ranch.

I am so excited to have done that with you this week.

I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anybody else but you, that's right.

Well, next week, I wonder what we'll be learning.

Oh, it'll be more things that are gonna be really exciting.

So come back next week, and join me here at Discovery Ranch!

We'll see you later.

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)