Lesson video

Hello everybody, my name is Miss Corbett and thank you so much for choosing to learn with me today.

For today's lesson, differences between fiction and non-fiction texts.

I'm really looking forward to this lesson 'cause it will hopefully really make you think about the difference between the two and also maybe which one you prefer.

For this lesson, you'll need your listening ears, your looking eyes, and your thinking brain.

You'll also need something to write with today and the worksheet that goes with this lesson.

If you don't have that, you might just need to get some paper.

It would also be useful if you would have the additional materials of this Looking after cats non-fiction text.

Pause the video now.

Let me see.

Well done for getting all of those things.

I think we're ready to get started.

And here is the outcome for today's lesson.

I can compare fiction and non-fiction texts, and these keywords will help us to get there.

We've got five today.

Are you ready to repeat them after me? My turn, then your turn.

Fiction, non-fiction, fact, feature, comparison.

Well done, I wonder if you'd heard any of those words before, hmm? Fiction are made up stories with characters, places, and adventures which did not happen in real life.

"Lulu Gets a Cat" is an example of a fictional story.

Non-fiction is real information or events.

So fiction and non-fiction are opposites because one is a real book and one is a not real book.

The next one is fact which is something that is known to be true or proved.

Non-fiction books are often full of facts.

A feature is a special characteristic that belong to a certain text.

So we will learn that fiction have certain features and non-fiction books have certain features.

And finally, comparison is looking at things that are the same or similarities and things that are different or differences between two things.

The first part of our lesson is the features of a non-fiction text.

We know that there are lots of different types of writing.

Here are some examples: information books, leaflets where you might give something out to provide information about something, recounts where we're retelling something that has happened, stories, instructions, reports which is reporting on some information, poems, and diaries.

Some of these are examples of fiction texts and some of these are example of non-fiction texts.

Fiction texts are made up stories which did not happen in real life.

Non-fiction texts are about real information or events.

Which of these texts that we've just looked at do you think are non-fiction? Could you pause the video now? Let's see what you thought of.

We have got information books because it is full of real information.

Leaflets which are often full of real information like about a place or something to go to.

Recounts are often real where we're recounting something like a school trip or what we did at the weekend.

Instructions are real things.

They're telling you to do something real.

A report is often reporting on information.

And a diary is something that has happened to you personally in real life.

Poems and stories tend to be fictional.

Non-fiction texts provide us with information based on facts.

So can you select the texts that are non-fiction? We have got stories, information books, instructions, and poems. Pause the video now.

Great, let's see.

You should have chosen information books and instructions, well done.

We have got an example of a non-fiction book that Lulu might have chosen to read because it's all about looking after cats.

Non-fiction books are usually about one topic or subject like cats.

What do you predict this book is about? I think I've already told you, about cats! This book will give us lots of facts and information about cats.

Have a look again at the front cover of this non-fiction book.

Are you looking? What do you notice about the front cover? You might look at the one on the screen or the one that you have in front of you.

What do you notice? Can you pause the video now and share? Great detective work! I can see a photograph of a cat.

So it's not an illustration, it's a real photo.

I can't see the name of the author.

Now quite often, non-fiction books might not always have an obvious author who is the person who wrote the book.

Sometimes they do, but sometimes they don't.

So non-fiction books often have photographs of real things.

Non-fiction books often also contain a Contents page.

If you look to the next page after your front cover, you will see this Contents page.

The Contents page is at the start of the book.

It shows us what information we can find in the book and where it will be.

And we do not have to read the pages in order.

We can choose which section we would like to find more information about and we could even start at the back and go back to the front as long as we read the whole section.

We can use the headings and the page numbers to help us find information.

So if I wanted to learn about feeding cats, I would look for the word feeding, and then I can see the number seven which tells me it's on page seven.

So have a look maybe at the Contents page on the screen or your Contents page in front of you.

On what page can we find out about cats playing? The first that you need to do is search for the word playing.

The easiest way to do this is to search for the pah, pah, pah at the start of the word.

Then, look across with your finger and you will find the page number.

Is it page three, six, or nine? Pause the video now.

Did you get it? Well done if you found playing, pah-luh-ay-ing, playing.

Then, you move your finger across? Page nine, fantastic.

Each page of a non-fiction book will often teach us something new.

So this page is all about sleeping.

I can see on this page, I'm looking for the features, the things that are on the page.

I can see headings or subheadings which are like mini titles in a page.

I can see photographs and I can see a caption.

Now a caption is often underneath the photo.

Let's find out why.

The heading, photograph, and caption, let's see.

A heading helps to organise the information on a page into chunks.

There are photographs of real things because it is non-fiction.

And captions are sometimes next to images, either a little phrase or explaining what the image is of.

This caption says Time for a cat nap! Because the cat is sleeping.

These are some of the main features of a non-fiction text, headings, photographs, and captions.

I wonder, could you match these key words to their examples? Photograph, caption, heading.

We have got Time for a cat nap! Where do cat sleep? And we have something at the bottom as well.

To help you, you could turn to the page which starts with sleeping and you might be able to find them.

Pause the video now.

The photograph is the cat looking on the chair.

That's a photo of something.

The caption was Time for a cat nap! Just giving us a bit more information about the photo.

And the heading is Where do cats sleep? Giving us more information about where cats sleep.

Have a look at the page Feeding from the non-fiction book.

I would like you to have a go then at a finding and labelling.

You could either write on it or just say it, each of these features.

Can you find a photograph? Can you find a heading? And can you find a caption? If you've done it with one page, maybe you'd like to do it with another page.

Pause the video now.

Let's see if you managed it.

Did you find the heading? You might have chosen What do they eat or What do they drink? Did you find a photograph? There's three photographs on this page and there is one caption underneath the bowl saying Dinner time! Well done for finding those features of the non-fiction text.

Now let's move on to the features of fiction texts.

Fiction texts are made up stories which did not happen in real life.

"Lulu Gets a Cat" is a fiction book.

The story, the characters, and the events have been made up by the author Anna McQuinn.

So is this true or false? Lulu is a real person.

Is that true or is that false? I'm going to give you five seconds, five, and zero, true or false? Lulu is not a real person.

Lulu is a character that has been made up by the author.

So that is false.

Fiction books often have illustrations that have been drawn by an illustrator.

The characters, setting, and the events in this illustration have all been made up.

They're not real and that's why they're drawings, illustrations, rather than photographs.

Fiction books often follow a story structure.

In "Lulu Gets a Cat", there is a really clear beginning, middle, and end to the story.

At the beginning, Lulu wants to get a cat, but her mommy says she has to learn how to look after one first.

In the middle, Lulu and her mommy goes to the shelter and choose a cat.

And at the end, Lulu looks after her cat at home.

The plot, characters, and settings are all fictional.

So even though a house or the cat shelter or the shop or the library are real places, these places have still been made up.

These versions of these places have been made up for the story.

This means that they're not real.

So I would like you to match the words to the illustrations that show the correct point in the story, showing that fiction books often have a beginning, middle, and end.

So we have the words beginning, middle, and end at the bottom, and then three illustrations.

Can you match them up together? Pause the video now.

In the beginning, Lulu wants a cat, but mom says she has to find out more.

In the middle, they go to a cat shelter and choose their cat.

And at the end Lulu is happy with her cat weaving her stories.

Do you get it? Well done! Some fiction books have a moral.

A moral is a lesson that can be learned from a story.

Can you say moral? Well done! And this lesson is often based on the theme of the story, something that you've probably explored before.

In "Lulu Gets a Cat", one of the main themes is responsibility.

Lulu proves that she is responsible and ready to look after a cat.

The moral at the end of the story is teaching us that being responsible teaches you how to take care of others and yourself.

And this means that the people around you can trust you to do the right thing.

So a moral is a tradition in a story, so something that is repeated that happens again.

A moral is a lesson that can be learned from a story.

Or a moral is a page at the end of the story.

Which one do you think explains what a moral is? Pause the video now.

Let's see, did you get it? A moral is a lesson that can be learned from a story, well done.

So you're going to think about a fiction book that you know well.

That might be "Lulu Gets a Cat" or your favourite storybook.

And you are going to complete this mind map which you'll find in your worksheets to identify the different features.

So in the middle, you will write the title of the story.

Then on the left hand side, you can see a space for characters.

Maybe you could draw them or write their names.

You have got the beginning, middle, and end, so the main events.

Again, you could either write them or draw them.

At the top, you have got the moral.

What lesson is the author trying to teach you? And on the right hand side, you have got the settings, where the story takes place.

Pause the video and do that now.

Well done, let me show you an example.

The title is Lulu Gets a Cat.

The characters in the story are Lulu, Lulu's mummy, Lulu's daddy, Jeremy, and Makeda, the cat.

In the beginning of the story, Lulu wants to get a real cat.

In the middle, Lulu chooses a cat from the shelter.

And at the end, Lulu looks after her own real cat at home.

The settings of the story are Lulu's home, the library, the shops, and the cat shelter.

And the moral, the lesson that it's trying to teach us is that it is important to be responsible.

Well done for filling out your mind map.

And I love seeing all of the different fictional stories that have the same features.

Now we have looked at the features of a non-fiction text and the fiction text, we can now compare the two.

So we are going to compare fiction and non-fiction texts.

When we compare, we are looking for the things that are the same and that are different.

Compare is making a comparison which is our key word.

We will be comparing Looking after cats, our non-fiction text, to "Lulu Gets a Cat", our fiction text.

So thinking about everything you know about these two texts, what is the same about them? And then, talk about what is different.

So they are the same because? They are different because? Share what you think so far.

Pause the video now.

Great, we are going to be thinking about all of those features and thinking about which applies to the non-fiction and which applies to the fiction.

So have a look at these two front covers, just thinking about the front cover.

What is the same about both of these front covers? Is it that they both include photographs? They are both about cats? Or they both contain real information? Pause the video now and decide.

Let's see if you got it.

They are both about cats.

Lulu gets a cat has an illustration, not a photograph, and they don't both contain real information.

"Lulu Gets a Cat" can teach us things, but it's a made up story whereas Looking after cats does include real information.

Here are some features that can be found in either fiction or non-fiction texts.

So let's have a look.

The features, hmm, contents page.

Is that fiction or non-fiction? Non-fiction, a contents page tells me which section is on which page of the book, which means I can read it in any order.

Made up characters, fiction or non-fiction? What do you think, can you tell me? Fiction, well done.

What about a title? Fiction, non-fiction, or both? Both non-fiction and fiction texts have a title which can be read in any order.

So fiction needs to be read from the beginning all the way to the end.

Otherwise, it'll be confusing to follow the plot.

Whereas non-fiction books can be read in any order which is why the contents page is really useful.

And finally, which has a moral, a lesson to be learned? Fiction, fantastic sorting.

We can also use what's called a Venn diagram to help us make that comparison.

We put something in the middle to show that they're both, if it is a feature that could fit in either circle, can you see how it's crossed over? So we have features that are fiction, features that are non-fiction, and then features that are both.

So features of a fiction text, they have characters, but a non-fiction book has a contents page.

Both types need a title.

Fiction books have a moral and fiction books are made up, but non-fiction books can be read in any order.

So now you are going to compare the features of "Lulu Gets a Cat", the fiction book to Looking after cats, a non-fiction book.

And I want you to try and think which are features of a fiction text and which are features of a non-fiction text, thinking about all of the features that we've looked at, and then thinking about things that apply to both of them.

Pulls the video now.

Let's see what you came up with.

Characters in fiction.

A plot in fiction.

So what the main events of the story are and following them in the right order.

Fiction books often have a moral or a theme or a lesson to be learned.

Fiction books are made up.

Fiction books have illustrations, and fiction books can be read in any order.

Those are features that only apply to fiction books, not non-fiction books.

Now let's look at non-fiction.

Non-fiction books often have a contents page.

They have captions under photographs and they have headings and something called subheadings.

They are also full of real information.

Rather than illustrations, they have facts.

They have not facts as well as real information facts, they have photographs and they can be read in any order, but using the contents page to help us.

What about for both? Both need a title.

Both of the books that we've looked at are about cats, and both of them do teach us new information.

I wonder, did you manage to get all of those features? If you didn't, you could pause the video now and add in to your Venn diagram.

Pause the video now.

So I have loved learning with you today and thank you so much for learning with me.

We have learned that fiction books are made up by the author, but non-fiction books provide information based on facts.

Fiction books have fictional characters and places, but non-fiction books provide information about real subjects.

Fiction books often have illustrations and non-fiction books have photographs or diagrams of real things.

Fiction books usually follow a story structure of beginning, middle, and end.

And non-fiction books are usually organised by topic or subject.

Fiction books often have a moral and non-fiction books are designed to provide new information and teach new things.

I really hope you've learned lots today.

I know I have.

Well done for all of your hard work.

I hope to see you again soon, bye!.