DVD

Expository writing emerges as the theme for this issue of Wordswork, and the editors are on a quest to fill the magazine with writing that informs or provides facts. The team quickly realizes that expository writing can be anything from a school science project to a letter to the president!

Viewers learn the importance of prewriting (thinking and planning), how to transform ideas into a written draft, different types of sentences (lead, topic, etc.) editing, proofreading, and publishing.

Viewers will learn about the story-writing process. Discusses character, setting, plot, the ending, and looks at ways to organize ideas through the use of character webs and story maps. Examines character and plot development, diologue, and descriptive details as a tool for making a story interesting.

'People, places and things' emerge as our young editors' theme for the next issue of their literary magazine, launching them on a mission to identify and learn all about nouns. In Nouns, young viewers will enjoy following along with the Wordswork team as they discover that nouns can be common or proper, singular or plural.

The Wordswork staff decides on an action theme as they prepare the latest issue of their literary magazine, and that can mean only one special group of words: verbs.

The Wordswork staff is on a quest to fill their magazine with those groups of words we all know and love: sentences. Their job sounds simple enough, but little do they know that a sentence isn't just any old group of words. To be considered a sentence, those words must convey a complete thought and contain both a subject and a predicate.

The Wordswork staff is on a mission to tackle those tiny symbols that help make our writing more clear: punctuation! The team digs through the writing samples submitted to their literary magazine to uncover the rules of punctuation.

Choosing stories for the next issue of their magazine, the Wordswork staff decides to focus on words that tell us more about other words.

What are the ingredients of a tall tale? Like any story, a tall tale includes characters, a setting, a problem and a solution. But in a tall tale, ordinary characters -- whether fictional or based on real people or occupations -- may face extraordinary challenges and prevail with outlandish solutions, or may conquer ordinary problems in inventive ways.

Meet Pecos Bill. Raised by coyotes in dusty Texas, he grew up to be the roughest, toughest cowboy who ever lived. Whether riding a tornado, inventing the original cowboy song or conquering a gang of outlaw cowboys, Pecos Bill is a man of many talents.

Meet John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed. Living in harmony with nature, he fulfills his dream of traveling west to plant apple orchards across the frontier to aid pioneers on their arduous journeys.

Meet Davy Crockett -- a legendary hunter, politician and avid storyteller who tames the wild frontier with sharpshooting, cleverness and plenty of humor. Battling bears and panthers, dislodging the sun from between two icebergs and whipping a destructive comet back into space are all in a day's work for Davy.

From sea to shining sea, the United States is a country full of tall tales! Take the story of Mike Fink and Annie Christmas, legendary keel boat captains who battle with strength and skill on the waters of the mighty Mississippi River.

Meet Phoebe Ann Moses, better known as Annie Oakley. In the world of champion shooters, nobody stands taller. Born into poverty, things change for Annie and her family when she discovers her unique talent for sharpshooting.

Meet Mose Humphreys, the toughest firefighter in the nation's toughest neighborhood -- the Bowery in New York City. As a boy, Mose's great size, speed and strength makes him one of the best fire company runners of all time, but he longs for the day when he can become a full-fledged firefighter.