- On "Read, Write, ROAR!," travel the scenic Lansing River Trail and create a persuasive pitch to visit its beautiful parks in historical sites.

Then explore the return of the North American river otter to the Detroit River, and learn how to write from a first person point of view in a fun, otter-inspired lesson.

Let's go, Read, Write, ROAR!

- [Announcer] This program is made possible in part by the state of Michigan.

And by.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(rock music) - Do you know who's making a splash in the Detroit River?

The North American river otter.

It has been over a hundred years since the river otter lived in and around the Detroit River.

I wonder what it is like for them to be coming back.

I know someone who knows a lot about river otters.

His name is Dr. John Hartig, and he is a scholar at the University of Windsor, which is right across the Detroit River in Canada.

I'm going to call John and talk to him about the North American river otter and why it is such a good sign that it has come back to the Detroit River.

I'm going to keep some notes while I talk with John because I wanna use what he tells me to help with some writing.

(phone ringing) (rock music) Hey John, can you tell us a little bit about the North American river otters, and when and why they left the Detroit River?

- Sure, Brian.

You know, river otters are amazing animals.

They are semi-aquatic, that means they live part of their life on the land and part in the water.

They have clawed feet that they can grasp slippery prey.

They have a big protective coat of a fur on them to keep warm when they're swimming in cold water.

They have short stout legs, webbed feet, and they have a narrow streamlined body that can help them swim efficiently in the water.

They were once really common throughout Southeast Michigan and along the Detroit River.

They were first over harvested to local extinction during the fur trade era.

But then fast forward, you get into when Detroit became the industrial heartland and the automobile capital of the United States.

A whole bunch of industrial pollutants were discharged and dumped into the river.

These pollutants, especially oil and petroleum products, would coat the fur of river otter and they couldn't keep warm and would die then if they were here.

- [Mr. Peterson] Wow, so how did the river otter then return to the Detroit River, and why is that so important?

- Brian, it's a really fascinating story.

Down in Ohio on the eastern basin of Lake Erie, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said, boy, we've got some good quality streams down here and we think we could bring back some river otter.

So, they went down to Arkansas and Louisiana and got some river otter and brought them up and they thrived in these streams entering the eastern basin of Lake Erie.

People like myself, biologists on the river, were thinking, oh, it's a matter of time before they come up and visit the Detroit River.

And then a graduate student from the University of Windsor was out taking a walk one early morning in 2022, and he saw an animal pop its head out, and so he went out on a pier right near the Ambassador Bridge, got his camera out, it surfaced again, it was in fact a river otter.

That picture then went viral across North America.

The first time that a river otter was found in Detroit River in over 100 years.

It could only survive if it was not polluted, if there were no industrial pollutants like oil and petroleum products that would map their fur.

So, that means the river is cleaner for otter, but also we as humans live in the same ecosystem and we share it with them.

So, if it is cleaner for river otter, it's cleaner for you and me also.

- Wow, that is amazing.

Thank you so much, John.

(rock music) I took some quick notes while talking with John, and I want to use them to help me write a narrative from the point of view of the river otter returning to the Detroit River.

What a great way to share the news about their return.

Point of view is, who is telling the story?

In this case, the river otter will be the narrator, telling the story from a first person point of view, and detailing what they personally experienced.

When writing in first person, you might use words like, I, me and my.

Let's take a look at my writing.

"I'm excited to share with you that I'm moving to Detroit.

For years I've heard about the pollution and the dirty shores of the Detroit River.

But just the other day, while enjoying a fish dinner with a friend, they said to me, 'Have you heard the water in the Detroit River is clearing up?

I heard the fish are returning and that the shore is positive and full of life once again.'

After hearing that, I decided to take a journey to Detroit and check it out for myself.

To my surprise, my friend was correct.

The water was clean and full of fish, the shores were lush with plants, and the air was easy to breathe.

So, I picked my family up and we set our destination to the clean waters of the Detroit River.

I'm excited to fish the river and enjoy future friendships with new neighbors like the Beaver Family, the Sturgeon Family, the Bald Eagle Family, and so many more!"

This was written from a river otter's first person point of view, which is a powerful way to hear about their return to the Detroit River.

By writing in first person, the river otter helped us experience all of the action and emotions through his eyes.

If someone other than the river otter told the story, that would be a third person point of view.

We would still hear the story of the river otter, but it would be more distant and we wouldn't have been able to get to know the life of the river otter as personally as we did.

Are there river otters where you live?

They've been spotted in places like Manistee in the Upper Peninsula.

I'm so excited that river otters are back to living in the Detroit River.

A 100 years is a long time to be gone, but from the otter's point of view, I know they're here to stay.

(rock music) (rock music) - I am Ms. AP, here to help restore your energy.

But before we begin, let's start our warmup.

Today we're gonna do five jumping jacks.

Ready, set, go!

One, two, three, four, five.

Nice job.

Now that we've warmed up our body, we are ready to exercise.

Today we are gonna expand on the squat movement we've learned.

Let's stand in the ready position, with our feet apart and our hands at our sides.

Now we are standing tall and ready.

We'll move right into our swap movement.

Sitting down into your imaginary chair, hold and stand back up straight and tall and continue up on your tippy toes.

Lower your heels back down to the floor.

Let's try this together.

Standing in our ready position, sit down into your imaginary chair.

Hold, stand back up straight, up on your tippy toes, lower your heels back down to the floor.

Let's sit in how many we can do.

(bright upbeat music) Nice job.

Give yourselves a big clap, clap.

(Ms. AP clapping) Let's start our cool down.

Take two deep breaths in.

Breathe out.

One.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Two.

Great job.

(rock music) - Hi, I'm Naturalist Paul Roots.

Have you ever thought about how nature and history are connected?

How does a place get its name and how does it change over time?

Today we will explore reading and writing along the Cass River Water Trail.

We will also discover how people of the past and present are influencing this natural resource.

So, grab something to write with and a piece of paper or your nature journal and let's go exploring.

Can you imagine what stories this river would share if it could talk?

We're here at a trail sign on the Cass River.

Let's read the first part of this sign together.

"The Chippewa Indians, prior to the arrival of European settlers, referred to the Cass River as 'The River of the Hurons.'"

Rivers served as major routes of transportation like water highways to the Native Americans.

European settlers named the Cass River after Lewis Cass, who was appointed governor of the territory of Michigan.

Besides providing a water source, rivers were also important for food like walleye, sturgeon, and pipe.

Rivers were also important to the logging industry, where logs were floated down the river to the sawmills.

Take a moment to look at the Cass River.

Let's write and describe how it looks, moves and sounds.

What do you feel when you're looking at the river?

(birds chirping) (gentle orchestral music) Next, I'd like to connect you to our important resource for explorers, a map.

Let's look at this map together.

We are here.

What else can we find out from reading this map?

We see boat launches as well as amenities, which are useful or desirable features of a place.

Here are additional websites as well as what to do in case of an emergency.

Wow, reading trail signs gives us a lot of great information about the trail, including its history and how to have fun.

Now I'm at the Cass River Dam located in downtown Frankenmuth.

Throughout Michigan's early history, many dams were built in towns and cities changing the way the rivers float.

Dams were structures to help industry, but often they impacted our fish wildlife in a negative way, stopping them from getting to their breeding grounds.

Because of this loss of habitat, this area was considered a national environmental area of concern not too long ago.

So, to address this issue, the city of Frankenmuth decided to change their dam to become a fish passage to support natural fish reproduction.

To do this, they needed these huge stones which weigh over 6,000 tons.

These rocks help fish and prevent floods at the same time.

These huge stones form a fish passage with a rock ramp, allowing the fish to swim upstream to spawn or reproduce.

Frankenmuth worked on this project with people from the Detroit area, as you can read on this sign.

Work like this is having a positive impact on both fish and the local economy.

(river burbling) (gentle upbeat music) Stop and notice the river.

(river burbling continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) Let's write down how it looks, moves and sounds.

(river burbling continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) This is the same river as before, the Cass River, but isn't it interesting how different it is in different spots?

You could write a comparison of the different spots of the river if you wanted.

This is not only home to wildlife like birds, but also more than 70 fish species.

You can check out books and other information online at your local library to learn more about Michigan's history, rivers in your area, and other ways people are helping wildlife.

Remember to get outside, and that reading and writing is everywhere.

(rock music) - Hi, scholars.

Michigan has several nicknames, like Great Lakes State, Mitten State, and my favorite, Water Wonderland.

But why is Water Wonderland such a great nickname for Michigan?

Well, we know that Michigan is famous for its five Great Lakes.

But did you know that Michigan also has more than 62,798 inland lakes?

Which are lakes that are completely surrounded by land.

Additionally, Michigan has 300 named rivers.

And when you add that to other rivers in the state, their total length is approximately 51,438 miles.

That's about twice the circumference or distance around the earth at the equator.

Together, all of these bodies of water have helped Michigan become known as Water Wonderland.

I'm Mrs.

Mask, and today we're going to learn about one of those bodies of water, the Grand River and the Lansing River Trail alongside it.

When we're done with our learning, I'm sure you'll wanna go see them yourself.

Since you'll need a ride, you'll have to convince someone to make the trip with you.

But how will you do that?

Well, we can take notes of the most important and interesting things we learned from our reading and research, and we can use them to write a quick pitch or speech so that we can persuade someone to be our travel partner.

Let's start with learning about where the Grand River is located.

The Grand River is the longest river in Michigan and is over 250 miles.

In fact, I wonder if it flows through where near you live.

The Grand River starts in Hillsdale County and flows northwest through some major cities in Michigan, Jackson, Ionia, Grand Rapids and Grand Haven, where it empties into Lake Michigan.

The Grand River is known for its variety of fish for anglers, that's people who like to fish.

And is also a great place for boating and water sports.

Along the Grand River throughout Michigan, you'll find many different trails, but since I live in Lansing, I'm gonna share all about the Lansing River Trail.

The Lansing River Trail is just one of the mini trails in the Lansing area.

In total, the paved trail is over 20 miles long, and goes through or near a number of remarkable sight to Lansing.

Let tell you about four of them.

Adado Riverfront Park is one of the largest parks in Downtown Lansing.

It has a playground, and festivals and concerts are held there throughout the year.

Crego Park is one of the newest parks in Lansing.

There's a small lake with a kayak lift and boardwalks pass along the beach.

Hawk Island County Park is a family park with a swimming beach, picnic area, sand volleyball, horseshoes, walkways, and fishing dock.

The Brenke Fish Ladder was built to help fish like salmon swimming upstream through the Grand River without injury.

A peaceful setting on the Lansing Grand River in Lansing's charming old town neighborhood.

The Fish Ladder is a great place to go fishing, walking, or taking a concert along the Lansing River Trail.

Now that you've heard all about some of the amazing sites along the river trail, you're ready to create a pitch.

Let's think back to the most important points we heard, and combine them into one big list.

Over 20 miles long, three parks, playgrounds, walking paths, swimming, kayaking, picnic area, fish ladder, fishing.

Now I'm going to use those notes to practice the pitch.

When giving a pitch, it's very effective when you just speak without looking at notes and cover all the most important points.

Listen carefully and let me know how I do.

The Lansing River Trail is a great place to visit and spend the day.

It's over 20 miles long through the city, and there are lots of great things to see and do.

There are three parks where you can spend time swimming, kayaking, fishing, enjoying the playground or having a picnic.

My favorite place to visit in the fall is the Brenke Fish Ladder.

I love to watch the fish climbing the ladder to get upstream.

I can't wait for us to visit, it's gonna be a great day.

When should we go?

So, what do you think about my pitch?

Would you join me on the Lansing River Trail to check out the Grand River?

Hopefully you'll find someone to take this amazing trip with you.

Let's have fun.

(rock music) - Hey friends, I'm Ms. Audra, and today we're going to a rock concert.

So, I want you to think about all the sounds you might hear at a rock concert.

Drums blasting, electric guitar.

(Ms. Audra mimicking electric guitar) Bass.

(Ms. Audra mimicking bass musical instrument) Right?

All the different sounds, people shouting, singers and people rocking out to the music.

Today you're gonna make your sound, you're part of the band, so you're gonna play your electric guitar if you wanna make any sound you want.

But first, now we're gonna take our breaths together.

And then here we go.

(bright upbeat music) And blow it out.

And breathe in, and blow it out.

(bright upbeat music) Great.

Alright, so don't forget to make a movement with your body.

You might want to use your whole body today as you rock out whatever instrument, whatever sound you're gonna make on the count three, we're gonna do it, and we'll listen.

One, two, three.

(Ms. Audra gasping) (rock music) (indistinct) (Ms. Audra mimicking rock music) And on the count of three.

One, two, three, we're gonna pause.

(rock music) Yeah.

Nice.

Wow, I feel electrified.

Now we're gonna take that breath, I want you to think of the beautiful sounds, all the heavy metal rock sounds we made today together.

And let's take that breath.

(rock music) Oh, and blow it out.

Nice job, we'll see you next time.

(rock music) - Hello, scholars.

I'm Ms. Cara, and I've been learning about how to restore rivers to their original ecosystems.

Just like authors choose the words and sentences to tell their stories, media creators choose the camera angles and movements to help tell their stories too.

Media creators create content and produce content for blogs, podcasts, and videos.

Today we will focus on videos.

What media creators choose for us to see helps us to understand the story they are trying to tell.

If we understand the camera lens movements, we are able to notice what media creators try to highlight as they shift focus from one point to another on screen.

Let's see how this part of the story is enhanced with a camera movement called, the zoom.

Do you see how the lens zooms out to reveal more of the people in the room?

Look, Media Literacy Maddie is using her framing square like a camera lens to zoom out on the house to get a wider view of the lake.

Now she is zooming in to only see the house.

Now it's your turn to practice.

If you have paper and scissors, cut out a framing square or use your hands like this.

Use your paper or hands to zoom out from a door handle to reveal the entire door and part of a room.

You can also zoom in like this.

When you zoom in, you'll notice you'll see less of the room in your camera lens.

Great job, everyone.

The next camera lens movement is called a pan.

This is a left to right or right to left movement of the camera lens.

A pan is used to reveal more details about a location, or to reveal the character like the media creator did with the movement here.

It looks like Media Literacy Maddie is practicing panning by revealing the picnic tables at the lake.

Now take your framing square or put your hands together again and practice panning somewhere in your home or your school.

Reveal more of the location by using your framing square to pan from left to right or from right to left.

The last camera lens movement is called a tilt.

A tilt is often used when there are tall objects which need to be revealed, or when the media creator wants to reveal the sky to the ground, which in this case is actually a river like in this shot.

It looks like Media Literacy Maddie is practicing your tilting skills too.

Get your framing square or put your hands together one last time to practice a tilt.

Find something tall nearby, put your lens at the bottom of the object and tilt all the way to the top of it.

Now, tilt in the opposite direction.

Wow, you are becoming excellent media creators.

I enjoyed learning about three camera lens movements media creators often use when they create digital stories.

Zoom, pan, and tilt.

Let's review these camera lens movements in the three video clips on the next screen.

(bright upbeat music) If you guessed zoom, pan, and tilt, you are right.

Today we learned about three camera lens movements media creators use as film language to help enhance the digital stories they are trying to tell their viewers.

Now that you've practiced these camera lens movements, are you thinking about becoming a media creator as well?

- Thank you for watching.

For videos, activity guides and more, please visit our website, MichiganLearning.org.

And don't forget to Read, Write, ROAR!

(bright upbeat music) - [Announcer] This program is made possible in part by the state of Michigan.

And by.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(rock music) (bright orchestral music)